More Marvel TV Series Are Coming To ABC

Marvel's collaboration with Netflix could face some fierce competition in the future. 

Jeph Loeb, head of television at Marvel, sat down with CBR to discuss the company's upcoming television projects, revealing that ABC will "absolutely" house a number of them. 

"Obviously these aren't things I can talk about. But look, as it is with every single one of the networks that we have gotten with that this is with, and whether it's Fox or it's FX or it's Freeform, or it's Hulu, or it's Netflix, ABC is always going to be our mothership," Loeb explained. "It is a Disney-owned network. We are a Disney-owned corporation and we're a good fit for each other."

Loeb then touched on why the two companies work so well together, beyond their corporate affiliations: "We speak a lot of the same language and the kinds of things that are important to them, which is people rising up again adversity; real emotion; a strong female character, but also a strong sense of family and questions of identity. All of those things are key to being a successful ABC show, but they're also key to being a Marvel show. So in that way we're going to go and see what happens along the way."

Some Marvel fans may wonder why ABC passed over past projects like the Charlie Cox-led series Daredevil or the super-sized superhero show The Defenders. Netflix, which isn't the company's so-called mothership, has received a ton of praise for its Marvel Television content, more so than Marvel's ventures down other avenues. According to Loeb, certain series were shifted to Netflix because to their more violent, gritty nature wouldn't mess well with ABC. 

"I think people confuse the fact that we go to other networks as a sign that we're not on ABC. The truth of the matter is that those shows weren't appropriate for us to be on ABC. How do we know that? We talk to ABC and we talk about what is it that you're looking for?" said Loeb. 

Agents of SHIELD sparked ABC's interest thanks to its exciting genre, and Agent Carter did much the same with its historical setting. With Marvel TV's most recent outing, Inhumans, Loeb stated that the family drama aspect really pulled in the network. "What [ABC] got excited about Marvel's Inhumans was the family drama aspect of it and the possibilities of something that had a big epic feel to it, but at the same time something that was small and intimate enough that they could get an audience hooked on it and so that's where we started," he said. 

Inhumans stars Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Iwan Rheon as Maximus the Mad, Serinda Swan as Queen Medusa, Ken Leung as Karnak, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal, Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon, Mike Moh as Triton, and Sonya Balmores as Auran. It's currently playing in IMAX theaters, but unfortunately opened to disappointing numbers. The series will premiere on ABC on September 29. 

While we dream about what's in store, take a look at all the upcoming Marvel projects that will get you pumped.