Marvel Exec Explains Shift Away From Creating ‘as Much as We Could for Disney+, as Quickly as We Could’ | Video

The 2019 launch of streaming platform Disney+ changed a lot for Marvel Studios, though those developments may not have been immediately obvious to fans. Marvel’s head of streaming, television and animation Brad Winderbaum said in an interview with the “Phase Zero” podcast, “Frankly, in all honesty, there was a mandate to kind of create as much as we could for Disney+, as quickly as we could.”

“And then there was a shift,” Winderbaum continued. “And all of a sudden, we have to start spreading our release dates out. So, that really accounts for a lot of the delays. Now, we’re using that time. We’re not sitting idle.

“So, it’s like it stays in the oven. You can bake certain things a little more. It’s actually, I think, ultimately, it’s only going to make things better. But, most of it is just frankly shrapnel from the business.”

Yes, even Marvel isn’t immune from changes in the overall entertainment industry. Part of this change is that the studio is actively developing more projects than it will likely actually produce, which is how Hollywood traditionally has worked but hasn’t been the approach at Marvel.

“We’re more like a traditional studio now. We’re developing more than we actually will produce,” Winderbaum continued. He then agreed with the interviewer’s enthusiasm about Marvel’s hero Nova: “There are plans to develop Nova. I love Nova, too. I love Rich Rider, too. I hope it gets to the screen.”

“The world is always chaos,” Winderbaum added. “There’s always things. You’ve got to conjure these things to make them happen, but I would love to see a Nova show, one day.”

Winderbaum spoke about the unexpected departure of “X-Men ’97” showrunner Beau DeMayo from the series both with “Phase Zero” and in a Friday interview with Entertainment Weekly. He told EW, “I can’t talk about the details, but I can say that Beau had real respect and passion for these characters and wrote what I think are excellent scripts that really the rest of the team were able to draw inspiration from [to] build this amazing show that’s on screen.”

DeMayo’s exit from the series came after he completed work on season 1 and had begun work on season 2, including writing scripts for the whole season. Ahead of his dismissal, DeMayo’s social media accounts were taken offline and he was removed from planned press conferences.

You can watch the full “Phase Zero” interview with Marvel’s Brad Winderbaum at the top of this story.