NYCC Exclusive: Marvel on TV Panel

Jeph Loeb presented the upcoming in-development live action television shows coming from Marvel to ABC Networks.

AKA Jessica Jones

Following the plot of Brian Michael Bendis' fan favorite comic Alias, this show will follow failed superhero Jessica Jones trying to make a life for herself as a private detective in New York City. (Loeb made the requisite joke of being unable to use the title Alias due to JJ Abrams' long running serial of the same name.) The show will apparently be filmed in NYC as well, and to the fans' intense delight, significant characters that appeared in the Alias comic will appear on the show as well. Both Carol Danvers and Luke Cage will be cast members.

Hulk

Bruce Banner is coming to TV, also on ABC. Though Loeb refused to mention any names, it is widely reported on the Internet that Guillermo Del Toro will be the writer, director and producer of this live action superhero show. The series will focus on the relationship between Betty Ross and Bruce Banner, in a world where Hulk is still a secret menace who's origins and whereabouts are unknown. It was also mentioned that the graphics will not be on the same level as painting Lou Ferrigno--instead, they will be building off of what Joss Whedon is doing in the Avengers movie, essentially letting them do the research and development for the process of creating a realistic Hulk, and bringing that kind of big budget movie special effects to the small screen.

Cloak and Dagger

This fan-favorite duo will be getting their own show as well, however it will be on ABC Family rather than the main network. In what was the most groan-worthy presentation of the panel, it was revealed that the story will take place in a post-Katrina New Orleans, which will somehow benefit the plot by being crime-ridden, environmental, and grim. According to Loeb it is about two young kids who discover their powers. As I am not a legitimate journalist I feel more than confident about reporting on what exists in Loeb's subtext; the fact that their true comic origin will be completely redone. That is to say, they will probably not be runaways, and they most definitely will not be obtaining their powers by being kidnapped and pumped full of experimental narcotics, giving them extra-human abilities and leading to their escape and quest to help the downtrodden, the runaways, and the vagrants that evil corporations and manipulators take advantage of.

Mockingbird

The other ABC Family show to debut will be Mockingbird, focusing on the B-list, sometime Avenger and ex-wife of Hawkeye, Bobbi Morse. However, in this series she will be a college student at Stanford, recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. to be a spy. So we will follow her life as a student by day, and a secret agent learning the ropes. Before anyone else could make the hugely obvious connection to JJ Abrams' Alias (there it is again) Loeb described the show as a fusion of "Felicity and Alias", Felicity being another Abrams show and one that should never in any way be compared to a superhero series.

Loeb went on to discuss the animated series being spearheaded by Marvel, including a full motion comic of Joss Whedon and John Cassady's Astonishing X-Men Run, as well as a highly produced Ultimate Spider Man animated series, based on Bendis' very successful alternate universe Spider-Man comic. At this point I ducked out, as animation just doesn't do it for me, but let me be clear: I am very excited about the AKA Jessica Jones project. I sincerely hope it makes it to the screen and am excited to hear about casting and production news.

Next up: the seminal panel Cup 'O Joe, wherein Marvel bigwig Joe Quesada answers questions and breaks big news. Unfortunately, due to frankly inexcusable scheduling by NYCC, this all but overlaps with the event of the weekend: the Avengers movie panel in which we will see new footage, a good chunk of the cast in attendance, and surprise guests which obviously everyone is hoping ends up to be Joss Whedon. They're already lining up for that one, so wish me luck.