Marvel's Damage Control Show Coming to ABC

Edited by Robert Beach 

Marvel television is a spotty enterprise to be sure. As much as I loved Daredevil and enjoyed Agent Carter, there’s no getting around the many problems that seem to plague Marvel’s television projects. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the least interesting and least ambitious superhero show on the air right now. It's completely dwarfed by the conceptual craziness and continuity of Flash and Arrow while simultaneously being completely outclassed by Gotham’s stylistic affectations. That’s not even touching the excellent indie comic shows like iZombie or the long running and beloved Walking Dead. 

Add in upcoming challengers like Lucifer, Preacher, and Legends of Tomorrow, it’s obvious the TV game is rife with far more challengers than Marvel is really equipped to handle just yet. As such, it makes some sense that they’re actually working to expand their market share with a new kind of show. While Daredevil was a gritty crime series, Agent Carter a period piece and Agents of SHIELD a blatant marketing tool, Marvel’s latest TV venture will be a comedy based off the obscure comic series Damage Control.

Damage Control first popped up in 1989 as a 4-issue miniseries.  This was a weird time for Marvel, the company was in the midst of a bizarre transitional period with a lot of strange elements that now seem decidedly silly. This was the era when the Black Knight was an Avenger, and She-Thing was part of the Fantastic Four. It was not a time of serious long-lasting elements is my point. The Damage Control comic was written primarily as a comedy and a brilliantly high concept one at that. It befits its pedigree as the brainchild of comics legend Dwayne McDuffie.  

The basic idea of Damage Control is that in the world of Marvel comics the titular Damage Control Company basically caters to all the ancillary needs of the superhero community. The primary job of Damage Control seems to be clean up, reconstructing destroyed buildings, and salvaging leftover super villain weapons and tech; however, the group also filled the roles of debt collector, superhuman lawyers, scavengers, bail bondsmen, and a whole host of sundry other problem solver jobs. 

Though they generally work in the aftermath of superhuman battles, they’re also perfectly fine engaging with the superhuman community on both sides of the law, so long as you aren’t a wanted criminal Damage Control will meet with you. They’re essentially the Ray Donovans of the Marvel universe, a parallel I’m fairly certain wasn’t lost on the executives who green lit the show. 

The Damage Control miniseries proved a popular success, combining the incredible wit and imaginative writing skills of then-blossoming newcomer Dwayne McDuffie with the unique and enjoyable artwork of Ernie Colon. The first miniseries led to two follow-ups, both written by McDuffie, though the third mini wasn’t drawn by Colon. The third Damage Control comic was actually only produced for Marvel UK and featured the art of Kyle Baker, which is generally hit or miss, and this is decidedly in the miss category.  

For some reason McDuffie loved throwing Damage Control together with the Wrecking Crew, a group of low-level Thor villains with mystic demolition powers of super strength and invulnerability. The Wrecking Crew are solid C-list villains, the kind of bad guys who are too powerful to ignore, but not powerful enough to be an Avengers-level threat. I think the real reason McDuffie kept going back to them was that they were the only construction-themed character in the Marvel universe. 

After their three miniseries at the start from 1989 to 1991, Damage Control more or less dried up from the Marvel universe. A big part of that was Dwayne McDuffie’s departure from Marvel to work for/found Milestone Media in 1993. For whatever reason, McDuffie is the only author to ever write Damage Control, so when he bowed out from Marvel work, no one stepped up to replace him.  Even Damage Control's later appearances were still penned by McDuffie. Those appearances didn’t start until the Marvel revitalization in the mid-2000s that was Civil War. 

As much as I may hate Civil War, and the long, dark era of Marvel stories it ushered in, I do admit it helped re-energize the entire company and direct their approach to events and comics going forward, for better or worse. Damage Control didn’t get its own mini during Civil War, but it was a major player in Wolverine’s ongoing story at the time. Wolverine targeted the villain Nitro, who he blamed for the explosion that triggered the superhuman registration act and subsequent superhero civil war. It was revealed Nitro was involved with a corrupt conspiracy at the highest levels of Damage Control.  It’s one of the only Damage Control stories not written by Dwayne McDuffie and not played for comedy, and it shows. 

After Wolverine cut out that particular corporate cancer, the company got to have one last miniseries hurrah in the aftermath of World War Hulk. This miniseries saw the return of McDuffie as writer, and his unique voice, spot on comedy, and knack for digging into the engaging and ludicrous detail of living in a superhero universe is a welcome return. As the final appearance of the corporation, it’s a nice send off with some seriously whacky ideas including the Chrysler building becoming sentient. Unfortunately, Dwayne McDuffie passed away in 2011 at the all too young age of 49. No one has really stepped up to write a new Damage Control-centric story since. 

As for Damage Control’s upcoming television adaptation, it’s probably the most exciting thing to come out of Marvel TV since the announcement of their Netflix shows. Damage Control is exactly the property that’s perfect for what Marvel’s approach to network television. The shows Marvel presents on ABC aren’t really meant to be developing stand-alone franchises like they are on Netflix were so much of the emphasis is new characters cut from whole cloth.  No, Marvel’s network shows exist to fill in the space between films; they’re there to keep you interested and engaged in the Marvel universe in the long 6-8 months from summer to summer. 

In that respect, Damage Control is perfectly suited to be a supplemental show as you could craft whole season arcs entirely around dealing with the summer’s fallout. It’d be a great way to keep people talking and keep people interested; the two things Marvel needs to survive and have been hemorrhaging since Age of Ultron. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the Damage Control show ends up part of the direct aftermath to Captain America: Civil War. If the government suddenly cares about heroes causing destruction, they’re also going to have to care about someone to clean it up. 


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