Anna Daniels
At the beginning of the year, we learned that Marvel Television was teaming with Hulu on four new animated shows inspired by various characters from Marvel Comics. There’s M.O.D.O.K., Hit-Monkey, Marvel’s Tigra and Dazzler Show, and Howard the Duck. Despite the recent shift in power as Jeph Loeb steps down from Marvel TV and Kevin Feige starts to oversee both the film and television sectors of Marvel Entertainment, almost all of the shows remain on track at Hulu. Except for one.
Marvel’s Tigra and Dazzler Show (seen above left) has fired showrunner Erica Rivinoja (Girls Trip, The Addams Family) and the entire writing staff of the animated series due to creative differences with Marvel. In the wake of this development, production has been paused and a major creative overhaul is in the works.
The Hollywood Reporter has word on the Tigra and Dazzler Show shifting creative directions. Reportedly, Erica Rivinoja and her writing staff had already finished several scripts and had outlines in place for others, completing 15 weeks of the planned 20-week production. That’s pretty late in the game to figure out there were creative differences between the showrunner and Marvel, which makes us think this is a direct result of Kevin Feige taking charge of Marvel’s television programming.
Now Marvel is on the hunt for a new showrunner who will build an entirely new writing team. Nothing that was written by the previous team will be used as production essentially starts from scratch. Thankfully, Marvel has no intention on pulling the plug on the show completely, especially since it’s slated to be part of a big animated crossover with the three other shows.
The good news for the eventual crossover, dubbed The Offenders, is that the new creative direction for Marvel’s Tigra and Dazzler Show won’t have any impact on the other three shows. While all four of the animated series’ will meet up in The Offenders, they’re not interconnected like the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each will stand on their own individually before coming together for the crossover special without any of the characters meeting each other before then.
The shake-up with Marvel’s Tigra and Dazzler Show comes not long after Marvel pulled the plug on the Ghost Rider series that was being spun off from Agents of SHIELD. Once Runaways airs its third and final season this month, the only live-action Marvel series at Hulu will be Helstrom. But we’ll see how long that lasts now that Disney+ is gaining traction and has a whole slate of Marvel Studios shows on the way.
For your convenience, here’s a quick rundown of all the Marvel animated shows coming to Hulu:
- Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. centers around an egomaniacal supervillain with a really big head and a really little body, who struggles to maintain control of his evil organization and his demanding family. Writers Jordan Blum (Community, American Dad) and Patton Oswalt will also executive produce along with Jeph Loeb.
- Marvel’s Hit-Monkey tells the tale of a wronged Japanese snow monkey, mentored by the ghost of an American assassin, as he cuts a wide swath through the Tokyo underworld in this darkly cinematic and brutally funny revenge saga. Writers Josh Gordon and Will Speck (team who did Blades of Glory, Office Christmas Party, The Switch) will executive produce along with Jeph Loeb.
- Marvel’s Tigra & Dazzler Show is a story about two woke superheroes and best friends, Tigra and Dazzler, as they fight for recognition among powered people who make up the eight million stories in Los Angeles. Writers Erica Rivinoja (South Park, Last Man on Earth, Girls Trip, Ugly Dolls) and Chelsea Handler (Chelsea Lately) serve as executive producers along with Jeph Loeb.
- Marvel’s Howard The Duck is trapped in a world he never made, but America’s favorite fighting fowl hopes to return home with the help of his unstoppable gal pal Beverly before the evil Dr. Bong can turn him the crispiest dish on the menu. Writers Kevin Smith and Dave Willis (Space Ghost, Aqua Team Hunger Force, Archer, Squidbillies) will also executive produce along with Jeph Loeb.
- Marvel’s The Offenders, is a story in which nobody asked them to – and we’d be better off if they didn’t – but MODOK, Dazzler, Tigra, Hit Monkey and Howard the Duck are all forced to team up in order to save the world and certain parts of the Universe. Jeph Loeb will executive produce.
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