So aside from the uber awesome geektastic news that Joss Whedon is returning for Avengers 2, Disney also released the news that Whedon would be helping to develop a live action television series for Disney/ABC set in the Marvel Studios Movie-verse. Considering Whedon’s fairly awesome track record with producing quality genre shows, this is just about as good of news as the Avengers 2 announcement, at least to this geek. While Whedon would probably be too busy to be day to day on a new series, and do much apart from help develop it and (maybe) direct the pilot, no doubt his stamp would be felt on the show due to the writing staff he would bring in, as well as other considerations.
So that begs the question….just what Marvel characters would be ripe for exploitation on the small screen? You can forget about any of the Marvel A-listers, and even some of the B-listers like Iron Fist and Black Panther who have potential movies in development. The following are characters/concepts that are not only very unlikely to ever get their own movies, but are right within Joss Whedon’s wheelhouse as a writer and producer.
#5. Avengers Academy
No one does ensemble shows quite like Joss Whedon, and no one does shows about teenagers and younger people with special abilities taking on adult responsibilities better than Whedon either. Now that the Avengers has been established, how about a series where future wanna be heroes can train to be big time Avengers one day? The show can just use the title of the current comic as simply a jumping off point, and the characters from the current comics aren’t neccessarily needed. If he wanted, Joss can just do teenage or early twentysomething versions of some of his favorite B- list Marvel heroes, the kind that you know would never make it into a proper Avengers movie. Maybe take some Avengers no one cares about (I’m lookin at you, Sersi and Quasar) and just run with ’em. The one drawback to this concept is that Disney/Marvel might not want to oversaturate the name/concept of Avengers and make it seem less special by using it in a weekly televsion show. But if anyone can make it happen, it would be Joss Whedon.
#4. S.H.I.E.L.D
I would say that S.H.I.E.L.D is the obvious choice for an ongoing live action television series set in the Marvel movie universe, due to the fact that the covert agency played a part in all the films since the first Iron Man. In fact, it may be a little too obvious, which is why it is closer to the bottom of this list. But still….a S.H.I.E.L.D series would be like a lot like Alias or Mission Impossible, but set in a world where there are super heroes and villains in it, as well as magic and aliens as well. The most recent comic book version of S.H.I.E.L.D has the entire concept of the organization going back hundreds of years to the time of Leonardo da Vinci, and that might make for an interesting series that could span several seasons if done right.
#3. Spider-Woman
There is almost no one out there, especially no one with a Y chromosome anyway, that can write realistic and nuanced female action heroes quite like Joss Whedon. Obviously Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the most famous example, but also Black Widow in the Avengers would have just been “the hot chick” in the group under someone else’s direction, but under Whedon’s auspices she was maybe the most interesting and nuanced character on the team.
Which is why I think that Spider-Woman could be the perfect choice for a Whedon helmed series. As a character, Jessica Drew is damaged and with a strange past that she can’t make heads or tails of (think Dollhouse, only better) and she has a unique origin story to boot. On top of all that, the character has serious ties to S.H.I.E.L.D and Nick Fury (sweeps week cameo from Sam Jackson!) Because Jessica Drew isn’t as famous as other Marvel heroes, her supporting cast and roster of villains are more of an open book for Whedon to play without pissing off a huge fanbase of angry geeks. Lastly, she has a visually striking costume and overall look, and it’s time that television gave us a super hero who wore a costume and made it work, and didn’t shy away from that aspect like Smallville did for ten years.
#2. Damage Control
Originally created by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie as kind of as a sitcom set in the Marvel Universe, Damage Control is the company that cleans up the massive city wide damage done whenever super heroes battle super villains. I mean, somebody has gotta clean that shit up, right? First appearing in a series of mini series in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the characters kept popping back up in the Marvel Universe over the years, usually during some big event like Civil War that has a lot of collateral damage done to poor old Manhattan. The company has ties to both Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D, which makes them fit in perfectly in the Marvel Movie verse. The lighter, jokier tone would fit in perfect with Joss Whedon’s sensibilities as well, and the fact that not many people are familiar with the comic means they have all but a blank slate to use; they can use the name and concept but create all new characters. This one is a bit of a no brainer.
#1.She-Hulk
Ok, I’d say it is pretty well established among geekdom how good Whedon is with strong female characters. Well, Marvel has one of the strongest female heroes out there already with Jennifer Walters, otherwise known as the Sensational She Hulk. For the last few decades, Bruce Banner’s less angry cousin the She-Hulk has been played as a quippy, off the cuff character by creators from John Byrne to Peter David and most recently Dan Slott. Jennifer Walters in the comics is a gamma powered lawyer who deals in court cases that deal strictly with super heroes and super villains and other strange phenomenon. Whedon kind of already has experience with the idea of lawyers who only handle otherworldly cases on his show Angel, which frequently featured the demonic law firm of Wolfram & Hart. Plus, She-Hulk by her very nature ties into the Hulk, who already stole the show in the Avengers movie and is a much beloved character. I know that Marvel Studios and Guillermo del Toro are planning an Incredible Hulk tv reboot, but I think this is an even better idea. Not to mention, getting a tall built actress and painting her green is a lot easier and cheaper than a CGI monster week in and week out.
