Although TV shows connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been around since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered on ABC in 2013, it wasn’t until 2021 that Marvel Studios started delivering these kinds of shows itself. In addition to introducing new characters like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk, many of these Marvel Studios shows, which can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription, have spotlighted established characters from the movies, like Loki and Hawkeye. However, there’s a new rumor claiming this will change after the release of the upcoming Marvel TV show Vision, and I have very mixed feeling about this idea if it’s accurate.
Per The InSneider (via ComicBookMovie), Vision, also known under its working title Vision Quest, is going to be “the last Marvel series to feature major characters from the movies.” This supposedly stems from something shared in The Wall Street Journal earlier this month: that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige allegedly feels like watching the MCU’s movies and TV shows has “started to feel more like homework than entertainment.” So if reporter Jeff Sneider’s sources are correct, plans are in motion to forge a larger divide between the MCU’s big screen and small screen offerings.
Sneider clarified in his report that these Marvel shows on Disney+ shows will still include references to “major characters,” akin to when Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk referred to Spider-Man (“a man who dresses in a spider outfit) in Daredevil: Born Again. But otherwise, these shows will focus on characters meant to be primarily utilized on the streaming front rather on characters the audience are used to seeing on the big screen. He specifically mentioned Wonder Man as an example of the former category, which premieres this December on the 2025 TV schedule.
I both understand and have concerns about this approach, assuming Marvel Studios is indeed implementing it. On the one hand, I agree that it’s a daunting undertaking to stay invested in the MCU these days. It was one thing when there were only movies to follow along with, but throw in the TV shows, and only hardcore fans like myself are going to follow along with everything being released. This becomes even more complicated when it becomes difficult to follow along with a movie that’s following up on events from a show, like Captain America: Brave New World with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
So in that sense, I like the idea that of having the MCU’s shows be more self-contained and not necessarily mandatory watches. On the other hand, I don’t like the idea that movie characters will no longer appear in these shows. There’s a fine line to tread, and as long as it’s not these characters popping up on said shows doesn’t make things unnecessarily complicated for moviegoing audiences, why should this be an issue? For example, Florence Pugh appeared as Yelena Belova in Hawkeye, but one didn’t need to be familiar with the events of that series to enjoy Thunderbolts*.
I also worry that only referencing these “major characters” will be too reminiscent of the Marvel Netflix days, when characters like Iron Man, Thor and Captain America were only acknowledged in the loosest sense on shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Give us the full name drops. Directly reference events from the movies. Just because there has to be a character divide doesn’t mean there needs to be one with the overall mythology, too.
Vision will arrive sometime in 2026, and there are no other live-action MCU shows slated for beyond that right now, as it was reported in February that Nova, Terror, Inc. and Strange Academy had been scrapped. So it may be a while until this new rumor is confirmed or debunked, but until then, next on the MCU’s TV front is Ironheart, which premieres on June 24.