“They’re Interconnected but They’re Not”: Marvel Studios Exec Explains New Rebranding & What It Means for MCU Homework

MCU has over 30 movies under its umbrella, and more than 10 are currently in production or rumored to be in production, this massive amount of content however does not include live-action TV shows, which significantly expanded MCU.

This was starting to become a problem for fans, especially fans that are just now trying to “get into” the MCU, or fans who simply wanted to avoid some projects, not particularly interested in characters that were carrying them.

It seems ridiculous that you have to watch 5 movies to understand one reference, or post-credit scene in a Disney+ show, but it was what the studio was aiming for. Then, the studio started losing money and some things had to change. One of the biggest changes in this context was the introduction of the Marvel Spotlight brand. This is supposed to be a brand of shows developed to be more character-oriented, they are more mature with a higher rating, and supposedly, you don’t have to watch previous MCU projects to understand them.

‘Echo’ was the first show to be released under Marvel Spotlight, and I hate to say it but it wasn’t all that standalone, featuring numerous references to ‘Daredevil’ Netflix show and ‘Hawkeye’ Disney+ show. But I guess even if you did not watch the aforementioned shows, you could understand ‘Echo’ easily enough by searching for some answers online.

Now during the latest Disney Upfronts presentation, we had the opportunity to see that projects in development are currently under four different brands: Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, and even Marvel Spotlight.

While the Marvel Studios & Marvel Animation is quite straightforward, Marvel Television marks the return of a brand under which shows like Defenders Saga were developed.

In his recent interview with ComicBook, Marvel Exec Brad Winderbaum explained that they wanted to make the MCU more approachable for all fans, not just the ones willing to watch hundreds of hours of content:

We want to make sure that Marvel stays an open door for people to come in and explore. On the heels of Endgame, I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. As you know, as a comics fan, they’re designed to just pop in, find something that you like, and use that to enter you into the universe, and then you can explore and weave around based on your own preferences. So part of the rebranding of Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, even Marvel Spotlight is to, I think, try to tell the audience, ‘You can jump in anywhere. They’re interconnected but they’re not. You don’t have to watch A to enjoy B. You can follow your bliss. You can follow your own preferences and find the thing you want within the tapestry of Marvel.

We certainly hope that things will eventually turn out this way, it’s not reasonable to expect that all types of fans are interested in all types of content that MCU is currently producing.

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