We chatted to Gillian Jacobs, Paul Scheer, and Alison Brie about their roles in the new show Marvel 616.
Nobody needs to be told just how big Marvel is. In the decades it has been around, starting off as the creator of comic books, up to the recent years as a cinematic behemoth, the Marvel Universe is wide and deep.
However, with such a size, there can sometimes be a lack of risk involved, of not wanting to take any big chances. 'Stick to what you're good at', which is also how things can get stale, and people get bored. Thankfully, over the years, Marvel have kept that concern at bay, always introducing new characters and storylines, both in their comics and in their movies.
One of the issues that had been put to Marvel was of representation. We were 18 movies deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe before we got one that was front by a person of colour with Black Panther, and another three movies after that before a female hero was front and centre in Captain Marvel. It is clearly a topic that Marvel are aware of, and have been rectifying as best they can.
These issues of connectivity, representation, and the past, present, and future of Marvel are all brought up in the new Disney+ documentary Marvel 616, and in the run-up to the series' release, we were lucky enough to chat to some of the directors behind the episodes.
Alison Brie, who might best know for acting work in Glow, Community, and Mad Men, had this to say about how deeply fans connect to the stories within Marvel:
"I realised what a massive impact Marvel has. I mean, obviously globally it has a huge impact, but really on a deeper level, because it gives people and young people these characters that they can sympathise with, empathise with, identify with. They can see themselves in them.
"And then they can see those characters work through difficult things. And come out on the other side and be superheroes. You know, superheroes have problems, too. I think that it just really made me realise that there's a much deeper impact that these characters have and there's a lot that people can get from them."
Paul Scheer, co-host of hit podcast How Did This Get Made?, talked to us about the growth within Marvel, and some of the weirder characters they've brought into their universe, ones that deserve a second chance now:
"I think that superheroes really reflect the world outside of our window. It's something that Stan Lee always said, right? It's not about the powers. It's about the people and how they react to the world around them. And so I imagine that we're gonna continually see this growth of the Marvel universe the way that we've already seen it with characters like Ms. Marvel, where it is growing in its diversity and inclusivity.
"Maybe we'll even see the bringing back of classic characters like Microbe. Microbe is an X-Man who can communicate with diseases and actually make them go away. He's like the Aquaman of viruses. So maybe it's the perfect time to bring him back. We are in a world that might need Microbe. I mean he was kind of a sloppy character who looked like the Mucinex monster but I feel like why not? Let's get him back in a book!"
And when we asked Gillian Jacobs (star of Community and Love) and Marvel 616 executive producer Jason Sterman about the level of representation fans might expect from Marvel going forward, Jacobs began by saying:
"One of the people in my documentary, Nilah Magruder, I thought give a great answer to that very question. In the ending of my episode where she’s talking sort of about the future of Marvel and greater representation in lots of different areas. I think Nilah said it really well. And Jason, maybe you remember more than I do."
To which Sterman added: "I think the aspect of representation is naturally taking a step forward in the comics anyways. Between the Ms. Marvel character that we talked about. But I think at the same time as well, there's going to be a natural connection when you see yourself on the pages of comics. And so the more that we can see ourselves, then the more representation there will be."
Marvel 616 will be available to watch on Disney+ from Friday, November 20. Check out the trailer for the show right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ODhWjCxydU
These interviews were edited slightly for clarity.
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