donald glover

donald glover

Earlier this year, it was announced that the animated Deadpool TV series for FX was no longer getting the green light.  The series was being created by Donald and Stephen Glover and was going to debut on FX.  Shortly after the cancellation had been announced, Glover leaked 15 pages of a possible script, which also referenced the cancellation.  We’re learning now that it wasn’t FX who made the decision to part ways on the series, but rather it was Marvel.  Glover tweeted out “For the record: I wasn’t too busy to work on ‘Deadpool'”.  So what was the real reason?

What’s interesting is that Marvel has the rights to the show, of course, but the show that Donald and Stephen had in mind will never see the light of day.  It also seems like Marvel will write the show themselves.  But they didn’t want to do the show that Donald and Stephen wanted to write.  FX, on the other hand, said that they did.  But that doesn’t make sense, does it?  I mean, if you think about it, Marvel has the rights to the story so they can do whatever they want with it.  Perhaps they suddenly saw something with this as a series, so instead of holding off on their own series, they decided to cut the Glovers out completely?

Many actually blamed FX for this, which we now know to not be accurate.  But again, why would Marvel pull the plug?  Well, if the script that Glover tweeted out was at all representative of the material he and his brother had written for Marvel to consider, it’s not a surprise.  Sure, it’s disappointing, but it’s not exactly what the Disney owned company typically backs when it comes to these projects.  In fact, the Marvel properties typically strive to be blandly apolitical as possible, and if you know Donald Glover at all, you will know that this isn’t exactly his MO. One has to assume that Marvel saw this as a potential risk – one that they weren’t willing to take.  But they also likely didn’t see it as a money-making venture.  That’s too bad, but it’s certainly where we are going with TV and movies these days.

Is this a big deal?  I think yes and no.  On one hand, there’s part of me that thinks – just let him make the show that he wants to make.  But on the other hand, Marvel owns the character and the rights so it’s their decision what happens with the show.  As I’ve alluded to earlier on, I think that more shows need to take more of a political stance on a range of topics.  And no, I’m not talking about shows that are anti-Trump, but I do think that society needs to understand more about the issues that affect certain citizens – like race, culture, religion, and gender.

These are topics that we shy away from discussing, but the more we talk about them, or even see them on TV, the easier it will be for people who aren’t exposed to certain cultures to be able to understand them a little bit better.  It won’t solve all of the problems of the world, but if it can make someone a little more empathetic towards another human being, I think it’s doing its job.

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