Marvel's Worst-Rated TV Show Sits At 11% On Rotten Tomatoes

I'm old enough to remember the 2014 press release wherein Marvel Studios announced all their films for their then-upcoming "Phase Three." The phase, as it was announced at the time, was to consist of "Captain America: Civil War" (May 6, 2016), "Doctor Strange" (November 4, 2016), "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" (May 5, 2017), "Thor: Ragnarok" (July 17, 2017), "Black Panther" (November 3, 2017), "Avengers: Infinity War – Part I" (May of 2018), "Captain Marvel" (July 26, 2018), and "Inhumans" (November 2, 2018). The phase would climax with "Avengers: Infinity War – Part II" in May of 2019. 

As Phase Three progressed, Marvel worked out a deal with Sony to make a Spider-Man movie, and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" was shoved into the lineup, released on July 7, 2017. This pushed back the "Thor," "Black Panther," and "Captain Marvel" movies. Phase Three also ended up adding "Ant-Man and the Wasp" and "Spider-Man: Far From Home" to the roster, and changed the title of the climax movie to "Avengers: Endgame." It seems the 2014 press release was only 70% correct. 

Most notably, "Inhumans" was crowded out entirely. The planned film was eventually adapted into a TV series that was intended to overlap with all the films and TV shows in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The man who oversaw the Netflix series "Iron Fist," Scott Buck, was hired to be the showrunner, and an all-new story, completely separate from the planned movie, was written. The series finally debuted on ABC on September 29, 2017 (ahead of its original theatrical schedule). 

But the "Inhumans" TV series was instantly rejected by audiences, attracting no one. Critics hated the awful, awful show, earning it a mere 11% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 47 reviews). That's enough to make it the worst-rated show in Marvel TV history.

For context, that 11% is far below the approval ratings for other lambasted Marvel projects, only outstripped by a few other even-more-notorious films. Albert Pyun's 1990 version of "Captain America" only racked up 6%, while Josh Trank's 2015 "Fantastic Four" movie earned a 9% approval. "Madame Web" and "Elektra" tied its 11%, while "Howard the Duck" got slightly more positive reviews with 13%. "Iron Fist" was a relative classic with a 36% approval rating. (None of those projects, it should be said, were officially made by Marvel Studios.)

"Inhumans" would have been a bold swing, even for the crazy fantasies of the Marvel universe, and explaining their origin is complicated. In Marvel Comics, the story goes, a species of superpowered humans were created by a visiting alien race called the Kree many thousands of years ago. The Kree's human-tinkering experiment was abandoned, however, for personal reasons, and the surviving Inhumans were deposited on the moon where they lived in hiding. On their own, the Inhumans then discovered a rare type of mutagenic mist that could kickstart their superpowers. Control over this mist was usurped by royal Inhuman bloodlines, and only used as part of their carefully arranged eugenics program. In addition to kickstarting superpowers, the mist can mutate your body; one of the Inhumans was turned into a 20-foot bulldog.

The "Inhumans" TV series caught up with the Inhuman royal family in the modern day, and found them to be essentially a superhero team, complete with codenames and costumes. They rule over their working classes with genteel genetic superiority, although the series never quite addresses the bleak ethics of that. When there is a coup, the Inhuman royal family has to flee to Earth, specifically to Hawai'i, where they are scattered. The series followed each family member as they discovered life on Earth and tried to stay hidden as they attempted to locate each other. 

Anson Mount played the Inhuman king Black Bolt, whose voice was so powerful, he could vaporize people by just saying a word, so he mostly communicated through sign language. (Black Bolt was brought back for a cameo in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.") He was married to Medusa (Serinda Swan), a woman with living, snake-like hair. Her hair is cut early in the series, leaving her powerless. Also on the team were Karnak (Ken Leung), who falls in with a friendly pot farmer, Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor), who can stomp his hooves and cause earthquakes, and Crystal (Isabelle Cornish), who can control the elements. Iwan Rheon played Maximus, Black Bolt's brother, and a non-superpowered person. 

The show flagged in the ratings for its brief run, and didn't generate the kind of buzz that most Marvel projects did at the time. Heck, more people were talking about shows like "Agent Carter" and "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." The Inhumans were weird characters, their adventures weren't interesting, and their plight didn't seem to be adding to the Marvel universe at large. After the end of eight episodes, on November 10, the show was kaput. Marvel announced the following May that the series was not coming back. 

Although Marvel Studios dominated movie theaters for a decade, Marvel Television (a separate branch of Marvel Entertainment) had a less impressive track record. "Inhumans" joined a spate of other MCU-connected shows that never generated much buzz. Few make references to shows like "Runaways" and "Cloak & Dagger," and even fewer want to remember "Helstrom." Even the Disney+ shows, which were made by Marvel Studios, are falling by the wayside these days, including already-forgotten shows like "Secret Invasion" and the barely-advertised "Ironheart," due out on June 24. Time will tell if it's successful, or if we have another "Inhumans" situation brewing.