It’s official!
We finally have more news about the shows that Marvel Studios will be launching on Disney’s
streaming service.
And while Netflix has bit the dust as far as the parent company is concerned, Hulu on
the other hand is stepping up, partnering with Marvel on four animated shows: Howard
the Duck, MODOK, Hit-Monkey and Tigra and Dazzler.
On top of all that, the four shows will have a crossover special that’s called The Offenders,
similar to what Marvel did with Netflix for it’s Defenders series.
So today, we’re breaking down the essentials and everything you need to know about these
upcoming properties with our list of the top 10 Marvel The Offenders Facts!
Let’s jump in!
10 Synopses For starters, what will these four shows entail?
While we’ve been given minimal details about what to expect, Hulu has released a synopsis
for each of the shows, all of which are estimated to premiere in 2020 or afterwards.
Howard the Duck’s reads “Marvel’s Howard the Duck is trapped in a world he never made,
but America’s favourite fighting fowl hopes to return home with the help of his unstoppable
gal pal Beverly before the evil Dr Bong can turn him into the crispiest dish on the menu.”
Modok’s reads “Marvel’s MODOK centers around an egomaniacal supervillain with a
really big head and a really little body, who struggles to maintain control of his evil
organization and his demanding family.”
Next up, we have Hit-Monkey, “Marvel’s Hit-Monkey tells the tale of a wronged Japanese
snow monkey, mentored by the ghost of an American assassin, as he cuts a wide swath through
the Tokyo underworld in this darkly cinematic and brutally funny revenge saga.”
Then, we have Tigra & Dazzler, which reads, “Marvel’s Tigra and Dazzler Show is a
story about two woke superheroes and best friends, Tigra and Dazzler, as they fight
for recognition among powered people who make up the eight million stories in Los Angeles.
And last but not least, the Offenders: “Marvel’s The Offenders, is a story in which nobody
asked them to – and we’d be better off if they didn’t.
MODOK, Dazzler, Tigra, Hit Monkey and Howard the Duck are all forced to team up in order
to save the world and certain parts of the universe.”
9 Whose Behind Them?
The second biggest question many of you might have is who are the creatives behind the show.
Jeph Loeb will be executive producing on all five of the shows, and the team of writers
and producers behind each of them individually is impressive as hell.
On Tigra and Dazzler, Writers Erica Rivinoja and Chelsea Handler serve as executive producers.
On Hit-Monkey, the same thing goes for Josh Gordon and Will Speck and writers and exec
producers.
MODOK will be written by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt.
And Howard the Duck?
The team behind his show consists of Kevin Smith, and Dave Willis, the latter being one
of the co creators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
8 Previous Adaptations Out of all these characters headlining these
new shows, only one of them has previous had an adaptation; Howard the Duck.
Aside from making a small cameo in the MCU in a credits scene, the character got a pretty
cringe worthy adaptation in the 80s.
It’s noteworthy not only for the somewhat terrifying supercuts that people have put
together and posted up on YouTube, but also for the fact that it was the first theatrically
released feature film starring a Marvel character (after the 1944 black and white serial Captain
America adaptation back when Marvel was still Timely Comics.)
George Lucas was an exec producer on it, and it’s generally considered to be one of the
worst films of all time, having been a huge commercial and critical failure, making about
half of it’s 30 million dollar budget back.
According to screenwriter Gloria Katz, who ignored Howard’s more sophisticated traits,
“It’s a film about a duck from outer space.
It’s not supposed to be an existential experience.”
More on that later though.
7 In the Comics Those of you familiar with the Offenders team
in the comics might be a little surprised to see the roster that Marvel and Hulu have
put together.
The original group was brought together by the Collector in order to face off against
the original team of Defenders in a cosmic battle, with the Defenders fighting for The
Grandmaster.
Oh sibling rivalries.
Anywho, the team consisted of Red Hulk, Baron Mordo, Terrax and Tiger Shark; the Defenders
team at the time was the Hulk, Doctor Strange, Silver surfer and Namor, so, makes sense.
The battle took a turn for the worse when Red Hulk killed Hulk, then slaughtered all
of the Offenders and Defenders, getting the power cosmic.
The Grandmaster and Collector had to rewrite history and erase the match from existence.
So what does this tell us about the show?
Absolutely nothing; there’s no connection between the Offenders in the comics and the
ones that have been revealed for these series, minus that some of them have been involved
in cosmic adventures.
That being said, if you look at what Marvel did with the Defenders on Netflix, it’s
following a similar formula in terms of setting up a massive cross over, with inspiration
from the comics pertaining to the individual characters rather than the team as a whole.
6 Comical MODOK Let’s break down the history of some of
these characters and take a look at the approach that Marvel and Hulu seem to be taking with
each of these shows, starting with MODOK.
MODOK is a supervillain who first appeared in Tales of Suspense issue 93 back in 1967,
created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Typically an antagonist of the Avengers, he’s the product of medical experimentation gone
wrong over at Advanced Idea Mechanics, turning an employee into a dude with a freakishly
large head, genius intellect and the need to fly around in a char for mobility.
He rebelled against Aim, changing his name from Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing
to Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.
