His name may not be as well known as his movie counterpart, Kevin Feige, but Jeph Loeb has also been a force in bringing your favourite comics to life on TV. And now, that run may be coming to an end.
Loeb is the head of Marvel Television and is responsible for bringing every Marvel TV show you’ve seen in the last decade to your home. We’re talking Agents of SHIELD, The Defenders (Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist), Runaways, Cloak & Dagger, Legion, all of the animated stuff, the list goes on and on. And yet, according to a new report from Variety, Loeb may soon be leaving Marvel.
“Loeb… is expected to leave his post as head of Marvel Television in the coming weeks and is in the market for an overall deal with a new company,” Variety wrote as part of a larger report on Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter and Feige’s new role for Disney, citing “sources.” Gizmodo has reached out to Marvel TV for potential comment or correction and we’ll update this piece if we hear.
The reasoning for the potential move seems linked to the promotion of Loeb’s movie counterpart, Feige. Feige was recently promoted to Marvel Entertainment’s chief creative officer, giving him control not just over movies, but comics, TV, and more. Since then, at least one of Loeb’s shows, Ghost Rider at Hulu, was cancelled just as many others, such as Agents of SHIELD and Legion, came to their ends.
Meanwhile, for the first time, Marvel Studios has begun to move forward on its own TV shows. Over on Disney+, series such as Loki, Hawkeye, WandaVision are all in the works, sans Loeb, and will have much bigger budgets than previous small screen efforts.
It simply sounds like the two producers may just be working on different wavelengths. And despite Marvel’s presence on Hulu and Freeform, Disney seems to be putting most of its TV eggs in the Disney+ basket.
The Hollywood Reporter also reported this news and added that “Loeb has been working on a transition plan to exit the company and is expected to formally announce his departure by Thanksgiving” and that he “had been prepping to leave well before the Oct. 15 news that Kevin Feige had been elevated to Marvel’s chief creative officer.”
From a fan perspective, if this happens, it’s a double-edged sword. Who doesn’t love the work Feige and his team have done on the movies and the fact they’re extending that out to TV? On the other hand, Loeb’s work has been second to none on its own, often tackling subjects and characters the movies haven’t touched. It’ll be sad to see it end.
If it is the end of an era for Marvel TV, it’ll be an era long remembered as one of great success.