Netflix has just announced that it finally deletes Punisher and Jessica Jones. This is the end of the era of Marvel series realized for the most popular streaming platform. It was an interesting and worth exploring story. Mainly because it shows how fast love turns into indifference and how sometimes the great revolution does not change much.
Let's start with the fact that the reasons why Netflix closes its universe of super heroes have more in common with what is happening around Disney and its relationship with streaming platforms than with the same viewership. As you know, Disney has been announcing for some time to create its own Disney + platform. The Mouse got along with Hulu, so it's no wonder that their relationship with Netflix is not as beautiful as it was five years ago when the first season of Daredevil appeared. In this case, copyright issues, issues of creating your own platform and overall - business and creative shifts in the industry - are the basis for decisions. Which does not change the fact that the five-year relationship between Netflix and Marvel is an interesting phenomenon to analyze. At the same time it is necessary to notice that what happened in the last year or two of the series in this universe had more in common with copyright, licenses and Disney gathering their heroes in one place, than just watching the production and creativity of screenwriters .
Netflix Marvel series seemed an interesting counterpoint to the movie universe of super heroes. Darker, with a smaller one - you can even say a local narrative, and heroes full of flaws and without comparison a greater dose of violence. While the movie universe seemed colorful and very comic (in the popular sense of the word - because in fact comic book does not mean anything, considering how many we have a comic aesthetics), it was television and netflix, to be darker and serious. And indeed - at the beginning this difference in creating heroes and in the way of conducting the narrative aroused enormous enthusiasm. Especially, the local activities of the heroes brought a nice change. While the MCU in almost every movie saved the whole world or even the universe (or just a galaxy - such a small trifle to save) - Daredevil, Jessica Jones or Luke Cage, wanted only peace in their district, sometimes expanding their ambitions to the whole city.
The idea that the Marvel’s Netflix world would only be loosely associated with the MCU seemed at first a great idea. It did not make sense in each episode to refer to the fact that in the same world there are heroes who could solve the problems of our "smaller" super heroes in five minutes. Of course, in Netflix there were references to big events from the MCU (the whole episode of the first season Jessica Jones was devoted to the desire to revenge on the super heroes, in Daredevil was talked a lot about the "event" that made it necessary to rebuild a large part of New York). Independence of the Marvel Netflix world, although it allowed for a different style and ignoring many events from the MCU, ultimately made what happened - at least in my opinion hurt the series - became so independent of the MCU that when it started to go a little worse, could not be supported in any way by the popularity of cinema films. It should be noted, that even the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that were very close to the MCU did not maintain the interest of the viewers as much as they could expect. It should be noted, that the lack of major MCU heroes in the series made it less and less that TV heroes were created in opposition to these "big heroes" who had their films.
The first seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones aroused enthusiasm. The Netflix serial universe seemed to give us things that were not in the MCU. The foreground female character, the leading figure with disabilities, completely differently written - definitely in-depth, opponents of heroes. It is true that Luke Cage did not arouse such enthusiasm as the first productions, but he was praised firstly - for the perfect setting in the reality of Harlem (again - the first production with a black hero in the foreground - as part of the MCU).
The first major Marvel setback was the second season of Daredevil. Although I personally love large amounts of ninja at the same time, my love was not shared by most viewers. However, it really seems that the series universe of the characters did not rise after the defeat of Iron Fist. The series that neither aroused the sympathy of the viewers, nor did it rekindle the enthusiasm for the production of Netflix (which at the moment did not expire, but ceased to burn so brightly). In addition, the Defenders released soon - though quite nice in themselves, they did not turn out to be an Avengers event. Mainly because what the viewers valued in Netflix narrations about the heroes gave way - an even greater number of ninjas and mysterious organization which of course in a mystical way rules the world and kicks a huge hole in the middle of Manhattan. Such things make secret organizations when they are bored. Defenders showed that unfortunately - individual heroes are still popular, their meeting does not arouse such emotions as the Avengers.
This does not mean that the shows stopped being worth watching - for many Punisher is still a very interesting production, and I think that the third season of Daredevil was perfect. The fact that Netflix will show the third season of Jessica Jones also proves that the story of a moody lady detective did not get bored with the viewers. At the same time - each new premiere of the next season or series was met with a slightly less enthusiastic response. Perhaps - the enthusiasm for this series universe was not only buried by Disney’s plans but also excess. Although the series did not enter at once, the frequency of new seasons was so large that at some point enthusiasm had to drop. In addition, almost every show was the same objection - that the story would be much better if it had fewer episodes. Anyway, even though the productions were different in terms of stylistics, they were similar in construction - until the middle of the season the heroes struggled with one problem, and then discovered that from the very beginning their problem was different.
