Is This The Beginning of The End for Marvel’s Netflix Era?

The Marvel/Netflix family of superhero shows might be facing the most dangerous foe of all: irrelevancy.

In the past week, Marvel’s Jessica Jones has lost its biggest behind-the-scenes champion and Disney has begun to leak the working title for its own rival streaming service to the press. (Note: Disney owns Marvel and is believed to be planning its own suite of comic book shows to lure fans to subscribe.)  Elsewhere, Season 2 of Marvel’s Luke Cage failed to capture the summertime zeitgeist and the hype for Marvel’s Iron Fist‘s second season is…what’s the word I’m looking for?…non-existent. Netflix still has future sequel seasons for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and The Punisher in the works, but they’ve put the kibosh on reviving Marvel’s The Defenders for a second season. Marvel’s Netflix shows aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but it definitely looks like we’re in the final act of Marvel and Netflix’s first major team up together — but that might not be as dire as it sounds.

There’s been a haze of ennui settling down around Marvel’s Netflix shows for a while now, but yesterday’s news that Jessica Jones creator and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg would be leaving the show after its third season to work with Warner Bros. TV seemed to signal an actual kind of ending. Rosenberg didn’t just create Marvel’s Jessica Jones for Netflix, she developed it first for ABC, and prior to that as a film script. It’s hard to imagine Jessica Jones or Marvel’s The Defenders without Rosenberg’s vision guiding them. Plus, the fact that she’s leaving the Marvel clubhouse for Warner Bros. TV is nothing short of a major roster shake up, especially when you consider that WBTV oversees the CW’s popular Arrowverse. (And if you want to know how well the DC Arrowverse is doing in comparison to Marvel mini Defenders-verse on Netflix, consider the fact that they just announced that Superman, Lois Lane, and Batgirl are all joining in their major winter crossover event.) One of these TV superhero sagas is expanding as the other is contracting.

Marvel’s Netflix shows have indeed had to deal with some growth spurts in the last year. The second seasons of Marvel’s Jessica Jones and Marvel’s Luke Cage both suffered from pacing issues and over-long seasons, and it looks like this fall’s Marvel’s Iron Fist is trying to take notes from the critics on this score. Iron Fist Season 2 is only going to be 10 episodes long, making it Netflix’s shortest standalone superhero season yet. And all this comes after the disappointing crossover event Marvel’s Defenders. The series might have a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it’s generally considered a dud. Why? Because the Marvel Netflix shows took a nosedive in popularity after that show debuted.

Netflix may not release viewership data, but Google offers up insight into search trends. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist all spiked in popularity when their shows’ first seasons debuted, but excitement waned in season two, and plummeted after Marvel’s The Defenders debuted.

However, all is not lost. If you look closely at the Google Trends graph above, you’ll notice that Luke Cage‘s Season 2 premiere might have gotten a bump from Jessica Jones‘s Season 2 drop. Iron Fist and Daredevil‘s next seasons are both due out this fall, and we may yet see a Marvel Netflix rebound.

The fact is we still have new seasons of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher to look forward to. There have been showrunner shake-ups three of those titles of late, and with fresh blood comes fresh ideas. Each series could reboot itself with a flashy new villain or a strategic return to the roots of what makes it work. Furthermore, the fact that Netflix is doubling down on these properties while the rest of the landscape shifts and folds shows a certain amount of confidence. There’s still a lot of love and loyalty for these characters. Fans will still show up — especially if there’s excitement for the new stories coming out.

Marvel is a vast universe of oddball characters, compelling villains, and heartbreaking heroes. Moreover, it’s a universe that has evolved with the times. Each generation has reinvented Marvel’s heroes to represent the light they need to fight the ills of the day. When Daredevil first debuted on Netflix in early 2015, it was a fresh take on the genre. Now, the dark, gritty, and stylistically “edgy” spirit of these shows is industry standard. Something’s got to change in the vision of these shows to make them stand out again. So Marvel’s Netflix shows may not be facing extinction as much as the dawn of a new era. There is definitely an opportunity for new voice to bring new fire to each of these characters.

Never count a superhero — or a superhero show — out of the fight. Just when you think they’re down, they’ll come back swinging.