Daredevil is canon, Jessica Jones is canon, Luke Cage is canon, and The Punisher is canon; believe it or not, Iron Fist is canon too. Each entry in the DefendersVerse that was initially released on Netflix has officially been added to the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, there’s at least one more show that should receive the same treatment: Helstrom, the little Hulu sensation that’s so far removed from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it didn’t even get the iconic scarlet Marvel logo attached.
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Released at the height of the pandemic in 2020, Helstrom features the first live-action adaptation of Daimon (Tom Austen) and Satana/Ana (Sydney Lemmon) Helstrom. The series was panned by critics but even in the light of significant changes from the character’s source material stories, it still managed to earn a 72-percent Fresh audience rating from fans on Rotten Tomatoes.
At one point, the series was supposed to anchor something we call the VegeanceVerse, a horror-inspired corner of the Marvel world set to debut on Hulu. Helstrom and Ghost Rider were going to eventually tie into a series featuring Glyph and N’Kantu the Living Mummy before the group met up in a team-up series not unlike The Defenders. Then, Marvel Studios took control of Marvel Television and shuttered most everything they had in development. Helstrom, however, was too far along so it was allowed to see release. Suffice it to say, but the series was canceled after just one season on Hulu.
Now, it’s time to canonize the show’s event and bring its characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The series remains the scariest Marvel-inspired show to date, and Marvel Studios has only dipped its toes into the world of horror. Slowly but surely, the studio has worked its way to more mature content as Echo has officially hit airwaves as the production house’s first-ever TV-MA series. Though it’s far from horror, it does show that Marvel Studios is willing to tell stories geared for a smaller, more adult audience.
Maybe, just maybe, horror will be Marvel Studios’ next step forward.
The first season of Helstrom is streaming on Hulu, while Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the rest of the DefendersVerse can be seen on Disney+.
