Wolverine Will Meet Star-Lord, Black Widow, And Hawkeye In New Marvel Podcast
Marvel has already taken over every other medium, so it was only a matter of time until they conquered podcasts as well. The Marvel Podcast Universe is well under way following the success of the iHeartRadio Award-winning Wolverine: The Long Night, which broke the dam for new scripted Marvel podcasts. Now Marvel is teaming up with SiriusXM to develop new solo podcast series for Wolverine, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Star-Lord. And in classic Marvel fashion, they will all be teaming up in a climactic podcast series.Deadline reports that Marvel has struck a multi-year deal with SiriusXM to develop both scripted and unscripted podcasts, as well as themed live events. The two companies will partner up to develop four new scripted series starring Wolverine, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Star-Lord, as well as a fifth series in which all four team up. It's like the Podcast Avengers, except you can't see them and for some reason it includes a Guardian of the Galaxy. (Truly, what a random assortment of characters.)
These titles will premiere in 2020, and follows the footsteps of Marvel's successful first ventures into scripted podcast series with Wolverine: The Long Night and its second season, Wolverine: The Lost Trail. Marvel has been reportedly trying to build a "Marvel Podcast Universe" which includes the two Wolverine series along with a 10-episode Marvels podcast series all developed with Stitcher. However, these new series under SiriusXM seem like separate projects, which makes me wonder if they will be grouped alongside the Stitcher titles. The deal marks a major first step in podcasting for SiriusXM, the popular subscription radio service.
"Powerful stories are read, seen, and heard – and we believe audio is the next natural step to bring the Marvel Universe to fans around the world," said Dan Buckley, President of Marvel Entertainment. "Storytelling has always been at the heart of Marvel's success, and SiriusXM and Pandora have the right platform and expertise to bring Marvel's rich tapestry of stories to listeners in a whole new way. We are excited to introduce an impressive roster of programming with SiriusXM and Pandora, and we can't wait to share more details in the weeks and months to come."
The deal with SiriusXM includes not only scripted podcast series but unscripted series that will "look at Marvel's history through a modern-day lens of pop culture, regular talk shows and an interview show with celebrity guests." Add that to the unscripted Marvel content soon coming to Disney+, and fans are going to have more opportunities than ever to take a peek behind the Marvel curtain.
It's interesting that Marvel is partnering with other audio companies outside of Stitcher to expand its Podcast Universe. The Marvel Stitcher titles have been surprisingly impressive, effectively using the medium to create immersive audio dramas that offer a different approach to storytelling than comic books. But Stitcher doesn't have nearly the reach that SiriusXM does, so perhaps the comic book brand wants to establish as much of a footing as possible.