Abandoned Marvel Studios Movie Reworked Into New Disney+ Show

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The new Disney+ series Marvel Zombies is currently very popular, but it could have looked quite different if it had been released as a movie, which was the original plan. Since Disney+ launched, there’s been a lot of discussion about whether certain Marvel projects work better as films or as series. Interestingly, Marvel Zombies is one of several Marvel projects that switched from being planned as a movie to becoming a TV show.

As a big Marvel fan, I was excited when Marvel Zombies dropped on Disney+ on September 24th. But it turns out, it wasn’t always planned as a series! The director, Bryan Andrews, told Variety they originally intended it as a full-blown movie. The problem? They ran into some tricky “contractual issues” trying to get Spider-Man involved. Sadly, that meant the movie idea had to be scrapped, and they switched gears to make it a miniseries instead.

We originally planned to release this as a full-length movie – something really epic, around two to two and a half hours long. It would have been fantastic, but complications with the contract involving Spider-Man prevented us from moving forward.

Marvel Studios Animation has always focused on TV series and short stories, like What If…? and I Am Groot, rather than full-length films. It’s hard to say how audiences would have reacted to Marvel Zombies if it had been a movie instead of a limited series. The show’s concise episodes have been popular on streaming, and its surprising ending has viewers eager for a second season, which Marvel might already be planning.

However, Marvel Zombies isn’t the only Marvel project to go through changes during its creation. Other titles originally planned as movies were later developed into TV shows.

The Marvel Movies That Became TV Shows

Inhumans

Marvel Studios originally planned a movie about the Inhumans – a race of people with special powers – for its Marvel Cinematic Universe. Back in 2014, Kevin Feige, the head of the studio, announced the film was in development for Phase 3, with a planned release in November 2018. It would have been the 20th movie in the MCU.

Instead, Marvel Studios decided to focus on bringing Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe after reaching an agreement with Sony for the character’s use.

Rather than a film, Inhumans was developed into a TV show for ABC, the same network that aired Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD. Unfortunately, the series wasn’t well-received and was cancelled after only one season. Its place in the official Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) timeline is somewhat unclear, though the character Black Bolt from Inhumans did appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Runaways

The comic book series Runaways, created by Brian K. Vaughan, was originally planned as a movie. In 2008, Marvel Studios hired Vaughan to write the script for what was envisioned as a coming-of-age team film – one of the earliest projects considered for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A director, Peter Sollett, joined the project, but development stalled in 2010. Marvel then decided to pursue a different team-based movie instead: Guardians of the Galaxy.

Brian Vaughan’s original comic book idea became a reality when Runaways was developed into a TV series at ABC Studios. The show ended up streaming on Hulu and featured actors like Rhenzy Feliz, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, and Gregg Sulkin. Runaways ran for three seasons and notably crossed over with the Marvel series Cloak & Dagger.

Daredevil

Netflix’s Daredevil launched a significant expansion of the Marvel universe on the platform. It was followed by three seasons and five spin-off shows. Although originally cancelled by Netflix, the story of Daredevil continued within the main Marvel Cinematic Universe as Daredevil: Born Again.

Interestingly, the creator of Daredevil, Drew Goddard, initially proposed it as a movie. He explained to IGN that he discussed making a film version with Marvel Studios a few years before the show actually aired. Ultimately, they decided a TV series was a better fit because the story wasn’t large enough in scope to justify the massive budget of a typical Marvel movie.

Drew Goddard approached Marvel a few years after Ben Affleck’s Daredevil movie about potentially making a new film. However, everyone agreed that a massive, $200 million budget didn’t fit the story. Matt Murdock, Daredevil, focuses on street-level crime and protecting his neighborhood, not global threats. Big-budget spectacles with spaceships just wouldn’t feel right for his world. Ultimately, Marvel Studios primarily focuses on large-scale, high-budget films, and a $25 million Daredevil movie didn’t align with their current strategy.

Hawkeye

Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner, was the only original Avenger—including Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Black Widow—who didn’t get their own movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, a solo film for Renner’s character was once planned. According to a report from Bloomberg (via Slash Film), both Marvel’s Kevin Feige and Renner ultimately preferred the idea of developing the story as a series for Disney+.

Hawkeye was among the first shows released on Disney+ as part of Marvel’s initial lineup and proved to be popular with audiences. The series picked up after the events of Avengers: Endgame, focusing on Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) as he dealt with past trauma and trained a new hero, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). While the show was well-received, a second season hasn’t been announced, though Renner has expressed interest in returning to the role.

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2025-10-30 08:06