HOLY BATMAN! Too many Comic Book Television shows equal Too many Problems?
Reading time: 4 minutes
A strange issue is about to surface in the space of modern comic book television. An astounding amount of new shows on the major networks are focused around the basis of superheroes, and so many of them are running concurrently with each other on different networks. Something has to give in terms of the worlds for the different shows. We are already aware that there are separate continuities for DC television and movies, but from there things start getting murky and more complicated. At some point, it’s going to be literally impossible to work out which show is working with which Universe to get any sort of a coherent flow. Arrow and The Flash are going to start muddying the waters even more because the two shows are crossing continuity into each other. The big question now is: Where are all the shows supposed to cross over in terms of their own continuities? Is each show going to meld into a different world?
With the Marvel greater cinematic Universe, it seems that their answer is to put everything together, which is admirable, but very difficult to pull off. All these different ways of incorporating the various series into one holistic world is next to impossible. There is a plethora of different Netflix shows coming to the big screen. This is a good thing, as watching the different Marvel shows switch over to a streaming service where the big shows can happen is an ambitious new way to show content. Unfortunately, this holds an even greater issue for the folks at Marvel as well--the limitation of the amount of different continuities in that Universe. For instance, Arrow can directly break through the entire Batman Universe, and take some rogues away from the greater DC Universe that belong to someone like Batman. Marvel can’t bring Thanos into Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a bad guy. While that may not seem like a large limitation, it also becomes more difficult to link a show to the Marvel Universe when so much of it is locked up in the film world.
Both DC and Marvel have their own issues with sorting out continuity in their various television projects. At some point, it almost seems more likely that shows themselves are going to function more like comic books in that they are going to have a crazy selective continuity that is going to be next to impossible to successfully map out over time. This seems like it’s something that’s almost simple or isn’t going to be a problem. With various television shows aggressively headed to the screen, it’s going to start becoming one. If DC continues to lock their television properties out of their film work, they could be missing a lot of fantastic continuity that may have added up to an incredibly interesting TV special. With Marvel’s different Netflix shows culminating in the awesome power of The Defenders, hopefully there will be some room with that team being able to crossover with Marvel's Agents of Shield.
As mentioned earlier with both continuities of DC and Marvel, it is so hard to keep track of the various villains and heroes that are being spread out across all these Universes. Hydra is all over the Captain America films, and has ripple effects in a majority of the Marvel properties right now. DC is attempting to pull some of the same maneuvers with Argus that also has ties to The Flash. This gets murkier when considering the fact that the upcoming Titans and Supergirl shows are both in development right now. There is also a large chance that Supergirl could make it to the CW Universe being that the show is airing on the same network as Arrow and The Flash. Keeping track of all these different shows on just one network is going to be daunting. With three different ways to implement one set of branding, how many more entries could possibly be added to the mix? Is there a point that is going to cause superhero television overload?
Marvel is also continuing to develop shows with rumors of things popping up past the Netflix roster of television programming. The Marvel Universe is a vast place but, since there is an exclusion of characters like Spider-Man, The X-Men, and Fantastic Four missing from the equation of Marvel Studios, there is still a large chunk of the equation missing. Introducing these characters into the proper Marvel world and letting them all flow together would be the ideal way for this world to function. These three properties are juggernauts, and carry some of the most important appeal to the Marvel world as a whole. While Marvel Studios has been doing just fine without the Sony-owned heroes, they could be such a large asset in terms of growing character rosters along with the villains that could possibly be unlocked somewhere down the line with Marvel Studios.
There are a number of problems that an influx of superior content can bring to the screen, but chief among them is the idea that sticking to almost one universal continuity or almost no universal continuity could bring.
Both of these are problematic and confusing, and they sound like they have largely the same issues as something else--Comic Books.
With over 52 monthly titles shipping monthly (some more often than that) at both publishers, it’s hard to keep track of literally every character that is currently in the Marvel world. The trade-off comes with not being able to keep track of where every single character could possibly be, and just sort of being okay with the fact that some people are just going to show up everywhere. Wolverine has been the prime example of this in the comics, with agent Coulson or Iron Man possibly being the most overexposed characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Just don't think about it...okay?
Support Us
Enjoyed this article?
Supporting us on Ko-fi helps keep Comic Book News UK running and lets us continue championing indie comic creators across the UK. Every contribution makes a real difference.
100% goes towards supporting indie creators
