Marvel Television

Marvel Television (Marvel TV) is a division of Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment in The Walt Disney Company conglomerate. The division is responsible for live-action and animated (through Marvel Animation) television shows and direct-to-DVD series. The division is based at affiliate ABC Studios' location.

Background
Marvel previously licensed a few characters out for TV shows with animated shows being more successful than the live action shows. The Incredible Hulk (1978–82) was Marvel's only successful live action television series, running five seasons. The last TV series, Blade: The Series, was canceled after one season on Spike.

Marvel's first live action TV licenses were for Spider-man with the character in The Electric Company's Spidey Super Stories segments (1974–1977), CBS's The Amazing Spider-Man series (1977–1979) and Toei's tokusatsu style Spider-Man series (1978–1979). The Incredible Hulk also launched in 1977 on CBS. The Amazing Spider-Man pulled in reasonable rating but was canceled in 1979 by CBS as they did not want to be the "comic book" network as they had already had three comic book based show, choosing to stay with The Incredible Hulk, as it had the better ratings.

In 1978, Doctor Strange got a TV movie to act as a pilot similarly to Spider-Man and Hulk. Captain America also starred in two pilots in 1979, Captain America and Captain America II: Death Too Soon. None of these pilots were picked up.

After the end of The Incredible Hulk in 1982, live action Marvel shows did not return until 1988 with The Incredible Hulk Returns, designed as a backdoor pilot for Thor. Additionally, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk acted as a backdoor pilot for Daredevil, and The Death of the Incredible Hulk premiered in 1990.

Three direct pilots were done in the 1990s, Power Pack, Generation X and Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., but none of them were picked up for series. Marvel had better luck in syndicating their properties in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Night Man and Mutant X, each lasting at least two season. The latter show triggered a lawsuit by 20th Century Fox, who held the rights to the X-Men. As a follow up to the Blade film series, Blade: The Series was created for cable TV, lasting one season in 2006.

History
On June 28, 2010, Marvel Entertainment announced the start of Marvel Television, Marvel Studios' division, together with the appointment of Jeph Loeb to head up the division as executive vice president, head of television. Marvel TV's first show in development in October 2010 was The Incredible Hulk, which was being developed with Guillermo del Toro. In October 2011, ABC Studios has sold a Punisher put-pilot with Fox.

By April 2012, Marvel TV had four shows in development: the Hulk project and AKA Jessica Jones for ABC, Cloak and Dagger for ABC Family, The Punisher for Fox and Mockingbird. Also in April, Marvel TV signed with Creative Artists Agency for live action representation. In May 2012, it was announced that the Hulk project was not ready for the 2012–13 season, and would possibly be for the 2013–2014 season. It was also announced that ABC passed on AKA Jessica Jones.

In July 2012, it was reported that Marvel had again entered into discussions with ABC to do a show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in August 2012, ABC ordered a pilot to be written by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen, and directed by Joss Whedon, that became Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was officially ordered to series on May 10, 2013.

In September 2013, Deadline reported that Marvel was developing a series inspired by the Agent Carter Marvel One-Shot, featuring Peggy Carter. The report stated the series was looking for a writer, and was one of several series in development at Marvel.

Deadline reported in October 2013, that Marvel TV was rumored to be preparing a package of undeveloped four drama series and a miniseries for a total of 60 episodes to video on demand and cable outlets. Potential candidates included Netflix, Amazon and WGN America. In November 2013, it was announced that Disney and Marvel TV will provide Netflix with live action series, beginning in 2015, featuring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries about the Defenders. Responding to the Netflix announcement, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that that Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones may appear on film if their shows are successful and that another outlet was chosen as ABC and Disney XD could not handle all Marvel shows. Disney will spend approximately $200 million in financing for the series. The four Netflix shows will be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It was also revealed in November 2013 that the Hulk project first announced in 2012 had been shelved, with Jeph Loeb saying, when "we saw what Joss Whedon and Mark Ruffalo were creating in The Avengers, that was a better solution."

On May 8, 2014, ABC officially renewed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a second season and ordered Marvel's Agent Carter straight to series.