Marvel Gets Comedic With ‘Damage Control’ Series For ABC
After Hulk gets through smashing buildings, Iron Man blasts things, and Spider-Man throws enemies throw windows and cars, who’s responsible for cleaning up the mess? That’s the premise for Damage Control, a new Marvel TV show in development with ABC, according to a Variety report.
Damage Control will be a “half-hour, single-camera sitcom that follows the overworked, underpaid clean-up crew of the Marvel Universe.”
If you need a frame of reference, think The Office but with more superheroes, villains, and messes.
According to the series description, the Marvel cleaning crew specializes in dealing with the aftermath of the unique fallout from super hero conflicts. They are the ones who are in charge of returning lost ray guns to their rightful owners, help to reschedule a wedding venue after it has been vaporized in a super hero battle or even track down a missing prize African parrot that’s been turned to stone or goo. Sometimes the most important super heroes are the ones behind the scenes — and that’s who Damage Control will follow.
The series is reportedly being developed by Ben Karlin (The Daily Show) with Marvel Television Head Jeph Loeb and David Miner serving as Executive Producers on the television series. A pilot has reportedly been ordered so Marvel fans will have to wait and see if Damage Control gets picked up for a series.
If it is picked up, Damage Control will mark the fifth series produced for ABC. The channel currently has Agents of SHIELD starting its third season and getting more praise as it brings in super-powered villains and heroes. There was also the Agent Carter series starring the adventures of Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter following Captain America’s disappearance in The First Avenger movie.
A new show called Marvel’s Most Wanted is also reportedly in development, which will follow the exploits of two Agents of SHIELD characters – Adrianne Palicki’s Mockingbird and Nick Blood’s Lance Hunter. Plans for the show originally hit a snag, which brought the two characters back for the current season of Agents, but Marvel decided to push through with the new series.
Finally, there is a “top-secret” Marvel project in the works for ABC though nobody is talking about what it may be. Variety reports America Crime creator John Ridley is currently working on the project though no details have been shared.
And those are the projects currently in development with ABC. The Marvel universe continues to grow on the small screen with a number of projects in development at Netflix. The first season of Daredevil generated enough buzz and success to warrant a second season featuring an all new set of frenemies such as The Punisher and Elektra.
Meanwhile, Marvel and Netflix have also begun to promote the Jessica Jones series starring Krysten Ritter. Teaser trailers have been released over the past two weeks to promote the upcoming November 20 premiere of the entire season through the streaming service. It also serves to introduce other street super heroes from the Marvel universe such as Luke Cage, played by Mike Colter.
Marvel, ABC, and Netflix are undoubtedly striking while the iron is hot. The question is how long with television viewers stay enraptured with shows involving comic book super heroes. The competition is getting fierce with DC Comics’ lineup of Arrow and The Flash with planned series for Supergirl, Teen Titans, and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. That’s not to mention the expanding movie universe battle that is set to escalate with the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in March 2016.
What do you think of all the super hero TV shows? Sound off in the comments below.
[Images via Marvel]
