Marvel’s Inhumans is one of Marvel’s most low-rated series to date. The first two episodes premiered to 5.8 million viewers but as the season continued, the viewership dropped and it holds an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. As much as fans wanted to enjoy it, it failed to keep people wanting to watch it which led to the series being canceled after one season.
The television series premiered on ABC and it was created by Scott Buck and it was set in the MCU. Even though the series didn’t do too well, Black Bolt (Anson Mount) made his reappearance as his Earth-838 counterpart in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. New information on the issues and the downfall of the series have been uncovered, as reported by TV Line.
INHUMANS WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED AS A LIVE-ACTION FEATURE FILM
According to the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, the Inhumans characters were originally intended to make their live-action debut as a feature film. The film was supposed to be released in July 2019 and it was supposed to be the film that was going to close out Phase 3 of the MCU. The film was quietly dropped from Marvel Studios’ slate and months later, the Marvel’s Inhumans TV series was announced.
“Marvel Studios has been developing an Inhumans movie for years, but Feige was never satisfied with the script and wasn’t eager to do battle with Fox on Ike Perlmutter’s behalf. (One proxy fight, against Marvel Television as the cat’s paw of the creative Committee, was enough for him.) As soon as Feige pulled the Inhumans movie from the release schedule (in April 2016), Marvel Entertainment ordered Jeph Loeb to fast-track Inhumans content on TV. Just two months later, the Inhumans appeared on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
-Excerpt from MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios-
It continues by saying that Marvel Television began working on the series and by November 2016, ABC decided to air an eight-episode season with IMAX as a production partner. This means that the first two episodes of Inhumans were filmed in the IMAX format and aired on IMAX screens in September 2017. Even with the IMAX viewing, the series was still not as successful.
BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS AND ETERNALS
Due to the series budget, many of the powers that the characters had were downplayed. For example: Medusa, the Inhuman queen had her red hair (which was expensive to render in CGI) shaved off. Lockjaw, the teleporting dog, had to be wounded for most of the action so the series could stay in one location in the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The series was canceled and one of the stars even said that at least they got “a trip to Hawaii out of it.”
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Also, when Marvel Studios began developing Eternals as a big-budget feature, the filmmakers were instructed to avoid any connections or similarities to the failed Inhumans television series. The book states:
“How determined was Marvel Studios to minimize any connection with Marvel Television? When it developed a movie starring another obscure super team, the Eternals, the creators were instructed that none of it could take place in Hawaii. The studio didn’t want any risk that audiences might be reminded of the Inhumans.”
-Excerpt from MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios-
This ultimately led to the Eternals being filmed in the Canary Islands, Spain, London, and elsewhere. Two weeks after the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Anson Mount addressed the cameo by saying how the call he received from Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige “was one of the most unexpected of my life.” He also called it an honor to finally work with Sam Raimi who reached out to him on how to portray the character.
The series from the beginning seemed like it was never meant to be a big project on the small screen. There have been numerous Marvel television series that have become fan favorites like Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and more. It is a possibility that if the Inhumans would’ve been a movie, it would have garnered more interest.
Now that we have seen Black Bolt back in the MCU, there’s a chance where we may see the other Inhumans as heroes from other multiverses and if that is the case, we can’t wait to see them properly utilized in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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What do you guys think of the Marvel Inhumans TV show? Is there a possibility to see the Inhumans in future MCU projects? Did you watch the series and if you did, what did you think? Let us know and don’t forget to check out our socials! If you like articles like this, make sure to follow us for more.
SOURCE: TV Line
KEEP READING: How The Inhumans Were Utterly Failed By The MCU
