Marvel’s ‘Loki’ TV Show Will Tie Into ‘Doctor Strange 2’; ‘Hawkeye’ Was Initially Planned As A Movie
Since the initial announcement of Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ shows, it was clear they would tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a way that previous Marvel TV shows (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., etc.) never did. Series likeThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier,Hawkeye, andWandaVisionwill bring movie stars to the world of streaming and serve as a storytelling bridge between MCU films.
We knew about some of those connections already, but in a new interview, Marvel’sKevin Feigehas revealed another pairing to look out for – and he explained how one of them transitioned from a film project into a streaming series. Read about the Loki Doctor Strange connection below, and howHawkeyewas planned as a movie.
Bloomberghas an extensive profile about the impending debut of Disney+, recounting some of the key moments in the lead-up to next week’s launch. The piece describes how Kevin Feige pitched some of the shows to the cast at theAvengers: Infinity Warpremiere since many of them were gathered in one place, but how Feige was “more nervous” about one pitch than the others. Marvel reportedly had a deal in place for actorJeremy Rennerto star in aHawkeyemovie, but when Disney+ came around, Feige wanted to change things up and turn that project into a series instead. Apparently Renner took the news well: “He totally got it and said, ‘Let’s do it,'” Feige said.
In 2014, Renner indicated thathe wasn’t interestedin starring in his own movie, but a couple of years later, he saidhe was open to exploring the character morein a TV show.
But that wasn’t the only piece of news Feige unveiled. He also says theLokishow will tie directly intoDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
He declines to discuss the budget for the shows—including reports Disney is spending as much as $25 million per episode on some Marvel shows, more than HBO is believed to have spent during the final season ofGame of Thrones. He does drop one little morsel, though. If you want to understand everything in future Marvel movies, he says, you’ll probably need a Disney+ subscription, because events from the new shows will factor into forthcoming films such asDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Scarlet Witch will be a key character in that movie, and Feige points out that the Loki series will tie in, too. “I’m not sure we’ve actually acknowledged that before,” he says. “But it does.”
The Scarlet Witch connection isn’t new – Feige mentioned that on stage at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con – but the Loki Doctor Strange link is fresh information. It’s not super suprising, given Strange’s ability to tap into the multiverse and how Loki escaped with the Tesseract inAvengers: Endgame, but it’s still interesting to hear.
Feige’s sentiment about needing to see the Disney+ shows to understand everything in the upcoming movies isn’t new, but it’s yet another confirmation of comments he’s made previously. “[Characters will] be changing, evolving, growing in those event series and then those changes will be reflected in their next film appearances,” he saidback in April. “These episodes will intersect with the movies in a very big way. It’s a totally new form of storytelling that we get to play with and explore.”
HawkeyeandLokiare slated to arrive sometime in Disney+’s second year, whileDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesshits theaters on August 12, 2025.
