Jimmy Kimmel Marvels At ABC's Failure With 'Inhumans'

Earlier today at the ABC upfront presentation, master of ceremonies Jimmy Kimmel took a shot at [...]

Earlier today at the ABC upfront presentation, master of ceremonies Jimmy Kimmel took a shot at the network's failure with Marvel's Inhumans.

The series, which earned disappointing ratings and poor reviews, was officially cancelled this week after just one season, a cancellation that most had assumed was a long time coming.

"Somehow we managed to have the only unsuccessful project with 'Marvel' in the title," Kimmel joked at the upfronts, a reference to Marvel Studios's unprecedented streak of box office successes, most recently Avengers: Infinity War, which is the highest-grossing comic book movie of all time.

Marvel's Inhumans has had the opposite experience, with both critics and fans deserting the show almost immediately, leaving nobody much is surprised by its end.

The writing has been on the wall for the Agents of SHIELD spinoff since before it even premiered; Inhumans, which was originally announced as a feature film, ended up becoming a TV property instead and just never seemed to find its footing.

Fans mocked the initial trailers and then, when one finally came out that people liked, they started going after the costumes. Series star Anson Mount did not make himself any friends by taking critiques personally and

As a show of support for the series, Disney screened a special cut -- basically a re-edited version of the first two episodes -- at IMAX theaters around the country before the show's premiere date. It bombed, earning less worldwide than a two-day special release of Warner Animation's Batman: The Killing Joke made domestically, and the poor reviews -- it earned just 10% on Rotten Tomatoes -- likely contributed to soft ratings as well. The high price tag and low return made this an obvious cancellation for ABC.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD got a shortened-season renewal, and will air during summer 2019, but ABC added that they did not see that as the end for the series, which launched to big ratings and a ton of hype in the wake of Marvel's The Avengers.

The network also previously cancelled Marvel's Agent Carter, although that series earned mostly good reviews and ran for two seasons. While not a big financial success, it would be difficult to label Carter as an embarrassment.

h/t: Matt Mitovich (Twitter)

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