Reflections on Balticon 43: Article 4, The Rise and Fall of Marvel on Netflix

Originally published on June 1, 2019 - I have watched nearly all the Marvel shows on Netflix and was delighted to moderate “The Rise and Fall of Marvel on Netflix.” Panelists included Hildy Silverman, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Ryan Haupt, Steven Howel Wilson, and Sara Testarossa.

Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and for me Punisher are the heroes and antihero of the Marvel Universes dark gritty New York stories. Panelists shared that these characters have powers that are also inexpensive enough to keep production costs down… Jessica Jones facing a villain with the mind power to control others, is a perfect example of that. Iron Fist’s glowing fist is another example of that.

The panelist also noted the lack of the humor the MCU movie universe displays, which made them so successful. The dark and gritty’s seriousness hurt the franchise on Netflix. What else could have been done and missed? Teasers connecting these shows much more to events in the MCU. Hildy Silverman noted that there was mention to the attack on New York in Avengers, but not much more. There could have been glimpses of the other settings of the other Marvel shows on Netflix rather than just the crossover opportunities.

Steven Howel Wilson said that what hurt the series is they were too long. Less episodes would have helped a lot. Other members of the panel agreed, feeling the stories dragged and felt padded in the streaming format. Television shows have commercials. Writers know how to pace for such shows, but streaming doesn’t have commercials and some of the cuts to the next scenes show that testing of the format, leaving the series pacing easily to stretch by entire episodes.

Who were the breakout characters? Karen Page was Hildy’s choice, which Ryan Haupt shared was introduced in the comics in 1963 as the “Gorgeous Karen Page,” a character with little agency in the comic. Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin, according to Ryan (fine, me too), was amazing as was his penultimate fight scene in Daredevil. On Netflix, Karen has a wonderful arc of growth, which can be seen across the shows. Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, the Punisher, is likely the best portrayal of the Punisher, superior to the number of films over the year. One panelist said, “He is the Punisher.” The Punisher became so popular that he ended up with his own show. One panelist, I believe, it was Ryan, said so many people went to Netflix to view The Punisher it nearly crashed their service.

Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were among the top shows of the group, too, the panel acknowledged. Iron Fist was hands down the least favorite, with Danny Rand’s corporate storyline causing panelists like Steven Howel Wilson to essentially “scratch their heads” wondering what the writers were thinking. Ryan mentioned that the one time the Iron Fist team was not put in charge of writing Danny Rand (as they were on Iron Fist and Defenders) in the Luke Cage crossover, Danny actually made sense. Though, Keith DeCandido pointed out that as a marital artist himself he’s no idea what Danny was doing in his marital art scenes, or anyone in Iron Fist, for that matter. That a show about a martial artist was apparently so rushed that this aspect was lost was another reason for Iron Fist’s failure. Then there was the sense of wonder at why those in charge of Iron Fist were given Defenders to produce as well, which also came out the worse for it.

What’s next in store for these characters now that only the third season of Jessica Jones remains to air on Netflix, which is releasing in a couple of weeks? Ryan shared that Disney has to wait two years before airing any of these shows on their streaming services. In all likelihood, the actors and actresses who worked on these series will not even be available to work on those shows, which will likely all be rebooted, if they are brought back at all, though, a number showed enough popularity we can expect their return, but with new people playing the roles.

I’m looking forward to watching Jessica Jones, whose first season I loved—and doubt I’ll ever watch another minute of Iron Fist on Netflix. I can only hope Disney learns some lessons about the rise and fall of these shows on Netflix—because I love a lot of these characters, many of whom I’ve never gotten to know as well as I do now. So, thank you, Netflix… better luck Disney… hope you took notes the fans will appreciate it.

Lastly, I’m pleased to share that Sleeping Beauties and Beasts, Hands of the Highmage, Book 4 is now out and available exclusively on Kindle and in paperback on Amazon.

Welcome to the world of Highmage’s Plight, where magic changed key laws of science and gunpowder now puts out fires — and humanity and the elvin Empire face destruction. This series has a bit of a Neverending Story twist and in Sleeping Beauties and Beasts twisted fairy tales may be their only hope!

Dare to Believe,

D.H. Aire