10 Problems With The MCU On TV (And How To Solve Them)

7. Off Key Interpretations And Dodgy Writing

MCU TV
ABC

There are obvious obstacles to adapting classic superhero properties: updating outlandish costumes and aliases to avoid unintentional hilarity, for example. However, issues can also arise with retelling backstories that come from a less enlightened time.

For all his showrunning naïveté, Coker managed to deliver to television a Luke Cage with little of his seventies blaxploitation and disco origins clinging to him. Buck’s feeble effort at updating Iron Fist, on the other hand, became a problem. The furore over Danny Rand as a 'white saviour' stereotype should have been easily anticipated: portraying the character as immature and obnoxious on top of that was begging for trouble.

Now, The Inhumans had the potential to be Marvel’s own Game Of Thrones... but shonky production design and clunky dialogue seem to have rendered that comparison laughable, and Buck’s premise was flawed from the beginning.

The status quo and characters should have been established over a season first, to cater for an audience unfamiliar with this odd, exotic royal family. Throwing them straight into a coup/forced exile storyline was a terrible idea - why should anyone care?

With any television adaptation, you need to bring the core principles of the property to the screen, anticipating and allowing for how a mainstream, modern audience might see the material. Considering these are Marvel’s own characters, you’d think they’d take better care of them.

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Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.