5 Marvel Shows That Almost Happened

The superhero and comic book genres have blown up for over a decade thanks, to the proliferation of both major network television and streaming services at this point. With DC and Marvel spreading their properties across several platforms, there’s been no shortage of caped characters to keep us entertained throughout the years. Focusing on Marvel TV, we’ve seen various people brought in and out of play in shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Defenders, etc.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a massive hit with its movies earning over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. But apparently, many shows didn’t make it to air despite having such a huge fan following. These are some of them –

Hellfire Club

In the beginning, 20th Century Fox Television was almost making a very different X-Men show: Hellfire Club. 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios announced the team up for Hellfire Club as a series. The series would have been set in the late 1960s where we’d meet a young Special Agent who begins to follow a power-hungry woman with mutant powers. This mutant would have been a part of the Hellfire Club, comprised of high society members who were planning to take over the world. But apparently, it never happened as the makers failed to launch the project due to too many characters.

Deadpool (FXX)

In 2017, Marvel and FXX echoed loud that an animated version of Deadpool had been greenlit for a straight-to-series production. It would star comedian Donald Glover as Deadpool alongside his brother Stephen Glover. The series was initially approved for 10 episodes but, shockingly, in early 2018 FXX announced that the show had been canceled due to “creative differences” between both parties involved. Media became skeptical about the validity of this statement from FXX when CEO at the time John Landgraf later made an announcement during the TCA Winter Press Tour in 2019 that it really wasn’t Marvel TV who canceled the series. Apparently, it was Marvel who believed there were too many deviations between their brand and Marvel’s usual aesthetic which lead to their decision to ax the project completely.

Marvel’s Most Wanted

In 2015, ABC ordered a spin-off pilot for Agent Carter star Adrianne Palicki and her co-star Nick Blood. Mockingbird and Hunter were a fan favorite team introduced on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but were eventually given their own show, Marvel’s Most Wanted. Fans had been begging for the spin-off after the two characters had been absent in the original spin-off that was released earlier that year. However, producers moved to dismiss news of the project due to legal issues surrounding Palicki’s commitment to her role on Longmire which could have conflicted with her schedule on both shows had it ever started production.

New Warriors

ABC Studios, Marvel TV, and Freeform were all in the business of developing a comedy series based on The New Warriors comics. One character getting top billing that stands out for fans of the comics is Squirrel Girl. But in August 2017, the makers revealed that they won’t include New Warriors star Milana Vayntrub with some citing an $800,000 offer as too low to consider from Marvel TV. As per the 2019’s updates, Marvel TV shopped it around to other networks like Hulu and TBS. But none of them were interested either. For now, this show deal is dead but we have no idea if at some point Marvel may try to shop it around again.

Ghost Rider (Hulu)

This was an interesting project that unfortunately was canceled by Hulu in September 2018. It was set to explore what it would be like if Robbie Reyes’s family and hometown were highlighted due to it being located on the border of Texas and Mexico. The show had a working title of Luna. Though Hulu decided not to move forward with development, there have been rumblings that perhaps the series could find a new home at Netflix or Disney+. We’ll just see what happens next!