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Hey Marvel: Give Jac Schaeffer $2 Billion to Do Whatever She Wants

Umito November 1, 2024

Hey Marvel, are you up?

So here’s the thing: Jac Schaeffer. That’s it. This is the tweet (now X post).

But seriously! As creator and showrunner of 2021 films WandaVisionSchaeffer brought out everything fans love about the Scarlet Witch (aka Wanda Maximoff) in the Marvel comics, making sense of this character as a superhero and as a person. For years, films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have attempted to introduce moviegoers to a powerful superhero who couldn’t really be too powerful yet; to a woman who fell in love with Vision but whose romantic connection to him remained unclear; to a polarizing and complex character that Elizabeth Olsen was clearly ready to play.

Under the direction of Schaeffer, the Scarlet Witch, Vision, their children and even the secondary characters of WandaVision stood out so much that the series received 23 nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards and scored 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Suddenly, the MCU rushed to bring Olsen back for 2022 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesseven though most fans were already clamoring for a standalone film featuring the Scarlet Witch.

Elizabeth Olsen on “WandaVision.”

Marvel Studios/Disney+

We took what we were given, and in came the updates for Agatha Throughout. Despite the undeniable success of WandaVision and universal love for Kathryn Hahn’s performance as Agatha HarknessMCU fans weren’t entirely convinced that this 2024 spinoff would actually work, or that it could ever be as good as the series it came from.

As casting news unfolded, we saw names like Patti LuPone, Joe Locke, Place AubreySasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn and Debra Jo Rupp join the ensemble – a veritable coven of witches – led by Hahn. And when fans noticed this casting was starting to feel pretty weirdthe actors in no way hesitated about these hypotheses. They actually leaned in!

Now that the nine episodes of Agatha throughout came out, the verdict is in: Schaeffer has done it again.

As viewers struggle with superhero movie fatigue, endless streaming wars between studios, and an era overwhelmingly bloated with content, Schaeffer has delivered another show that fits into the larger continuity of the live action from Marvel, but also tells its own complete story; which introduces characters who will live on in the franchise for years as well as others who really mattered to this particular project; which captivated casual audiences, excited MCU fans, and somehow also spoke to the most die-hard Marvel comics fans – all while infusing magic, quirkiness and camp into a spin-off that barely had to rely on its predecessor to succeed.

Even for a professional Hollywood writer working with a studio with infinite resources, you don’t have to look far to see the many spectacular failures that have occurred on our screens (big and small) in recent years. Against all odds, Agatha throughout was a critically acclaimed series that grew its viewership week over week and has become ultra-viral on social networks with each new episode.

(L to R) Sasheer Zamata, Joe Locke, Kathryn Hahn, Patti LuPone, Debra Jo Rupp and Ali Ahn on “Agatha All Along.”

Marvel/Disney+ TV

The success of Loki season 1 led its showrunner, Michael Waldron, to become the head writer of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and be attached to two Avengers films that were in development at the time. Jeremy Slater, the showrunner behind the hit Marvel series Moon Knightwas hired to write and/or create blockbusters such as Godzilla x Kong: The New Kingdom, Mortal Kombat 2and live adaptation Coyote vs. Acme.

Peter Cameron, credited as screenwriter of the highly anticipated film Fantastic Four: first stepswas also hired after his successes as a writer on WandaVision, Moon Knight, Werewolf at nightand even Agatha throughout. And while Jon Favreau’s accomplishments as a writer, director, and creator extend far beyond The Mandalorian (A Star Wars show which is also under the Disney umbrella), there is no denying the straight line between this hit Disney+ series and the next 2026 film The Mandalorian and Grogu.

The immense popularity of WandaVision charted a new path for the MCU that the franchise has absolutely benefited from in the years since Avengers: Endgame. Most of the “Multiverse Saga”‘s successes so far have come from television, and Schaeffer’s work is an integral part of that journey. Agatha throughout not only proves that WandaVision It was no accident, but this showrunner can create appointment viewing content while smoothly interweaving continuity threads into compelling, self-contained stories – all of which are critical issues currently facing the MCU.

As a result, a legion (pun intended) of fans is clamoring for Disney and Marvel Studios to give Schaeffer more ambitious projects with even bigger budgets and more freedom in the coming years. There is enormous pressure to The Scarlet Witch will finally get her own standalone filmfor example, and Schaeffer’s name is on everyone’s lips on social networks, discussion forums and content rating platforms. But if you ask us…we think Marvel should give Schaeffer $2 billion to do whatever she wants to do next.