Let me start by thanking Sutton--he's almost unique in this space by being open to opinions that differ from his own. Before we delve into the specifics of the scoop, a bit of housekeeping: a couple of weeks ago I teased an Excalibur scoop (what I thought was the missing element from Sutton's scoop-jam in May), but this was a mistake on my part, as what was missing wasn't IP-related. Instead what we have is an alternative to which show besides Excalibur Joss Whedon is being considered for. That show is Agents of SWORD. Here is the quote from Sutton:
Agents of S.W.O.R.D. is essentially a cosmic, big-budget spin-off of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which had become increasingly sci-fi and weird in its final seasons [five onward]. S.W.O.R.D. finds [Joss] Whedon at the top of the list for showrunner, and appropriately so: it has his fingerprints all over it [Joss' brother Jed is the showrunner for AoS]. Whedon actually co-created S.W.O.R.D. [the comic in 2004], and its green-haired star Abigail Brand, for Marvel Comics. Not only that, but he played an integral role in having AOS' Quake, Chloe Bennet, ending up in the MCU [he means in Agents of SHIELD]. The global pandemic may be reshuffling production schedules but insiders tell me that S.W.O.R.D. is a priority for Disney+. Whether Whedon ends up with the series is another matter. No negotiations have started yet but stay tuned.
Let's briefly go over what SWORD is: an organization based in orbit around the earth meant to protect the planet from external threats. It was created in 2004 as a subdivision of SHIELD, but has been defunct since 2013 (as per the Incursion event), seemingly replaced by the Alpha Flight Space Program. This group, the AFSP, not only includes members of Alpha Flight, but also Captain Marvel and Abigail Brand. I should note that I've never read anything SWORD has appeared in, so my knowledge of it is entirely secondhand.
Some additional context: there was a possible rights situation with the IP in the past. Back in Thor (2011), a line of dialogue referencing the org was cut and there's speculation that the reason it was removed was because the IP was at Fox (since SWORD first appeared in Astonishing X-Men). I haven't seen this definitively said one way or the other by someone with access to that information, but plenty of Marvel IP have bizarre rules associated with them (Kingpin, Jessica Drew, Emma Frost, etc), even if the IP largely moved away from its original mutant context. In terms of this scoop it's not important to resolve the issue, since Marvel has the Fox rights.
Before I fully dig into the meat of the scoop, I need to go over two points that Sutton and I either definitely or probably disagree on (putting my cards on the table, as it were).
- 1) I believe Joss Whedon's involvement with Agents of SHIELD is overstated--while instrumental in its creation, he directed just one episode in the first season and has none of the other credits you'd expect from someone deeply involved in its production (there's no comparison at all to his own shows). From the outside, it's hard not to see the show as simply a vehicle for his brother (Jed's jobs seem to be directly or indirectly via Joss). I should add that I've never watched AoS (even in the beginning it was apparent it wasn't relevant to the MCU). From my perspective, Joss' lack of credits and the long periods when he was preoccupied with his own work (production and promotion of Age of Ultron (2013-15), producing the short Lurk as well as directing Justice League (2017), and showrunning HBO's The Nevers (2018+)), precludes him from being very involved. This isn't that relevant to the matter at hand, just offers context on where I'm coming from
- 2) The second point I know Sutton disagrees with me: Agents of SHIELD is not part of the MCU--the great irony of Marvel Entertainment is that the tagline 'it's all connected' was a fiction. While the show rigorously tried to remain within the MCU's continuity, Feige and his team studiously ignored it. The most obvious demonstration of this is Coulson's continued existence on the show, something the films would have addressed if it was canon. In my opinion, other than Agent Carter (which Feige actively took part in), nothing made under Jeph Loeb is part of the MCU. This is my perspective--we can't know if this remains the case until Phase Four gets rolling--but as it stands I believe it's the case
Sutton is making two assertions with his scoop:
1) An Agents of SWORD Disney+ show is coming
2) Joss Whedon is on the list as a potential showrunner, but has not been approached
The first is a definitive claim--a decision at Marvel has been made and the show is coming. The second is more tentative, in that it supposes a list of names which has yet to be explored. We'll go through each element and then delve into what function a show like this could fulfill for the MCU.
Disney+ Agents of SWORD
The first scooper to suggest such a show was coming was LotLB (via their original source, which is to say, not Sutton) last July. At the time they said it would be on Hulu, but LotLB's understanding then was that all Marvel productions going forward would be part of the MCU (correct in spirit at least). They echoed this scoop twice in August--in the second instance mentioning Quake being involved. Unbeknownst to me (until I did the research), in September Sutton made claims almost identical to the scoop above (Agents of SHIELD spinning off into Agents of SWORD and including Quake), but without the Whedon attachment.
Following that, we have claims from 4chan (November) and Reddit (January), with the former including Nick Fury and the latter repeating Quake (first link above). In February Sutton said Nova will work for Fury, who is the head of SWORD (echoing LotLB from August, although I don't believe they attached that specifically to SWORD). The next scooper to throw their hat in the ring was Vicky Depledge (then at GWW), who said in May that, not only was the show happening, but that it would be titled Secret Invasion and lead into Captain Marvel 2. Murphy backed part of this idea (same link), saying Secret Invasion was in development (which echoed earlier scoops from others--see below). About a week later Sutton repeated his February scoop and a couple of weeks after said Quake would be part of the team (repeating his claim from September); in response to Chloe Bennet's denials that she'd been contacted by anyone from the MCU, he speculated she had to say that due to an NDA (a cynic would call this special pleading, but it's not impossible that Marvel would want to hide her involvement to preserve the buzz for later). Finally, this July Sutton said the show will reference or introduce the Shi'ar Empire.
