It doesn’t matter if Marvel Cinematic Universe TV heroes come to the movies

While it may be disappointing on a superficial level, MCU’s TV characters don’t really need movie appearances, and the MCU can stay a little disparate.

As the Avengers: Infinity War press tour goes into its home stretch, outlets like ScreenRant have had the opportunity to ask Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige questions about, say, four New York-based heroes (or the agents of SHIELD that we’ve spent five seasons with) ever making the jump from a collection of small screens to very large screens (and eventually back to the smaller screen).

Feige’s answer was committed to being noncommittal. Since ScreenRant focused on the Defenders as well, yours truly will do the same and say: it doesn’t really matter if the Defenders ever go to the big screen.

By sheer number of hours, we’ve spent pretty much more time with each of the Defenders than any of the big-screen heroes. That’s due, of course, to the different mediums. However, it also means the audience has a different relationship with Matt Murdock than it does with Steve Rogers, for example. Viewers have simply spent more time in Matt’s head, without him having to share the screentime as much as Steve does in movies like Captain America: Civil War or even the upcoming Infinity War.

Because of that, Matt — or Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and even Danny Rand — showing up to share the big screen would feel off, somehow, and throw the contrast into even sharper relief. This isn’t to say that those four actors couldn’t hold their own against Chadwick Boseman, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. or Scarlett Johansson. They could. It’s just that the nature of TV means that the storytelling would be difficult at best and impossible at worst.

That’s a longer way of reinterpreting Feige’s quote, in which he refers to things being “set” on both sides of the MCU.

Beyond that, though, the shows tell smaller stories. That’s not meant as a jibe. However, the threats they face usually aren’t as existential as Loki and the Chitauri, Ultron or Thanos. Telling those stories matters just as much. For one, it means that Marvel has more ways to appeal to an audience than just the huge blockbusters. For another, it prevents things from feeling the same across all platforms.

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All of this doesn’t mean that one can’t affect the other, however. Based on Charlie Cox’s saying he couldn’t answer any questions about how Infinity War might affect Daredevil‘s third season at C2E2 earlier this month, it’s entirely possible that things could be changing for the television side of the MCU sooner than we think.