Plans for one of the most bizarre superhero teams in Marvel’s repertoire were scrapped 5 years ago, along with 4 TV shows that set it up.

Between the Avengers, Revengers, Defenders, and everyone in between, the MCU has been rife with superhero teams practically from the jump, but one of its most bizarre nearly sprang from a string of 4 canceled Marvel TV shows just 5 years ago. Marvel’s TV offerings have undergone a significant journey since Marvel began taking full creative control of its IPs in the late 00s, with today’s array of MCU Disney+ shows preceded by a long line of shows that fell under the “Marvel Television” banner. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are among the most well-known of these.

For the most part, these were not officially part of the MCU, with their canonicity being a huge bone of contention among MCU fans until Marvel finally broke its silence on the matter by incorporating The Defenders and its surrounding shows into the official MCU timeline on Disney+. One slate of animated Marvel Television shows in particular would have been a particularly bizarre addition to the wider MCU, however, which may go some way to explaining why they were canceled – yet the real reason was more likely down to timing.

Marvel Planned A Shared TV Universe On Hulu

Before Disney+, Marvel looked to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu to air its shows. With Daredevil and his cohorts operating on Netflix, a more bizarre team of heroes (and one villain) was announced in 2019 and were set to join Hulu. These included M.O.D.O.K., Hit-Monkey, Howard the Duck, and Tigra and Dazzler. These animated series were then poised to merge into a team-up reminiscent of The Defenders as the decidedly more off-piste The Offenders series. Of these series, M.O.D.O.K. and Hit-Monkey were the only ones to air, both releasing their first season in 2021.

Howard the Duck’s show was to be spearheaded by Kevin Smith, a comic book aficionado who would have no doubt helped revamp a character whose reputation was marred by his ill-fated first outing in 1986’s Howard the Duck. Tigra and Dazzler’s outing, meanwhile, was to be written and produced by Erica Rivinoja and Chelsea Handler before they were fired from the project almost a year later due to creative differences. Both shows were ultimately scrapped by Marvel in early 2020, along with The Offenders.

Why The Offenders Team-Up Never Happened

The characters comprise some of Marvel’s lesser-known and off-the-wall heroes, and it is hard to see how Marvel could have merged these animated and adult-themed series into the official MCU as easily as it did with The Defenders. After all, Howard the Duck is already MCU canon, having made his debut in a cameo in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and appearing again in Avengers: Endgame‘s Battle of Earth. The scrapping of these shows lines up with Marvel’s foray into MCU-specific Marvel shows exclusive to Disney+, which suggests the animated shows were not compatible with Marvel’s overarching plans.

Kevin Smith himself suggested that the arrival of the Darkhold in WandaVision , which was going to play a big role in his Howard the Duck series, was evidence enough of why Marvel dropped his show.

Despite this, M.O.D.O.K. and Hit-Monkey continued production outside the MCU continuity. M.O.D.O.K. was released first in May 2021, after WandaVision, while Hit-Monkey was released in November of the same year. However, M.O.D.O.K was then canceled after one season; and while Hit-Monkey was renewed for a second season, it was handed over to 20th Century Television with a looser association with Marvel. This departure from The Offenders tracks with Marvel’s reported efforts to reduce the MCU‘s output, focusing on quality over quantity.