For years now, fans have been complaining that for as much fun as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is - well, fun until a space despot snaps away half the universe - there's still a blockbuster movie formula which has to be honored. Fun conversations scenes revealing new depths of pathos and humor eventually give way to third act orgies of CGI action and world-threatening stakes. "I would watch an entire movie of just them talking" and "Why not give that character his/her own Netflix show so we can learn more about them?" have been uttered so often as to enter into cliche, the type of thing Marvel fans say but will never actually get.
Well, I doubt we're still quote to seeing My Dinner with Iron Man yet, but we are officially on our way to those Netflix shows. Kind of. Instead of Netflix, they're going straight to Disney's streaming service, unofficially known as Disney Play.
The details, from Variety: Disney and Marvel Studios (but not Jeph Loeb's Marvel TV, which is being left out of this) are currently developing several big budget, 6-8 episode limited series events focused on Marvel Cinematic Universe side characters as well as several entirely new ones. Anyone who has already had their own solo movie is not being considered for a TV series nor are they expected to cameo in any of these shows. So, move aside Thor and the other Avengers because Loki and Scarlet Witch are getting their own shows.
Should those characters make it all the way to Disney Play, they will again be played by Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olson respectively. That's because whoever gets their own show will be played by the same actor from the movies. This isn't going to be a "recast and shoot a prequel" kind of thing ala Solo: A Star Wars Story.
It's difficult to assess who might be joining Loki and Wanda Maximoff on the way to Disney Play. Because until the next Avengers movie, we have no idea who'll still be alive, other than Spider-Man, whose next movie is due mere months after Avengers 4. Beyond that, if the ever-so-dead Loki is getting his own show then who knows who else might be eligible.
So, let's just speculate wildly and look back later and laugh at how wrong we were. Let's start with the most obvious choice for her own series, if only because she's already done this before:
1. Peggy Carter
Agent Carter: Season 3 seems like a no-brainer. Only problem might be that Agent Carter was a Marvel TV production, and all of these Disney Play shows will be Marvel Studios-produced. Thanks to complicated behind the scenes politics, Marvel TV and Marvel Studios are basically divorced. However, while Peggy passed away in Civil War her backstory-filling TV series never got to finish its story, and Hayley Atwell has repeatedly expressed a willinginess to come back to right that wrong.
2. Falcon
Other than being Captain America's new best friend, an Ant-Man frenemy, and his basic military background, we don't know much about Sam "Falcon" Wilson. Anthony Mackie has proven in other projects to be capable of far more range than the MCU films have asked of him so far, and there is a rich history in the comics of Falcon-centered storylines, especially during the runs when he's tried to become the new Captain America.
3. Hawkeye
Jeremy Renner has been pitching his own Hawkeye solo TV series for years. Last year, he told Comic-Con, "I'd be open to it. I've really enjoyed getting to explore the character more recently. The Netflix model is where all the character drama goes to now, you're doing a superhero movie or a Netflix or HBO kind of model. So I'd be open to it. Not up to me, though." While Hawkeye, as Honest Trailers joked years ago, is no one's favorite Avenger, he's also a character who has had a celebrated run in the comics in recent years which could easily serve as inspiration for a fascinating TV show. There was once some thought of there being a Hawkeye and Black Widow series it now seems far more likely that if Scarlet Johansson reurns after Avengers 4 it will be in her own solo movie, not for a buddy TV series with Jeremy Renner.
4. Cassie Lang as the Teenage Superhero Stinger
Scott "Ant-Man" Lang's daughter has already been established as having superhero ambitions, and at various points in the comics, she has indeed gained powers of her own. In one recent run, she did it as an act of youthful rebellion and it backfired on her in a big way, forcing Scott to eventually take the fall for her reckless crimes. Obvious downsides here are such a storyline might be best saved for an Ant-Man and the Wasp 3 down the road, and it'd be hard to do a Cassie Lang show without Paul Rudd cameoing as Ant-Man, which might not be an option. Also, it's highly possible this storyline will already be introduced in Avengers 4 if those rumors about time travel are true.
5. Valkyrie, Korg, and Miek
Tessa Thompson has at various points lobbied for her own Marvel project or an all-female team-up vehicle. This could easily take the form of a TV series instead of movie, and one obvious option might be a Valkyrie, Kork and Miek outerspace adventure series. The simple logic here is to take the breakout side characters from Thor: Ragnarok and give them their own thing, possibly featuring them defending the last of the Asgardians. If that treads too close to the Loki series, why not pair Valkyrie with others for a Lady Liberators, A-Force or Fearless Defenders all-female series?
6. Vision
Again, much like Loki the last time we saw The Vision he was ever so dead, and if Scarlet Witch is getting her own series it would seem strange for The Vision to have one as well instead of simply co-starring in her's. The only reason, then, I mention him as a candidate is the existence of Tom King's 2016 12-part series The Vision, in which the titular robot creates his android family only to end up experiencing his own version of American Beauty.
As Inverse argued in its euphoric review of the series:
"There is no pretense of humanity when the Visions are introduced in issue one. However, through 12 issues, King charts a path in which a family, fully aware of their artificial lives, discover humanity through the pain and suffering that comes with living "normal lives." [...] By putting Marvel's most confusing semi-magic, semi-futuristic character in the suburbs outside Washington, D.C., King managed to write one of the most tragic, heartwrenching stories in contemporary Marvel canon."
So, just adapt that into a TV series...that is unless Vision isn't around anymore after Avengers 4.
7. Howard the Duck
Consider this your "any good list has to end on a joke" choice, but, hey, it could happen. Howard is technically a MCU side character, and those who know the harder-edged, more satirical comics have long railed against the bizarre, disappointing live-action film from the 80s. A talking animal fits right in Disney's wheelhouse, even if they wouldn't actually like most of what he had to say. Plus, if they do make a Howard the Duck series they already have a seriously catchy theme song in their back pocket:
Your turn. Throw out your suggestions in the comments.
