What Marvel's Inhumans Failure Means For The MCU

Update: Here's why the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. aren't showing up in Marvel's Inhumans

It's never been easy being an Inhuman, but these days, it seems worse than ever for them. Marvel's Inhumans, the most maligned property the Marvel Cinematic Universe has released, is soon nearing its end. With the fifth episode of the 8-part 'event' series posting its lowest ratings yet, the prospect of second season looks bleak for the Inhumans' Royal Family (but not necessarily impossible). In episode 5, 'Something Inhuman This Way Comes', the Royal Family, which had been banished from their lunar city of Attlian and scattered across the island of Oahu, finally reunited and declared their intention to get revenge on Maximus (Iwan Rheon). Regardless, Inhumans' fate is sealed with most fans who have long since abandoned the series. Marvel fans are already sweeping Inhumans under the rug, but can Marvel itself do the same?

Let's not sugar coat it: Inhumans is a failure. It's a failure creatively, it's a failure in ratings (in an admittedly difficult Friday night slot), and unlike Iron Fist, the previous effort from Inhumans' showrunner Scott Buck, Inhumans doesn't even take advantage of its connection to Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to help prop it up like Iron Fist does The Defenders - at least, it hasn't yet. The Marvel Studios films have had some underwhelming efforts relative to their massive and beloved hits, but none have been the epic disaster the Marvel Television division now has on its hands, which is even worse than Iron Fist. However Inhumans wraps up its story, in the real world, the story is what becomes of the property now. The Inhumans remain a major part of Marvel's publishing plans and will continue to play a large role in the comics, but in terms of the MCU, where do the Inhumans go from here - if anywhere?

The word "Inhumans" has never been uttered by anyone in a Marvel movie, and it looks like it'll stay that way. When asked about it, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige cannily dodges questions about Inhumans, which was at one time slated as one of his film projects for 2019, while another architect of the cosmic side of the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, has indicated he doesn't see much in the way of salvaging Inhumans. While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has the Inhumans locked into its DNA for however long it will continue to air on ABC, in terms of the MCU films, the Inhumans essentially do not exist and likely will never exist. Even though the MCU films share the alien Kree race, the Inhumans' progenitors, with Marvel Television, the Kree in the movies never mention their superpowered creations. As a business move, this is smart - it keeps the taint of the Inhumans mess far away from the movies. The message seems to be: Inhumans is Marvel TV's embarrassment, not Marvel Studios'.

Instead, Marvel Studios is merrily marching onward with a rapid expansion of their outer space characters and concepts. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 introduced the golden-skinned Sovereign race and Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell), while Thor: Ragnarok takes fans to the planet Sakaar and introduces far-out Marvel beings like the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), one of the ancient Elders of the Universe. When Thanos makes his play for the Infinity Gauntlet in Avengers: Infinity War, he'll bring the alien monsters called The Children of Thanos with him. The shape-shifting Skrulls are also set to make their movie debut in 2019's Captain Marvel, which is expected to depict an MCU version of the classic Avengers story 'The Kree-Skrull War'. This means the Kree will continue to play a role in Marvel movies as well. Feige, Gunn and the braintrust at Marvel Studios are currently mapping out the future of the MCU on Earth and in outer space in Phase 4 and beyond.

None of those lofty Marvel movie plans will involve the Inhumans. King Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Queen Medusa (Serinda Swan), Princess Crystal (Isabelle Cornish) and the rest of the Royal Family are highly unlikely to ever cross over into an MCU film to rub shoulders with Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) or Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). The Inhumans have no role to play in the battle with Thanos for the Infinity Gauntlet in Infinity War. The Kree-Skrull War in Captain Marvel will be set in the 1990s and will bypass the Inhumans, who are conveniently isolated on the moon during that era. To the movies, it's like the Inhumans never existed and will have no impact on the MCU's grand movie plans.

In the comics, the Inhumans have been among Marvel's oldest concepts and have become impact players in Marvel events for the past few years. Marvel had de-emphasized the X-Men to give the Inhumans more prominence. They played a sizable role in the Infinity event, which led to the creation of the Terrigen cloud fatal to mutants. This ultimately caused the successful Inhumans Vs. X-Men crossover. With Attilan rebuilt as a city in the river adjacent to Manhattan, the Inhumans are an everyday fixture in Marvel Comics. But on television, they're at best a curiosity because of how bad their series is, and to the greater MCU of the movies, they are pariahs - or would be if the movies even recognized their existence. The pages of Marvel comics are the best and only place to see the Inhumans depicted properly; Medusa's hair in the comics will never be shorn and continues to be luxuriantly red and indomitable, for example. Black Bolt flies and is one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Karnak's abilities are thoroughly explored. There are no cheap short cuts to be found for the Inhumans in the comics.

The Inhuman Royal Family In Marvel Comics

The television series, however, has all but ruined the Inhumans Royal Family. In the probable event there is no second season to redeem the Inhumans, their only recourse to continue would be for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to fold the characters into its series to appear as guest stars like they did Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna) in season 4. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s acclaimed 4th season proves there's plenty of gas left in their creative tank, and their writers might be able to do for the Inhumans what the Royal Family's own series' writers' room could not. However, the limited budgets and 'real world' grounded look of Marvel Television, especially on ABC, simply can't do justice to how exotic and weird the Inhumans are supposed to be. Inhumans should have had the same kind of eye-popping visual style that was seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but now, barring a complete revamp that can only come with the deeper pockets and resources of the Marvel film division, the Inhumans are locked into their drab, uninspired look for now.

Ultimately, the best bet for ever seeing the Inhumans Royal Family presented in the manner they deserve would be to scrap this TV version, sweep it all under the rug, and simply wait. After however many years pass, perhaps a circumstance could be engineered where Marvel's film division could regain the rights and finally do the Inhumans movie that should have been made all along. Certainly, plenty of other Marvel characters like The Punisher and Ghost Rider have received multiple chances at adaptations before they hit paydirt. All is not lost for the Inhumans. They could still be popular and a franchise of their own. But for that to happen, the versions currently stuck in Hawaii and trying to get back to the moon should be lost and stay lost.