Marvel Television, the part of the company responsible for broadcasts like Daredevil on Netflix and Agents of SHIELD, will soon be shutting down, according to a report on Deadline. This will result in layoffs of what is being described as a "significant portion" of its staff. The other members of the team will be integrated into Kevin Feige's Marvel Studios, with some existing projects continuing. These projects include Helstrom for Hulu and a final seventh season of Agents of SHIELD, as well as four adult-animated projects for Hulu (MODOK, Tigra and Dazzler, Howard the Duck, and Hit Monkey). This will be the case for the new shows, as other projects are apparently on hold. "The decision has been made to terminate the Marvel TV projects currently in production, but not to continue their development," the division told Deadline in the report.
Marvel Studios vs. Marvel Television: What's the Difference?
The difference between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television seems complicated if you don't follow the daily ins and outs of the entertainment industry. In August 2015, the structure of Marvel Studios changed, with President Kevin Feige reporting to Disney's Alan Horn, rather than Marvel Entertainment's Isaac Perlmutter. The television division, however, remained under Marvel Entertainment. From the outside, which is why it seemed like the Marvel TV shows were out of sync with the movies, the later seasons of Netflix's Defender streaming rarely connected to movie storylines. In October 2019, Feige was promoted to Marvel's chief creative officer, placing parts of Marvel Entertainment such as the comics arm and Marvel Television under his direction. At this point, Marvel Studios was already producing the big TV shows for the Disney Plus streaming service: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision are produced by Feige and Marvel Studios and not Marvel Television, for example. Meanwhile, many of Marvel Television's biggest projects have wrapped up in recent years. There were once five Netflix Marvel streams: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher, of wildly variable quality, and now they've all been cancelled. The Runaways, hosted by Hulu, also ends this year, and Cloak and Dagger was pulled earlier this year. In the end, it will lead to a world where Marvel shows are more connected to their movies. Marvel Phase 4 will incorporate TV shows into canon, which is bold. That's not to say Marvel Television hasn't created super shows with their own flavor - Daredevil's first season is still a fantastic 13 episodes of TV, and Agents of SHIELD has its own passionate fan base - but it makes sense to try to tie them together more for increase viewer investment in the MCU.