Credit: Inside the MagicIt’s no secret that not every Marvel show has been a smash hit for Disney+, but the House of Mouse recently made a shocking last-ditch effort to get more eyes on a doomed MCU series that had one of the worst streaming debuts in franchise history—adding it to Hulu.
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From the poorly-received She Hulk: Attorney at Law to the staggering underperformance of Ms. Marvel, there’s been a lot of misses when it comes to Marvel Studios’ presence on Disney+. The MCU went all-in on the streaming model when Disney’s streamer released in late 2019, rolling out series such as WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Solider, and Hawkeye, all to varying degrees of success.
Marvel underwent somewhat of an experimental transition phase following the conclusion of their widely-praised Infinity Saga, with Phase Four of the MCU perhaps being the studio’s most inconsistent era to date. This is especially evident in the quality of projects like the Emmy-winning WandaVision and the box office phenomenon Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which stand in stark contrast to, say, Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and the rocky Marvel’s What If…?
Related: Secret Invasion’ Failure Threatens to Destroy Marvel’s Presence on Disney+
Despite being one of the franchise’s top-rated shows, Ms. Marvel still holds the unfortunate record for having the least-watched debut episode of any MCU series on Disney+ with 775 thousand viewers, thanks to a general lack of interest and virtually nonexistent marketing. But the studio’s latest Disney+ release, the Samuel L. Jackson-led Secret Invasion, barely avoided taking Ms. Marvel’s place.
Secret Invasion aired its premiere episode on Disney+ in early June, where it earned the second-lowest premiere viewership of any MCU title on Disney+ with 994 thousand viewers. Since then, it hasn’t picked up much stream, with the penultimate episode having just aired on Wednesday, July 19.
Although the show is currently airing on Disney+, with its six-episode run set to conclude next week, Disney made an unusual move in a frankly desperate move to gain viewership: putting it on a different streaming service. Marvel Studios announced via Twitter Thursday morning that Hulu subscribers will be able to watch the first three episodes of Secret Invasion starting tomorrow, July 21 until Thursday, August 17.
He’s bringing the Fury.
Celebrate the first three episodes of Marvel Studios’ #SecretInvasion, starting tomorrow on @Hulu until 8/17. Stream episodes now on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/T6za7S47mM
— Secret Invasion (@SecretInvasion) July 20, 2023
If this sounds unusual to you, it’s because it is. This is a historic move for the superhero studio, as it’s one of the first times that a Marvel-produced Disney+ show will be available to stream on the Hulu platform. Of course, this isn’t the first time a lesser-viewed Disney+ series has been aired outside of the Disney streamer, however. Some might recall that the acclaimed Star Wars spinoff, Andor, was made available on cable TV and streaming on Hulu last November, so it’s not surprising that the MCU is following suit.
So, will this be a common trend for Marvel shows whose premiere episodes earn under one million viewers going forward? Maybe, as it was recently announced that Ms. Marvel will also be available to watch on ABC’s cable television channel starting August 5.
This is all part of Disney’s plan to get more eyes on their less popular series (regardless of ratings), with the streaming giant likely intending to keep their more successful shows exclusive to Disney+ subscribers as an incentive to draw more people to the paid service. But only time will tell if adding Marvel projects to cable TV and Hulu will be a wise business model or if this new strategy will only cause preexisting subscribers to become disillusioned with Disney+. Or, worse, these shows will get axed as the company continues to purge its catalog of original content.
What are your thoughts on Secret Invasion being added to Hulu? Does this spell trouble ahead for the company? Let us know in the comments below.