Echo, the upcoming Disney+ series, will be presented under a new banner called Marvel Spotlight that will feature shows that take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but are more character-focused and don’t impact the overall storyline all that much.
That news comes from Collider. It’s not just that the shows will be less grandiose and have less impact on the bigger MCU world but they will also be grittier and more “street level” according to Brad Winterbaum, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming. That was shown off in the surprisingly graphic and adult trailer for Echo, which featured a ton of violence and blood and a TV-MA rating. The idea here is that people can watch at least some MCU shows without having to be fully involved with the overall plot of the MCU and to deliver more adult-oriented content without youngsters missing out on key plot details.
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“Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity,” Winterbaum says. “Just like comics fans didn’t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.”
This does seem a bit ironic given the fact that Echo is a spin-off Hawkeye featuring characters from Daredevil, including Daredevil himself. However, that connection does make some sense considering this was exactly the MO of the Netflix MCU shows, which were more adult and, while taking place in the MCU, were largely disconnected from it. In fact, executives for Marvel Television (when that was still a thing) often referred to those shows as “street level.” Basically, it appears that Marvel is taking a page from its own book after learning some hard streaming lessons.
There’s no word on what other shows might be included in Marvel Spotlight, which is named after the Spotlight comic book series that debuted Ghost Rider and a few other prominent heroes, but there’s surely more to come.
