Hulu’s Offenders crossover was effectively scrapped before any of its characters could launch their own shows on the streaming service. But as with any abandoned superhero project, it never hurts to imagine what could have been. In early 2019, Marvel ordered new animated series featuring M.O.D.O.K., Hit-Monkey, Tigra & Dazzler, and Howard the Duck. All of these characters were eventually going to join forces in their own superhero team-up, whose title was an obvious play on Netflix’s Defenders. Unfortunately, only two of these series came to fruition. And with the second show, Hit-Monkey, dropping this week, its creators are opening up about the original game plan for The Offenders.
Executive producers Will Speck and Josh Gordon recently spoke with /Film about how they brought Hit-Monkey to life. Naturally, the conversation steered toward The Offenders. Since the new show uses conventional 2D animation and Hulu’s earlier M.O.D.O.K. series is presented in stop-motion, it’s hard to imagine them occupying the same universe. Regardless, Speck revealed that there were a few different options on the table.
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“We talked about it a little bit with the team at Marvel TV,” said Speck. “And then also with the other showrunners, including Jordan Blum, who did M.O.D.O.K. It was decided that each of these shows should be able to live separate from each other and honor their individual needs. And then we would just figure it out, when they were all brought together and maybe we would choose an animation style that none of the shows had, in order to just create a new offshoot. Or maybe we would do it in one of the show’s styles. It never quite got that far but everybody wanted each individual show to be able to attract its own fanbase and be its own thing. Then they were going to figure it out when they combined it.”
The idea of such offbeat characters sharing the spotlight definitely sounds like it could have been interesting. But even though this didn’t happen, the creators seem pleased with the outcome.
“I think the idea was pulling characters from the fringe and bringing them together in a powerful way, à la Avengers, is very Marvel,” added Gordon. “And that was the original ambition. But I think it shifted and found its own space. So we’re happy with it.”
Hit-Monkey will premiere on Hulu tomorrow, November 17.
Do you still want to see an Offenders series down the road? Let us know in the comment section below!
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