One of Marvel's Biggest Swings on Television Blended Superheroes With Supernatural Horror

Did you know there was once a Marvel show all about containing demons? While Marvel Studios might be more widely known for superheroes, its overall franchise has consistently been at its best creatively when it plays with other genres, particularly comedy and horror. Before projects like Moon Knight, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Werewolf by Night challenged the definition of what the MCU was capable of, one Marvel television show about two spooky siblings flew right under the supernatural horror radar and, today, deserves cult classic treatment: Helstrom, from creator Paul Zbyszewski.

What Is 'Helstrom' About?

Originally marketed by Marvel Television as the beginning of a sub-franchise called “Adventures in Fear” that was to continue with a S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off all about Ghost Rider, Helstrom revolved around the vigilante siblings Daimon (Tom Austen) and Ana (Sydney Lemmon) and their mother Victoria, played by Elizabeth Marvel, whose performance in the series alone is worth watching. Daimon and Ana use their mystic and psychic abilities to protect people when they can. But with a demon possessing their mother and a Satanic serial killer for a father, Helstrom could get seriously scary.

Helstrom had a lot of things that so-called fatigued Marvel fans often say they want to see more of. It wasn't really connected to the larger MCU beyond a few Easter eggs — like Roxxon Oil, for example — and mostly served as a standalone adaptation of a lesser-known comic book character. By and large, Helstrom was very much a show for adults. Not only that, but it blended genres, telling a scary mystical story more likely to be found within a Mike Flanagan series like Midnight Mass or Michelle and Robert King's Evil than a superhero show.

But Helstrom may have been doomed to fail from the beginning. It was released in the fall of 2020, right at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Promotion opportunities were limited. The year was a dearth for Marvel films, as release dates got pushed back. The pandemic also delayed Marvel Television’s pivot to Disney+, which may have made it seem — to the more casual fan, at least — like Marvel was taking the entire year off. Hindsight is, well, fill in the blank; between the stellar final season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the underrated Helstrom, there actually was some good new Marvel content in 2020.

'Helstrom' Was a Different Direction for Marvel Television at the Time

The slate back then, when Jeph Loeb ran Marvel Television, included YA fare like Runaways and Cloak & Dagger, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. — which was more adult than many MCU films these days (read: sometimes characters kissed), but still pretty bright and goofy in tone. That's not even getting into the charming but short-lived Agent Carter, the oft-maligned Inhumans, and the two mutant-y shows made by Fox in association with Marvel Television, Legion and The Gifted. Meanwhile, Helstrom's gloomy, grey color palette alone set the tone — and set it apart from the brighter network shows, with Austen and Lemmon possessing a chic, depressed energy unlike other, more earnest Marvel characters.

In tone and theme, the closest thing to Helstrom at Marvel Studios before the Disney+ era was the then-Netflix franchise and its street-level heroes and villains. In particular, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, and Daredevil had similar dark themes and moody protagonists. However, while Daredevil’s dally with the Catholic Church was more rooted in guilt, Helstrom dug into the occult and the supernatural skeletons in the Church’s closet, while the impressive visual effects were not so extravagant as to look fake. When fighting demons, Daimon was not afraid to play with fire — and, to paraphrase Galaxy Quest, always managed to get his shirt off.

There's No Reason Why 'Helstrom's Duo Can't Return to the MCU

On December 14, 2020, just months after the series debuted, Hulu and Marvel canceled Helstrom, effectively ending the Loeb era of Marvel Television. (The Ghost Rider spin-off, which would have starred Gabriel Luna, had already been scrapped.) However, recent years have proven that these MCU characters have not been kicked out of the sandbox, given their recent recurring

Looking back over the last five years alone, Agent Carter star James D'Arcy appeared in both Avengers: Endgame and What If...? as Edwin Jarvis, while Charlie Cox returned as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and will soon be joined by his Daredevil friends, enemies, and Jon Bernthal in Daredevil: Born Again. Heck, even Anson Mount reprised his Inhumans character in Multiverse of Madness. If that can happen, there's no limit to what can. Given the infinite possibilities of the multiverse, who's to say we can't see Austen and Lemmon as Daimon and Ana Helstrom again in some form?

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