Here at Keep Marvel TV Canon, we want to see Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Inhumans, Runaways, Cloak & Dagger, and Helstrom be fully embraced by Marvel Studios like the Netflix Defenders series has been, so that those shows, the talent that worked on them, and the hard work of the cast and crew get properly recognized.
Marvel Television was launched in June 2010, led by Jeph Loeb. The studio began producing television series inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films and was made aware of Marvel Studios' plans to avoid interference when introducing new characters or elements into the universe. In August 2015, Marvel Studios was integrated into Walt Disney Studios with President Kevin Feige reporting to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn instead of Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter, while Marvel Television remained under Perlmutter's control. This was seen as widening the existing divide between the Marvel film and television divisions, and making it unlikely that the films would acknowledge the series' events and characters. By that point, the only series that had significant involvement from Marvel Studios was Agent Carter (2015–16).
By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing several series for Disney's streaming service, Disney+, to be centered on supporting characters from the MCU films who had not starred in their own films. The actors who portrayed the characters in the films were expected to reprise their roles for the series. Feige was taking a "hands-on role" in each series' development, focusing on "continuity of story" with the films and "handling" the returning actors. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), a television special, was the first project Marvel Studios began planning for Disney+. Loeb said Marvel Television would continue to develop new MCU series, including their own Disney+ series. In March 2019, Feige said the Marvel Studios series would take characters from the films, change them, and see those changes reflected in future films; new characters introduced in the series could also go on to appear in films. By September 2019, many of Marvel Television's existing series were canceled or ending, and several developing projects did not move forward. Variety reported that Marvel Television was likely being phased out in favor of the new Marvel Studios series, which had access to well-known MCU characters and much larger budgets than the Marvel Television series. Disney gave Marvel Studios an initial mandate to create as much content as it could, as quickly as it could, to bolster the new streaming service. Feige was named the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment in October 2019. Marvel Television moved under Marvel Studios, and its executives began reporting to Feige. Loeb was expected to leave Marvel by the end of the year.
Agent Carter (2015-2016) was essentially made by Marvel Studios. The show starred Hayley Atwell as the titular character, returning from her role in Captain America: The First Avenger, and was proposed by high ranking Marvel Studios executive Louis D'Esposito, executive produced by head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, and created for television by Captain America trilogy writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who would go on to write Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
The latter of which featured a cameo by none other than Edwin Jarvis, played as he was on Agent Carter by James D'Arcy. Furthermore, D'Arcy is set to return in 2026's Vision Quest, now playing the humanoid form of J.A.R.V.I.S., the AI first introduced in Iron Man (2008).
However, while Agent Carter has had its impacts on Marvel Studios projects, with one What If...? episode even showing a version of Howard Stark's Hollywood business, which was first introduced in the series, it still has not been placed on the Disney+ timeline, nor properly embraced by Marvel Studios.
In December 2021, two things happened that changed the fandom's view of Marvel Television's canon. The first was a cameo appearance by Daredevil actor Charlie Cox, reprising his role as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home that December. The second was less than a week later, as Vincent D'Onofrio guest-starred on the Hawkeye finale as the Kingpin — after appearing in footage in the previous episode.
A few months after that, in July 2022, at San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige announced Daredevil: Born Again, a new 18-episode Daredevil series with both Cox and D'Onofrio reprising their roles. Eventually, it would be revealed that Born Again was to be a reboot, with the show intending to ignore the original show's continuity but not fully retcon it.
After backlash from both fans and the stars, as well as the 2023 Writer's Guild of America (WGA) strike, which was followed shortly after by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike, the series was reworked to be a direct sequel to the 2015 show, undergoing a creative reboot, bringing back old cast members, and hiring The Punisher writer Dario Scardapane as the new showrunner, with Disney+ MCU series director veterans Justin Benson and Arron Moorhead to lead the development of the new Daredevil: Born Again, rewriting scenes of the filmed six episodes, as well as adding three new episodes — a new Episode 1, as well as a two part season finale, with the first season coming to a new total of nine episodes, and an eight episode second season being greenlit.
Marvel Studios' The Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Official Timeline notably excluded the Netflix series, only adding fuel to the fire of the canon discussion.
In January 2024, with the release of Hawkeye spinoff Echo, which also starred D'Onofrio, Marvel Studios Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum announced that he could say with confidence that Daredevil was fully canon to the Sacred Timeline. Shortly after, all of the Marvel Netflix series (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher), were added to the MCU Timeline on Disney+, after previously only being in the 'Defenders Saga' section since their addition to the streaming platform in March 2022.
Daredevil: Born Again premiered in 2025, maintaing the embraced canon Netflix series, with multiple guest appereances by Punisher actor Jon Bernthal, with Bernthal set to headline a new Punisher Special Presentation, as well as star in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, both in 2026. Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 is set to premiere in March of 2026, and will feature the return of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones.
In January 2026, a new detail emerged that reignited the debate about the canonicity of the old Marvel Television series. In Wonder Man Episode 4, Marvel Television presents a story centered on DeMarr Davis, a man who works as a bouncer at a bar in Los Angeles. One night, his life changes when he goes out to take out a bag of trash and comes into contact with a strange substance that emerges from a Roxxon Laboratories dumpster.
Fans of the old Marvel Television series noticed an important detail in that episode: DeMarr obtained his Darkforce powers in the same way that Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen did in the first season of Cloak & Dagger, through the Roxxon Corporation. This differs from how they obtained them in the comics. In the comics, DeMarr is a mutant born with these powers, while in the MCU, he acquired them differently. Similarly, in the comics, Tyrone and Tandy gained their powers after being kidnapped and subjected to the forced injection of an illegal experimental synthetic drug, whereas in the MCU, they obtained them through a different method.
A few days later, Wonder Man storyboard artist Tim Longo explicitly stated that Marvel instructed him to have "Roxxon Laboratories" written on the dumpster. This is a continual thread of mandates going back to even Agent Carter, when the showrunners chose to explore the origin of the Darkforce in the MCU.
As with all things fandom, rumors run rampant throughout social media about possible ties to these unembraced shows. Vision Quest has been rumored to have some ties to Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., which range from 'something that will make Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans happy', to series stars Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain de Caestecker reprising their roles as Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz, respectively.