Unfortunately, back in April word broke that
ABC had decided to pass on the Marvel’s Most Wanted spinoff of Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D. This was extremely
disappointing news since this show looked like a really good and interesting
change of pace from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. which would expand on two
really good characters. At the time the
powers that be didn’t explain their reasoning for passing on the spinoff (they
have since stated that it “wasn’t as strong” as other ideas), but a rumor did
surface shortly thereafter that this was part of a major shakeup at ABC. The old executive was trying to market shows
with the “Marvel” logo which did not connect directly with the movie universe—essentially
using “Marvel” to boost ratings. The new
executive did not want to do that and instead wanted to focus on Marvel shows
that would expand on and connect directly to the Marvel movies.
Personally, while the idea of
just using the “Marvel” logo to boost ratings is problematic, I also think it’s
a stupid idea to focus on just connecting to the movies (if it’s true). In my opinion, what’s interesting about Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D. (excepting the Winter Soldier tie-in, which belongs
in its own category) isn’t the 2-5 episodes each season which directly connect
to movies. What’s interesting about the
show is the interesting characters and the plots which expand the movie
universe in ways that the movies would not be able to (due to time, scope, and
the like). Agent Carter was
interesting specifically because it could expand on things like the origin of
S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra infiltration, and initial experimentation with Darkforce,
things which help to give the movie universe depth. Marvel’s Most Wanted would have been
interesting because it could expand on the “seedy underbelly” of the MCU in
ways that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the movies really can’t. Just because a show doesn’t directly tie into
the movies doesn’t make it bad; just look at Netflix and The Defenders
shows.
/endrant
However, that being said, it
seems that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is in need of a new spinoff to set up
this year. For the sake of argument, I
will introduce these spinoff ideas under the assumption that they need room to make
direct connections to the movies.
Considering the number of ideas involved, I decided to break them up
into 2 groups. This week’s ideas are the
“easy ones” (meaning that they use characters/concepts already on the
show). Next week’s ideas will use new
characters and themes.