As you can imagine, being a product of the silver age, over time in his later appearances,
Modok has been used as a comic relief villain from time to time, and based on the synopsis
of his show, it appears that Marvel and Hulu will be taking the character in a similar
direction, perhaps turning him into more of an anti-hero as his show progresses.
5 Howard the Duck Arguably the most well known of these selected
characters, Howard the Duck was created back in 1972 by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerick,
and has a history of his narratives being satirical commentaries, alongside using tactics
that often break the 4th wall.
According to Gerber, Howard the Duck’s stories are existentialist tales, and their main joke
is the fact that there is no joke.
I quote, “life’s most serious moments and most incredibly dumb moments are often
distinguishable only by a momentary point of view.”
While his synopsis doesn’t really seem to point one way or another, considering the
character’s history, and even his brief portrayal voiced by Seth Green in the Guardians
of the Galaxy vol 1, it seems likely that Marvel may want to take the character in it’s
intended direction rather than opting out for the lighter tone and arguably incorrect
tone of it’s 80’s adaptation.
4 Hit Monkey From most well known to most obscure, Hit
Monkey is actually the newest character of the bunch to be a part of the Offenders.
He first came to be in 2010, featured in Deadpool issue 19, volume 4, facing off against the
merc with a mouth as one of his villains.
He was a hit with readers – sorry, I had to – and that led to the character getting
his own 3 issue mini series.
So what’s his whole schtick?
He’s an anthropomorphic monkey gun for hire, known best in the Marvel universe as quite
capable when it comes to killing assassins.
Based on the synopsis for his show, it seems that Marvel and Hulu will be exploring a different
origin story for the character; in the comics, he’s a distrusting monkey who picks up the
ways of an unnamed assassin whose taken in by a troop of monkeys after a failed political
coup.
After he depicts his capability for violence, the monkey clan disowns him, banishing him,
but as he’s departing from them, he sees a new assassin on his way to kill the unnamed
assassin, which also results in his tribe being slaughtered.
Determined to avenge his tribe, he takes on the alias of Hit-Monkey, devoting his life
to killing assassins.
While it seems that his revenge saga might pertain to his monkey tribe, the ghost of
an American assassin is definitely new to the character as a part of his origin.
3 Tigra and Dazzler Tigra and Dazzler have never worked together
in the comics, but that may change thanks to their upcoming show.
So, who are they?
Tigra was initially known as the Cat.
First appearing in Claws of the Cat issue 1 back in 1972, she would later change her
alias to Tigra in Giant size Creatures issue one in 1974.
She was created along with Night Nurse and Shanna the She-Devil as a way to pull in more
female readers, with Stan lee looking for a way to expand the Marvel franchise even
further.
Tigra, aka Greer Grant, was transformed into The Tigra after she was mortally injured by
a blast from one of HYDRA’s alpha radiation pistols.
She was taken in by the Cat People, a humanoid race created by sorcery back in the Dark Ages,
and in exchange for her protection of their people, Greer was offered a second chance
at life if she transformed into Tigra.
Greer’s Cat costume would resurface years later and Patsy Walker would discover it while
accompanying the Avengers, eventually donning it and calling herself Hellcat.
Speaking of the Avengers, Tigra has a long history fighting with them as a member.
Dazzler, on the other hand, first debuted in the pages of another team’s comic, Uncanny
X-Men issue 130 back in 1980.
She’s a mutant with the ability to convert sound vibrations into energy beams and light,
and was initially the product of a commissioned project between Marvel and Casablanca Records,
with the intention of her being crafted like a member of KISS, yet crafted to look like
Bo Derek.
She’s definitely come a long way since.
Which actually brings us to our next point- 2 The first X-Men Character
For those of you privy to who owns what in terms of studios, you may be surprised to
see Dazzler as a part of these Disney Marvel Studios shows.
That’s because Dazzler is technically an X-Men character, and a Fox property.
While the Disney Fox acquisition isn’t entirely complete yet, it seems that perhaps a deal
has been struck up for Marvel to use the character soon.
This means that Dazzler will technically be the very first mutant X-Men character to be
introduced by Marvel Studios.
While her past with the X-Men may be ignored for the purposes of the series, her origins
as a mutant are not so avoidable.
That being said, it seems that by the time the show airs, the acquisition deal will be
complete, so it’d be curious to see if the show will address her being a mutant, and
what that could mean for the greater MCU. 1 A 5th Member
Upon the announcement, Jeph Loeb had somewhat hinted that there may be a 5th character joining
the Offenders as somewhat of a leader figure, although he was tight lipped about the matter.
While there’s been zero confirmation on this front, that hasn’t stopped speculation.
The strongest theory at the moment is that we’ll be seeing an animated version of The
Collector will make an appearance, bringing them together.
That being said, considering the premise of the Offenders show speaks to them saving the
world, it seems more likely that another common element will bring them together instead.
So hit us up with your theories in those comments below!
So, what do you all think about these upcoming shows?
Do you think animation was the right way to go?
And which ones are you the most excited for?
Personally, I’m really looking forward to Tigra and Dazzler, which kind of surprised
me since Dazzler is often considered a bit of a joke thanks to her history in the comics.
But Chelsea Handler at the helm is definitely something to be stoked for.
Give us a shout in those comments below and give us your two cents!
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