In case you haven't heard, Disney owns Marvel Entertainment. Yeah, this is common knowledge nowadays.
Maybe you haven't heard the phrase 'Disney Synergy' yet. If you are not a regular reader of The Daily SuperHero, you're allowed to not know what that means. In a nutshell it means cross promoted and marketing Disney properties across all of its owned companies.
While Marvel has received the green light from ABC for a full first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the comic book company has been developing other projects behind closed doors. They have already revealed that they are developing an Agent Carter television series, which follows the adventures of Captain America: The First Avenger's Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). But Marvel is even busier developing other stuff.
According to Deadline, Marvel is doing prep work for not one, not two but four more series and a miniseries.
"...Marvel is quietly putting together a package of four drama series and a miniseries—a total of some 60 episodes—that would be taken out to the [video-on-demand] and cable space, with Netflix, Amazon and WGN America rumored as potential candidates. Feelers had been sent out, and...there’s already interest from digital platforms and traditional cable networks in the package, which...is in very early stages with very little talent attached."
Whoa.
WHOA!
This is a huge move by Disney to really capitalize on all of Marvel's hero properties. When Disney CEO Bob Iger bought Marvel and said it was his job to expand Disney's character portfolio by adding "mini Disney's" to the mix, he wasn't kidding. This extreme expansion of Marvel's content across more TV, streaming and digital formats is definitely a big deal... especially for fans who can't get enough of Marvel's characters.
While Deadline mentions Netflix, it could be an unlikely partnership since ABC (Disney-owned) owns a 32-percent stake in Hulu.com and having a Marvel series released exclusively to Hulu makes more sense. Also, ABC owns equity in A&E and this could be the cable network being targeted for a more mature and edgy Marvel series, or miniseries.
The next question is... What properties could Marvel be looking at making into these shows? Agent Carter is obviously one of them while The Runaways and Heroes For Hire also come to mind as potential candidates too. Stay tuned as more details are sure to be leaked out now that the cat's out of the bag.