And now Netflix has cancelled Luke Cage

All is not well in the land of Marvel superheroes. Just last week, Netflix cancelled Iron Fist, starring Game of Thrones alum Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell) in the title, after its second season debuted early this month. Now, Deadline reports that the streaming service has also cancelled Luke Cage, about a Harlem-based superhero played by Mike Colter. It’s second season premiered back in June. “Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is grateful to the dedicated showrunner, writers, cast and crew who brought Harlem’s Hero to life for the past two seasons, and to all the fans who have supported the series,” read a statement.

So…what’s going on here? At one point, it looked like Netflix’s suite of Marvel TV shows was going to tear up the small screen like Thor, Iron Man, and the rest have been dominating the box office, but now two of the five shows in Netflix’s lineup are gone, with only Daredevil, Jessica Jones  and The Punisher remaining (not counting crossover event The Defenders, which isn’t expected to return). Per Deadline, there were creative differences high up the corporate ladder, with Netflix and Marvel fighting over the direction of Luke Cage, and some execs being unsatisfied with scripts for a proposed third season. Add to that the fact that the show is expensive to produce, and that there are a lot more Netflix originals it has to battle for time nowadays, and cancellation may have been the easiest option.

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This could also be an example of Disney-owned Marvel throwing its weight around. Back when Marvel and Disney agreed to produce Netflix shows starring Marvel superheroes, Disney wasn’t making its own streaming service. Now it is, and it may not be happy with its properties appearing on another platform. Netflix may claim it has the final say on which of these shows to cancel and which to keep, but Disney is an enormous company that can exert an enormous amount of pressure.

Jessica Jones and The Punisher have both been renewed for new seasons, while the third season of Daredevil just premiered. If something happens to one of those shows, we’ll know a purge is truly in order.

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