Yesterday Disney announced the launch of their streaming platform that is set to go live this November. Disney+ will play host to National Geographic, Star Wars, Pixar, and of course Marvel properties.
The thing that most caught my eye about the announcement was that Disney+ originals were confirmed.
For Marvel they showcased logos for three new limited series! We are going to be getting, WandaVision, which will focus on, you guessed it, The Scarlet Witch and Vision. More importantly to note is that this isn’t some TV remake but rather both actors (Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen) will be continuing in their respective roles.
That’s not all, we also have the announcement of a Loki series and a team-up miniseries of The Falcon and Winter Soldier. Just the same, all film actors will be returning for these projects.
Sure, I’m excited to see these, but these announcements have opened a whole other level of excitement for me and that’s because of the X-Men.
For a long time I have said if and when the mutants should return to Marvel, I wasn’t confident that film would be the best place for them to go. The strength of the property is the ensemble element and a film could never do justice to all of the rich characters that make that world.
I always had the misconception that if actors take roles for films then they don’t take those roles for television. I suppose this came from the strong divide between the Netflix Marvel heroes (Daredevil, Punisher, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist) and their inability to join the larger MCU.
However, with these new announcements I have a feeling a strategy may be in place…
Just as WWE uses Raw and SmackDown to promote their pay-per-view events I believe that there could be the creation of an X-Men series for Disney+ that will allow those same actors to carry their roles to the MCU films.
Think about it! If and when down the road they want to do the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Saga, they could have it build up on their streaming series and have the climax be the cinematic event!
I’m not against this!
I think it is a strategy that would allow fans wanting them on television and those wanting them in film to get what they want.
My mutant fingers are crossed!
Gabriel A. Pino 