Few TV shows (or projects within any kind of art form) have faced the kind of overwhelmingly crushing fan response that Marvel's Inhumans did on ABC. From the plotting to the pacing to the costumes to the special effects, the superhero miniseries failed to live up to most expectations, but that doesn't mean fans want nothing to do with them anymore. In fact, Marvel TV boss Jeph Loeb got quite a few inquiries during a recent Reddit AMA about Black Bolt and the other Inhumans characters potentially appearing on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the future. Here was Loeb's limited reply.
Wait and see.
To play devil's advocate here, Jeph Loeb is no stranger to dishing out generically positive responses to questions about the chances of various Marvel TV shows coming together for crossovers. That said, most of those generically positive answers are supplemented by formulaic explanations about why it's difficult to, for example, make Defenders heroes take the streets alongside the teen heroes of Hulu's Runaways. Perhaps Loeb was embracing brevity due to the constant Reddit AMA questions popping up, but I would prefer to hope that his answer is indicative of a legitimate Inhumans crossover episode (or arc) coming to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in an upcoming season.
To quickly follow that up with another bit of optimism, Jeph Loeb got slightly wordier elsewhere when someone asked the more broad questions about the Inhumans characters returning to any section of the MCU.
Hope so. We love these characters and the actors are the best! . . . Great cast and for what's it worth, still think is a fun show.
I see two takeaways from that quote. One: he's still being more positive than pragmatic about the chances of Inhumans characters being used elsewhere, which may indicate that it's easier to make crossovers like this happen with one of the shows is no longer in production. Granted, Anson Mount already has another high-profile gig as Christopher Pike in Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, and various other stars also have follow-up projects in the running. But a crossover episode on S.H.I.E.L.D. or some other MCU show wouldn't take up too much time, would it?
The second takeaway: Jeph Loeb championined Inhumans through every step of the ABC adaptation process, even as the early footage was getting slammed by fans and critis, so if anyone is going to figure out a way to bring Black Bolt and Medusa into the MCU at large, it's Loeb. Plus, he's not at all wrong about it being a really stellar cast of actors that, for one reason or plenty of others, didn't get to shine as brightly as expected in Inhumans.
Will we see Ken Leung's Karnak showing off his badass skills on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Season 6, or could young Crystal take a trip down to New Orleans for some Cloak & Dagger fun? We'll have to wait and see, as Jeph Loeb says. But in the meantime, head to our summer premiere schedule to see all the new and returning shows hitting the small screen soon.
