Following on from the ratings success of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which premiered in the States last week to almost 12 million viewers, Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada has spoken about the studio’s first foray into live-action television during a chat with Comic Book Resources, as well as updating the status of Disney’s first Marvel animated feature, Big Hero 6…
“You can never, ever take any of this stuff for granted,” says Quesada. “I think therein lies disaster. We always make everything we do — whether it’s our comics, movies, animated shows or now our live TV episodes — to the best of our abilities with the best intent and with all our heart and souls. And then, at the end of the day, it’s out of our hands. It’s up to the audience to let us know if we’ve succeeded in some small fashion. We’ve been very, very lucky up to this point — very blessed — that we’ve had a decent success rate, and hopefully that’ll continue. But you can’t take it for granted. There will be more projects that come down the road, and you’ve got to make sure you’re vigilant and at your best for those, and you can never lose sight of the fact that the audience has great expectations.”
Quesada then went on to discussion the comparisons between Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The CW’s hit superhero show Arrow, which is based upon the DC Comics character Green Arrow: “Marc Guggenheim and those guys have done a great job with Arrow. It’s a great show. I wouldn’t say there are any hard and fast rules, though we do try to keep to a certain feel and tone. Obviously, the Marvel Universe takes place in the real world, and there’s a tonality to the things that we produce that have a distinct, bigger than life Marvel feel. But overall it’s about great story and great performances and great characters, and most importantly fun with a sense of humor.”
And finally he turned his attention to Big Hero 6, which is set to invade cinemas in November 2014: “Big Hero 6 is really looking great. Don Hall, Kristina Reed and the entire crew are such amazingly talented people and have such a love for all things Marvel that it’s been an absolute blast working with them. They’ve really taken the BH6 property, which at the end of the day doesn’t have a lot of publishing history behind it, and built an entire world and mythology around it. Being there from the very beginning, the process has been amazing to watch. The amount of research Don and his crew have done is exhaustive and beyond thorough, and I don’t just mean with respect to reading the comics. From the design of the characters and their tech to the look of the world, no stone has been left unturned and a lot of frequent flyer miles have been tallied up to get where they are at this juncture. These guys have traveled the globe to make BH6 the very best it can be. It’s a tribute to how John Lasseter runs the animation division. He encourages this kind of thorough research, and you’ll undoubtedly see the results in the story and on the screen and I’m sure in the making of DVD. [Laughs] At the end of the day, the hope is that the audience won’t be consciously aware of it because it’ll be seamless. And really, that’s what you want. You just want people to accept this incredibly fantastical world as the reality they’re living in for the next 90 minutes.”
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues tonight on ABC.
Originally published October 1, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
