These days, Marvel seems to be shoveling out more films and TV shows than it knows what to do with. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become so saturated with content that it seems to have taken a toll on the overall quality of Phase Four of the MCU. And with complaints coming in from overworked VFX artists who have struggled to bring these projects to life, it seems like the studio could ease up on what it’s producing.
This also applies to the cinematic universe Marvel is producing alongside Sony, as it has already lined up multiple projects based on characters even die-hard comic book fans aren’t familiar with. It seems like Marvel should stop and reconsider its plans for some of the films and series currently in production, particularly the ones on this list.
Agatha: Coven of Chaos
Following Agatha Harkness’s debut in WandaVision, Kathryn Hahn is set to reprise her role as the evil witch in her own solo series. While Agatha was a scene-stealing antagonist, everything audiences needed to know about her was already revealed in WandaVision, so there doesn’t seem to be much of a story to go off of in this upcoming series.
All in all, this series feels like more of a way to bring back Wanda Maximoff to the MCU after her supposed death in the last Doctor Strange movie, which could take up the bulk of the series and harm how it depicts Agatha’s own story. The fact that the show’s title was changed from “House of Harkness” to “Coven of Chaos” implies that the studio is hinging its success on its connection to the ever-popular Scarlet Witch.
Wonder Man
Wonder Man has been around since the 1960s, and despite being one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe, he remains a character who isn’t very well-known. Born Simon Williams, Wonder Man started out as an evil, superpowered industrialist who hated Tony Stark before reforming and joining his former enemies, the Avengers.
Unfortunately, this backstory feels way too familiar to fans of the MCU, and giving the relatively obscure Wonder Man an entire series seems like overkill, — he seems to be more suited for a one-hour television special like Werewolf by Night.
Echo
Even though Echo is the MCU’s Native American superhero, as well as its second deaf hero, producing an entire series about her seems a little too much for Marvel at this time. Just like with Agatha Harkness, so much of Echo’s backstory was explored during Hawkeye, so there doesn’t seem to be enough material left for a solo series.
And given that both Daredevil and Kingpin are supposed to reappear in this series, their presence may end up stealing the spotlight from Echo. All in all, her spinoff project would probably work best as a television special, and the studio itself seems to have acknowledged that, as it has delayed the release of the series.
El Muerto
Similar to Morbius, it seems that Sony is inflating El Muerto’s box-office potential. Even though the massively popular rapper Bad Bunny is set to play the titular wrestler and Jonas Cuarón, the son of Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men), will serve as director, there still isn’t much of a draw for the film, which may be set up to become another critical and commercial flop for Sony.
Outside of some background appearances, El Muerto has only appeared in two comic books in the main Marvel Universe, so there clearly isn’t much of a following from fans or even the people at Marvel. And unless Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter succeed in theaters, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Sony changed its plans and canceled this film.
Hypno-Hustler
Absolutely no one will be criticized for not knowing who Hypno-Hustler is, and those who do know him certainly didn’t want him to get his own project. But to everyone’s surprise, Sony recently announced that it would produce a solo film about this D-list supervillain led by Donald Glover and written by Eddie Murphy’s son, Myles, which has many comic book fans asking, “Why?”
At this point, Sony really seems to be scraping the bottom of its barrel of Marvel characters, desperately trying to keep its cinematic universe going. It also seems weird that Donald Glover is playing Hypno-Hustler when he is still technically the Prowler, the uncle of Miles Morales, in the MCU. That is a much more exciting film opportunity for Sony than making a movie about a villain who has been widely considered one of the worst supervillains in comic book history.
