As DC Studios' HBO Max series Lanterns earns increasingly more goodwill with each episode, Marvel Studios seems intent on taking the plunge into the same genre, though potentially with a downgrade. Despite the box office failure of Supergirl, James Gunn's DCU is in full swing, with Lanterns dropping new episodes every Sunday night as its small-town tale of murder and intrigue unfolds. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios is chugging along toward its next Disney+ release, VisionQuest, as well as December's Avengers: Doomsday. One would think Marvel might eventually attempt to reach the same level of acclaim DC has achieved on television thus far.
Insider Daniel Richtman shared (via Patreon) that an upcoming "detective" project at Marvel Studios will be released as a Special Presentation rather than as a full series. Richtman did not mention which characters would be featured in this Special Presentation, nor when the project would debut. Presenting this "detective" project as a Special Presentation rather than a complete series may, however, prove a downgrade for Marvel.
This would be Marvel's fourth Special Presentation on Disney+, following Werewolf by Night (2022), The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2023), and The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026). The Special Presentation format, which typically runs between 45 minutes and an hour, differs from Marvel Studios' Spotlight banner, which includes episodic series such as Echo and Wonder Man.
Marvel Studios has seldom embraced the mystery genre that would accompany a "detective"-oriented project. The MCU's inaugural Disney+ series, 2021's WandaVision, kept viewers guessing and theorizing each week about the mystery of Westview, while the less-panned Secret Invasion a few years later attempted a level of espionage that most viewers didn't resonate with.
Perhaps it is this middling history wavering Marvel's confidence in moving full steam ahead with a proper detective series before testing the waters with something safer, like a Special Presentation. Taking into account the costs associated with developing a Special Presentation versus a series (only upwards of an hour of content vs. a few episodes), it becomes less surprising that Marvel is utilizing a safer approach to exploring new genres.
How Marvel Studios' Detective Series Can Compete With (& Outshine) DC's Lanterns
Even if Marvel isn't confident enough to produce a proper full mystery title right off the bat, there are still ways such a project could surpass Lanterns.
Marvel has one major advantage over DC: decades of established MCU history. A detective-based series could use that history to plant clues throughout the story that call back to seemingly insignificant details from previous movies and shows (think Tony Stark's "endgame" comment from Age of Ultron).
Street-level heroes like Luke Cage and Iron Fist would work well with this concept. A Special Presentation could see the duo, who are already returning to the MCU proper in next year's Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, investigating trouble tied to New York's criminal underworld, offering an opportunity to explore the iconic Marvel Comics Heroes for Hire storyline as a mystery. Bridging the character's inclusion in the world of Daredevil to a Special Presentation would incentivize viewers to watch both projects.
Other characters like Wong, Moon Knight, or Elsa Bloodstone could similarly take the concept into supernatural or horror territory. Either way, if Marvel can deliver a detective mystery that rewards viewers for paying attention without requiring MCU expertise, it could build trust that may have previously been lost in the franchise.