At the same time, what was impressive at the beginning - a more serious approach to the ills of the heroes, including social problems, a slower narrative - was not necessarily so funny when it was repeated in subsequent seasons. Let's not hide - the first and third season of Daredevil are very good, among others because they are very similar to each other. In turn, for example, the slow narration worked very well with Jessica Jones, but with Iron First it was irritating - especially considering that this hero is really annoying. Probably the most boring for me was the second season of Luke Cage. Exactly - in many series it was just boring. What's more - often the most interesting elements of the characters biography were what they did outside their super heroic activities. I think that more people would watch a bit more scenes of Matt Murdock as a lawyer, Jessica as a detective (because it's definitely secondary) or Danny Rand as the head of a big company than just watching their next super heroic battles. Maybe with the exception of the Punisher because this one is always wonderful and he perfectly drinks coffee. In the case of serial narration, this place on this everyday life, which is missing in films, could be the greatest asset of the series. Instead, conspiracies were usually more complicated, and things were a bit of a crime series, which did not always work out well.
Paradoxically, despite the differences in style, the series also had one more problem. They were too similar. Almost every season, each of these series was based on an attempt to defeat an opponent with much prevailing powers. In the end, even though super heroic films have similar stories, the viewers received the same series several times. The details changed (like the corridors in which Daredevil wreaked havoc) but genre productions did not really differ. Meanwhile, diversity of species could be the greatest advantage of these series. Although in some series there were a few more stylistic elements specific to specific genres, the truth is that there should be a much bigger difference between watching Punisher and Daredevil - because comics are two very different worlds. The lighter treatment of Iron Fist could have brought us a series that would defend much more in the audience. Possibly, if you decided on a more serious style, you had to give up some comic threads - in the Daredevil poser, hundreds of ninja on the roofs were literally deadly to me.
At the same time, let's not hide - these series have absolutely perfect casting. This will be the most lacking - because I have the impression that perhaps not one bad actor was chosen for the heroic role outside the missed Iron Fist. It is sad to think that the actors who played their roles so well will never have a chance to play their heroes to the end. It would also be nice if the new series that will be stored would store what Marvel Netflix was the best - well-written, multi-dimensional opponents (though not in every series), slightly dark pictures (though sometimes it would be better to see something more) and the mentioned excellent castings. At the same time, you can learn from the Netflix series that, regardless of whether the cinema or the streaming platform really needs is diversity. In my opinion, between the series there were too many similarities - perhaps some liked it but in my opinion it is an unused chance.
In total, we do not necessarily know how the serial universe would develop if it was not for the fact that from some point Netflix must have realized that there will be no more series and a larger group of heroes (I suspect they could hope for more series or the possibility of borrowing heroes from the MCU). But at the same time - I have the impression that enthusiasm for the Marvel series world began to decline much earlier than it was said about Disney + and about copyright issues. Perhaps the problem was that after the first two series that gathered a lot of praise for a more serious tone, and darker photos, Netflix decided that everything would be done in the same way now. Possibly the truth is that the characters who were chosen for the series had not so much to offer - finally Luke Cage and Iron Fist are characters that are not so widely known to people who are not fans of comics (not to mention Jessica Jones). At the same time, it all sounds like the Netflix series was a failure. They were not - but at the same time you might wonder if they were not just an experiment - which would soon be over.
Interestingly, because Netflix keeps the cards close, we do not necessarily know how the results of specific TV shows really looked like. This is also an interesting question to what extent the Netflix series about the little-known characters of comic books (probably the most famous of them was Daredevil though I do not know because I have a weakness for him, or the priority palm belongs to the Punisher) were really interesting for viewers. It is clear that Netflix would withdraw from them because he simply had no interest in running them further (actually Disney had no interest in allowing Netflix to do this) but maybe in fact outside the narrow group they were never so important. Netflix can give the impression that everyone is watching something while it is not necessarily true. I'm really curious about the results of all the productions.
Netflix's journey into the world of super heroes is an interesting case like something that seemed a whole new amazing quality, it soon became commonplace. How the idea of a convention that would change the approach to the super heroes, became the next diagram of the tales of people with super powers. And in total, it is also the last chord of the history of dispersed productions from the world of Marvel. The amazing Legion is about to end and everything will return back, into the hands of an all-powerful Mouse. And what will become of us then? Watching DC production? Or maybe we will just be watching the next great seasons of the Umbrella Academy with a silly smile on our face.