That's a dense wall of text, so let's summarize: LotLB, Sutton, and GWW have all said the show is coming (with indirect support from Murphy, Daniel, and Rich Johnson, all of whom say Secret Invasion is coming). The organization was teased in Far From Home and revealed by the set photos from WandaVision, so there's no question we're getting SWORD, just a question of if we're getting a show.
As for Quake, only LotLB and Sutton have supported the idea (unlike the return of the Netflix characters, where other scoopers have jumped onboard), and as I've brought up with all the Loeb-properties, while its doable, Feige has shown no interest in playing with someone else's toys. We also need to be clear that Agents of SHIELD is not popular by any metric--recall that ABC would have cancelled it after four seasons [2017], but were not allowed by their corporate masters at Disney. This means there's no obvious payoff in using the IP (unlike with Daredevil, for example). It's also worth mentioning that Bennet has complained loudly and often about not being included in the MCU (eg, unlike Charlie Cox or Vincent D'Onfrio, who simply express the wish to be included), something I don't think is received very well. Back to the question at hand: could Bennet be brought into the MCU? Yes--this isn't a question of mechanics, but of Feige's intentions. To me, seven years of indifference is proof enough that it's not going to happen.
The second part of the scoop--and the element that's truly new from Sutton--is our potential showrunner. The idea of Whedon participating in the MCU again isn't new from Mikey, as back in September he said he was being considered for the X-Men franchise (a much bigger and more prestigious IP). As I pointed out then (the link), Whedon seemed a better fit for Disney+.
If this was four or five years ago this idea wouldn't receive any pushback at all. Whedon was widely beloved and, even if the reception of Ultron was mixed, he had plenty of good will in the bank. Whedon's reputation, however, has suffered lately. Let's briefly go through why.
"When I was running Buffy [1997-2003], I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women. It felt like I had a disease, like something from a Greek myth" - Whedon explaining his infidelity to his wife2017: Kai Cole's, Whedon's wife (1995-2012; divorced in 2016), published an article in The Wrap where she called him a hypocrite as an outspoken feminist because of his rampant infidelity. What hurt Whedon most, in my opinion, was the ridiculous letter he sent to his wife from which we get the above quote--anyone less famous would have been laughed out of the business
2019: Charisma Carpenter was written out of Angel because she was pregnant (2003); until 2019 Carpenter didn't make any comments of outrage related to this, but (via the link) has begun to do so on social media
2020: Ray Fisher claims Whedon was abusive on the set of Justice League (2017); we've heard only one other actor echo this, James Marsters from his days on Buffy, but the latter comment sounds like a one-off and Marsters said he'd still work with him
Whatever you think of the above--how valid or serious the complaints are--Whedon is still well thought of in the business (there was a biding war for The Nevers in 2018), Marvel still talks to him, and the other MCU directors respect him (eg). Despite his infidelity he's never been MeToo'd (no one, that I'm aware of, has even admitted to being one of his paramours). Marvel is, however, risk adverse--ie the drama of James Gunn's firing (clearly an Alan Horn issue, but Horn remains). I don't think the above is enough to eliminate him from consideration, but could be a factor.
The other pertinent question I have: is he available? Whedon is showrunnering The Nevers, whose first season wrapped in 2019. The actors are signed for five seasons (very much like Amazon's The Lord of the Rings series), so unless the show fails or has a big gap in production, it's difficult (if not impossible) for Whedon to run anything else. Because of that, I don't think Whedon is going to be involved with the MCU in the near future. Does this mean he wouldn't be put on a list of potential showrunners? Not necessarily, although given that he signed his HBO deal in 2018, it would be surprising (granted, they might contact him purely as a courtesy).
Do I think an Agents of SWORD show is coming? I think it or something very similar is likely (I'm iffy on the title, as I don't think Feige wants the association with AoS). What I'm dubious of is both Whedon's involvement and actor carryover from Marvel Entertainment. I could be wrong--maybe Feige isn't bothered about Loeb anymore or the wonky ME association and/or continuity. For now, I don't think we'll see anyone from Loeb's creative output reprise their role in the MCU.
What could an Agents of SWORD series do for the MCU? It's usefulness is not related to the characters created for it, as even the most prominent (Brand) is not particularly popular (she's appeared exactly three times in the comics since 2017 and is nowhere to be seen on popularity lists). What the organization ties into is the second Secret Invasion (the Brian Michael Bendis version), which was scooped as coming by Johnson back in January. What SWORD has is a strong connection to the modern (ie the rebooted Kelly Sue DeConnick iteration) Captain Marvel--it provides an easy way to surround that character with a supporting cast and allow for some much needed character development (we can infer Marvel thinks she needs help because they changed directors for her next film, despite the first making over a billion).
I don't think we'll see Brie Larson performing regular duty on a Disney+ show, so how would you anchor something like this in terms of fan engagement? Nick Fury would be an obvious inclusion, although I don't think Marvel would lean entirely on the soon-to-be 72-year old actor. The show would need someone involved with pull--either an established character (and I can't think of any that would match this IP and fulfill that need), or someone new with cache. Given that, someone like Nova, Quasar, or Sentry (all of whom have had rumours about them) would help.
More broadly, I'm not really a fan of Secret Invasion conceptually, but it could work and isn't the kind of story other comic films have tapped into yet (I'll point out that Sutton hasn't made a claim related to that here). I feel like in general this kind of premise (Agents of SWORD) doesn't have a lot of staying power as its own IP, but what it offers is supplemental utility to other IP (as witnessed in WandaVision). It's interesting food for thought and I'll be keeping an eye out for further developments.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
No comments:
Post a Comment