Keeping up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe used to be fairly straightforward: you watched a couple of movies every year, stayed until the credits finished, and then you knew what was in the next movie. Great, nice and easy. Then Disney+ came along, and suddenly there were entire television series introducing characters and storylines that would become important in the movies, and then in some cases, they never even made it to the big screen, throwing the whole MCU into disarray.
Thankfully, Marvel Studios appears to have taken that criticism on board. Speaking exclusively with Collider's Maggie Lovitt at New York Comic Con, Marvel's Head of Television, Streaming and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, explained that the studio has learned some important lessons about connecting its movies and television shows. Essentially, Marvel wants its future TV and movie projects to feel more like comic books, where readers can follow their favorite characters without needing to buy every other title on the shelf. He told Collider:
“We've thought a lot about the cross-pollination of movies and television shows, and sometimes it's really cool. Sometimes it feels like a lot for the audience, and we've learned a lot in the last few years of making television of when it works.”
Marvel Is Changing How Its Disney+ Shows Connect to the MCU
It's a much more straightforward and sensible approach, and one that should make life easier for people who just want to watch Charlie Cox beating up criminals without having to remember what happened in six other Disney+ shows. Winderbaum isn't suggesting that Marvel will stop connecting its stories, either, and nor should it, because characters will still exist in the same universe, and viewers who follow several shows might notice connections that other fans miss, but it's not going to be like homework. Spider-Man: Brand New Day was a great example of this.
“I think when it works is when it's about the bigger lore, and it has kind of like tethers to other things, like the comic books do," explained Winderbaum. "But you don't feel like everything is connected to everything in such a way where you have to watch it all and obsess. It should be a little easier, like the comics, where if you're a fan of Daredevil, you can watch Daredevil. If you're a fan of VisionQuest or the WandaVision trilogy, you can watch that. And if you watch them both, you might find some unexpected connections.”
VisionQuest arrives on Disney+ next week. You can watch Lovitt's full conversation with Winderbaum above and stay tuned at Collider for more.
Release Date
October 14, 2026
Network
Disney+
Directors
Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Terry Matalas, Vincenzo Natali
Image via Marvel Studios
English (US) ·