All We Know About Marvel Spin-Offs 'Most Wanted' and 'Damage Control'
A lot of new TV is coming from Marvel. Let's break it all down.
Over the last month there has been a whirlwind of announcements coming from Marvel Studios and its ever-expanding transmedia universe, most recently involving Netflix picking up the amazing Jessica Jones for a second season. But that’s way, way farther down the line. What of the other show announcements that got the blogosphere buzzing for a hot second?
Here’s what we know so far about Marvel’s Most Wanted and Damage Control.
What is Marvel’s ‘Most Wanted’?
Most Wanted is primed to be a buddy cop adventure spin-off of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. starring its two breakout and implausibly hot supporting characters, Bobbi Morse (a.k.a. Mockingbird) and Lance Hunter. The electric chemistry between its actors, Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood respectively, turned fans on so much that network execs turned on to giving them an hour on primetime.
This means you can expect the season finale of S.H.I.E.L.D. will have them say a sappy farewell so they can go off and do their own thing. Fans are so into these two, there are hundreds of YouTube videos made up of their bedroom and fight scenes.
ABC President Paul Lee announced the project would go to pilot during the winter Television Critics Association press tour. “We love the script,” he told IGN. “We think it’s going to be great. We’re doing that in the next few months.” The project’s existence was revealed back in April of last year in Entertainment Weekly until it was allegedly halted a month later, according to Deadline.
Okay, so what is ‘Damage Control’?
The news of Most Wanted going forward threw Marvel fans for a loop because it was known Marvel was already at work producing Damage Control. Based on the comic series of the same name, Damage Control follows the underpaid, overworked misfits that clean up after the Avengers and their major battles. Unlike most Marvel shows, Damage Control is a single-camera, half hour sitcom akin to other ABC productions like Modern Family.
In another IGN interview, ABC President Paul Lee expressed similar enthusiasm for Damage Control as he did Most Wanted. “That’s the one that’s going to be coming out this season. I haven’t read it yet. I can’t wait to see it. We hope it’s going to be great.”
Lee also waved off similarities to another show with an incredibly similar premise: DC and NBC’s office sitcom Powerless. “Our job is to make great television,” he said. “We pick up the best scripts we can, we put in the best casts. Our job is to make great TV.”
Aren’t there more spin-offs coming?
Yes. Two.
One of them is an untitled, very mysterious project from prolific author, TV showrunner, and Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley. He won an Academy Award in 2013 for 12 Years a Slave, but unknown to a lot of people is his deep roots in geekdom: He wrote the graphic novels The Authority: Human on the Inside and The American Way for DC’s Wildstorm imprint and served as a writer on DC’s animated shows like Static Shock and Justice League.
The other is yet another sitcom, and less is known about that than John Ridley’s Marvel project. In the same cited IGN interview, Lee wouldn’t reveal what network the show will air but that they would “love it to be” on ABC. It must be very early in development if they hadn’t been able to secure a home.
Man, that’s a lot of Marvel!
Yeah? Too bad. Fox and Marvel are producing two other shows, Hellfire and Legion which aren’t set in the X-Men universe. In their words: It’s just parallel.
