Now's the Perfect Time for a Man-Thing Series

The year was 2005 and the Marvel Cinematic Universe was but a twinkle in Kevin Feige's eye. As the [...]

The year was 2005 and the Marvel Cinematic Universe was but a twinkle in Kevin Feige's eye. As the team at Marvel Studios started coming together trying to decide what to do with the massive mound of intellectual property it was sitting on, the studio greenlit a project between Lionsgate and Artisan that'd end up as Man-Thing. Through all kinds of development woes, the movie ended up being a straight-to-TV film for the Sci Fi Channel as the was called back then. Suffice to say, the movie fell flat on its face bombing both critically and commercial.

At the time, few superhero movies were in existence and those that were performing well featured Marvel's major characters like Spider-Man and the X-Men — not C-list horror characters hanging out in the bowels of the House of Ideas.

Now, some 15 years later, the stars have aligned just right enough to allow for the opportunity to catch the swamp-dwelling antihero in live-action once again. Thanks to the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, several lesser-known properties have gotten their time to shine in the spotlight. Led by James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, we're now at a time when seeing any character from the Marvel stable in live-action is completely reasonable at any given time.

With Marvel Television starting up a new batch of superhero shows on Hulu, a group of properties executive Jeph Loeb is calling Marvel's Adventure into Fear, a Man-Thing series might be more possible now than ever before. Marvel's television arm has taken chances on Runaways and Cloak & Dagger, shows that have both proved critically successful for the outfit, something that has led to Ghost Rider and Helstrom shows being ordered.

When it comes to the latter two shows, that's exactly where Man-Thing would fit in. Though that 2005 film shaped him out to be a villainous monster, a series would allow enough time to shape the character into an antihero, eventually popping up with the likes of Robbie Reyes' Ghost Rider and the Helstrom siblings in a crossover. Tonally, the spookiness of Man-Thing runs hand-in-hand with what Marvel TV is trying to do with the "Adventure into Fear" shows, with one source telling us the shows would be "scary as f--k."

And above all, we already know the character exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition to appearing in statue form as one of The Grandmaster's past champions in Thor: Ragnarok, the character's been name-dropped on Agents of SHIELD as a former asset of the espionage agency.

On top of it all, DC proved a convincing Swamp Thing was possible with practical effects; the first season of the show tallied a 94 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite a preemptive cancellation by DC Universe.

The third season of Runaways debuts on Hulu December 13th while Ghost Rider and Helstrom are expected to hit the streaming service sometime next year.

What other shows do you hope to see join Hulu's growing slate of Marvel properties? Share your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt to talk all things MCU!

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