Let the speculation begin: EW has learned that Oscar-winning writer-producer John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) is teaming up with Marvel to develop a mysterious new TV series.
We hear the deal involves reinventing an existing Marvel superhero character or property for ABC—but all sides are staying quiet on exactly which title Ridley is adapting.
Anyone have any guesses?
I’ve heard that this is a reimagining of an existing Marvel character…I can’t think it’s the Punisher because that would be better for one of their Netflix series. A TV-14 rated Punisher is almost a waste of time.
Maybe Moon Knight?
I can’t really think of who else it might be.
How about Blade? He’s ripe for a reimagining, but the name recognition is there; the violence can be TV-14 by dint of having an otherwise over-the-top fight scene involve a vampire dying; and the effects budget wouldn’t be all that bad.
That could be…but I hope it isn’t. I was never that big of a fan of Blade, for one thing, and for another I don’t see the vampire mythos fitting in well with the MCU.
Given that Marvel is connecting their TV projects to their movie projects, I would tend to doubt that. Marvel’s deal with Sony would preclude them from doing it at any rate.
Assuming that it’s supposed to be a black superhero, I understand they are already preparing a Luke Cage tv show, so it’s not that either. Maybe Isaiah Bradley, AKA the First Captain America?
I’d hope it’s not one of the supers they’re going to be making movies for in the near future, which includes Black Panther, Ant Man, Ms. Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy. Any TV series they would develop for those would become second-class citizens very quickly (imagine if they tried to make an Iron Man tv series…).
This is my thought/hope. I think that especially coming off the heels of Agent Carter, it would fit in well to have ABC hosting a steady stream of various characters in their “alternate history” properties while Netflix and the movies handle the current stuff. Granted, there’s a lot of “history” to plumb, but given Ridley’s recent stuff, and that Panther and Falcon are off the table, Bradley makes a whole lotta sense.
That’s true, though there are a lot of other characters I’d rather see brought to life first. Even if we assume it’s a black superhero (which I guess makes sense given Ridley’s claim to fame but I would find disappointing in that they would be limiting a black showrrunner to a black superhero which seems kind of backhandedly discriminatory to me), there are others I’d rather see reimagined, not the least of which would be Misty Knight.
Misty Knight would be perfect for tv. Ultimately, she’s a cop/bounty hunter. Plus she already has a lot of MCU connections (Colleen Wing, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Luke Cage…) that can be used to tie into the greater universe.
