Marvel Television was more of a success than many viewers think, and frankly, it should be celebrated. The TV division responsible for Agents of SHIELD and Jessica Jones is being absorbed into Marvel Studios. It’s long been clear that the writing has been on the wall for Marvel Television: the problems began with a spate of cancellations, initially driven by the breakdown of Marvel’s relationship with Netflix. These problems were then compounded when Disney announced that Marvel Studios would begin producing their own TV shows for Disney+, and it didn’t take long for attentive viewers to notice that nobody was talking about Marvel Television’s own contributions to the streaming service.

In October, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was given an expanded remit as Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. Shortly after, there were reports that Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb was leaving the company, and that seemed to indicate the end of an era. Marvel’s infamously fractious internal politics had finally been resolved, with Feige coming out on top and his erstwhile competitors dropping out.

In general, fans have responded to the news positively. As far as many viewers are concerned, Marvel Television never quite lived up to its potential, simply because it was never closely enough connected to the movies. While that perspective is understandable, it fails to realize just how significant Marvel Television has truly been. The truth is that Marvel Television has been a remarkable success, and Feige has a legacy to live up with the upcoming Disney+ programming.

Marvel’s Flagship TV Show Has Been A Hit

Marvel Television’s first TV series, Agents of SHIELD, launched in 2013. The first season struggled a little, right up until a major tie-in with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, when the show pivoted to focus on the ongoing fight between SHIELD and Hydra. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength, often in spite of business decisions that would have crippled a less creative team of writers and showrunners. The increasingly distanced relationship between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television was recast as an opportunity, with the show building its own mythology of Inhumans, Ghost Riders, and quantum mechanics that made more sense than Avengers: Endgame. When ABC moved the show to a later (and less competitive) timeslot from season 4 onwards, Marvel decided to darken the tone to take advantage of it. This proved a wise decision, with seasons 4 through 6 typically viewed as the best.

The scale of Agents of SHIELD’s success is demonstrated by three facts. Firstly, back in November 2018, third-party analytics revealed that it was more in demand than any of Marvel’s Netflix range, and on par with shows like  Better Call Saul, Criminal Minds, and Vikings. Furthermore, during Beta testing of Disney+, a study revealed that Agents of SHIELD was the most popular pre-existing series. Finally, note that ABC and Marvel Television negotiated for a final, seventh season by which to wrap the show up, a mark of faith in the series’ performance; it will air next year, and will be the true end of this incarnation of Marvel Television. All these facts come together to indicate that this, Marvel’s flagship series, was their greatest success.

Marvel Television Produced Quality Superhero TV

Marvel Television has developed something of a mixed reputation, in large part because of critical and commercial flops like Iron Fist and Inhumans. But it’s important to put these shows in context because they are the exception rather than the norm. Marvel’s partnership with Netflix led to some of the best superhero TV shows of the decade. Casting choices were generally strong, with Marvel choosing the likes of Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Vincent D’Onofrio as the Kingpin, and Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones. While the various shows were low-budget relative to their cinematic counterparts, they usually didn’t suffer for it, because Marvel tended to focus on low-scale, street-level vigilantism.

Again, Marvel Television turned their limitations into an advantage. Marvel Entertainment’s SVP of Original Programming and Production, Karim Zreik, insisted that working with lesser-known brands was an advantage for Marvel Television: “The Avengers, Iron Man, those are the more popular characters from the publishing side,” Zreik pointed out. “We’re dealing with characters like Cloak and Dagger, Runaways, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist — not as popular on the publishing side.” This was effectively forced upon Marvel Television by the fact the top-tier characters went to Marvel Studios for first pick, and they only got the leftovers. But this allowed Marvel TV to introduce viewers to an entirely new character and concept, and to take an experimental approach that led to successful shows like the cerebral masterpiece that is Noah Hawley’s Legion.

Marvel’s Niche Strategy Gave Unique Superhero Shows

Marvel’s relationship with Netflix helped them to realize that superhero shows can reach different viewers. That led to quite a unique strategy, with Marvel Television creating content that was specifically aimed at niche audiences. The most prominent examples were Cloak and Dagger and Runaways, targeted at the young-adult market, and Marvel aimed to continue this approach with Helstrom and Ghost Rider on Hulu. Interestingly, it’s generally believed that Karim Zreik is one of the main proponents of this strategy, and he’s reportedly being retained by Feige now that Marvel Television is being absorbed into Marvel Studios. While Ghost Rider has been canceled, development on Helstrom is still continuing at this moment in time. Right now, it looks as though Marvel Studios is willing to be informed by the lessons Marvel Television has learned, and that they may well continue in this vein.

Marvel Television Embraced Diversity Better Than The Movies

One of the more striking characteristics of Marvel Televison has been their absolute commitment to diversity, which is frankly far better than Marvel Studios. Looking at the big screen, it took a decade for Marvel to get around to making Black Panther, and 11 years before a woman starred in her own solo superhero flick. The only explicit homosexual representation was an inconsequential scene in Avengers: Endgame, which Marvel over-promoted as though it was a big deal. Feige has promised that Marvel will do better, including with LGBTQI representation, but it’s seriously overdue.

The contrast with Marvel Television couldn’t be more striking. Forget Eternals; Marvel’s first gay, Asian, and Latina superheroes all made their debuts in Agents of SHIELD, where Chloe Bennet stars as the Asian-American hero Quake. By 2015, they’d launched both the celebrated Agent Carter and Jessica Jones, both starring female leads. Since then, Marvel has given superhero TV some of its best and most memorable female superheroes, including Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, and they’ve not been afraid to introduce lesbian superheroes either.

Trailers for Runaways season 3 focused potential wedding between Nico and Karolina; it was just a fantasy, but the very fact it was used for marketing is quite remarkable. And both Luke Cage and Cloak & Dagger handled issues of racial inequality with tremendous skill, well ahead of Black Panther on the big screen. The truth is that, when it comes to diversity, Marvel Studios has a lot of catching-up to do.

Lack of Connectivity Wasn’t Necessarily Marvel Television’s Fault

There’s clearly a lot to celebrate about Marvel Television, but it’s worth closing this by pointing out that the biggest criticism — that the various shows didn’t tie into the MCU enough — wasn’t entirely their fault. The sad truth is that behind-the-scenes conflict led to Marvel Studios being pulled out of the wider Marvel Entertainment group back in 2015, and from that point on, the films and the TV shows blazed their own trail. Marvel Television always seemed keen to find a way to continue tying in to the movies — even Runaways season 3 is confirmed to have loose thematic ties to Doctor Strange — but the problem seems to have been on the film division’s side.

Ultimately, though, the MCU’s current direction is a testimony to Marvel Television’s success. Marvel Television has achieved a lot, in spite of lower budgets, second-tier superheroes and a lack of connectivity; in total, they’ll have given viewers a stunning 32 seasons of superhero TV, and the various shows have accumulated 25 different awards. No doubt Marvel Studios will go on to improve on this; their Disney+ shows are being made with studio-sized budgets, they have access to actors like Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen, and they can directly cross over. But they’re simply following Marvel Television’s lead.

More: Why Marvel’s Disney+ Shows Are Still So Far Away