The spooky season is almost upon us again, and as it approaches a recurring question is coming up along with it: what’s going on with the supernatural/horror side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We’ve heard a lot of press attention dedicated to the state of the MCU in the last year but amidst all the fanfare and teases about what’s next from the franchise, very little of it has reflected the supernatural horror genre. One exception is, of course, Agatha All Along, the upcoming Disney+ series that’s a sequel of sorts to WandaVision, centered around the fate of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) following the events of that show.ย
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In a new interview, Marel producer Brad Winderbaum addressed the very question of how Marvel Studios is currently viewing its supernatural/horror content, starting with Agatha All Along. In short: Winderbaum claims that the studio isn’t looking at horror as a genre, but rather looking at different creators and the kind of darker or scary stories they may want to tell:ย
“I think that it goes back to the filmmaker’s intent,” Winderbaum told EW. “The horror on screen inย Agathaย is going to be different than the horror on screen inย Marvel Zombies, is going to be different than the horror on screen inย Blade. It was different than the horror on screen inย Moon Knight. It really depends on the vision of the filmmaker on what horror cues you’re pulling from. And that’s not just unique to horror. It’s unique to any genre we’re playing with. Obviously, there’s many different ways to tell a story.”
The projects that Winderbaum references indeed reflect a very wide range of supernatural/horror content. Agatha All Along is obviously walking in the supernatural-comedy shoes of films like Hocus Pocus or Beetlejuice; Marvel Zombies will do zombie-apocalypse horror, but it will be in animated format; although, there’s no real frame of reference for what kind of action-horror we’ll see in Blade. The original Wesley Snipes Blade Trilogy found its lane mixing martial arts action with Rated-R horror and pulpy comic book lore; rumors have persisted that Marvel Studios tried to go so hard in a different direction with the MCU Blade reboot that the property became all but unrecognizable.ย
Then there’s the subject of the Marvel Special Presentations, which gave fans the cult-hit feature Werewolf By Night. That special set up an entire Marvel Monster Hunters saga, with Werewolf By Night, Elsa Bloodstone, and Man-Thing at the center. Those characters are still on the back-burner alongside Shang-Chi, Shuri/Black Panther II, the Eternals and so many others. Moon Knight’s fate is also uncertain.ย
For now: Here’s Everything We Do Know About Upcoming MCU Projects
Agatha All Along will premiere on Disney + on September 18th.ย