ABC Orders Damage Control Script

BY: NOAH CASTAGNA

ABC has ordered the script for a half-hour comedy television series based around Marvel’s Damage Control, the cleanup crew of the Marvel Universe. The single-camera comedy will be helmed and written by Ben Karlin, executive producer of the Daily Show and Colbert Report, and more recently a writer-producer on Modern Family.

The official show synopsis from the press release is as follows: “Damage Control centers on the overworked and underpaid clean up crew of the Marvel Universe. Their specialty is dealing with the aftermath of the unique fallout from superhero conflicts, like returning lost ray guns to their rightful owners, rescheduling a wedding venue after it has been vaporized in a battle or even tracking down a missing prize African parrot that’s been turned to stone or goo. Sometimes the most important heroes are the ones behind the scenes.”

Damage Control and its employees first surfaced with a four page story in 1988’s Marvel Age Annual, created by Dwayne McDuffie and Ernie Colón. Eventually the crew got a serialized story in Marvel Comics Presents #19, an anthological series known for introducing new characters and teams to the Marvel Universe. Though not helming solo runs, the Damage Control organization has appeared frequently in several major comic arcs, such as Civil War and a three-issue tie in to World War Hulk. Though there is no confirmed appearance for any Damage Control members in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, the SHIELD branch has been hinted at since 2008, appearing on news tickers since 2008’s Iron Man and even in children’s shows such as Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-man.

Damage Control is one of two new Marvel television series coming to ABC, the other of which is set to be a spinoff of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, starring Nick Blood and Adrianne Palicki, playing Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse, respectively. The two new shows will join Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and Marvel’s Agent Carter and bring the total to four Marvel television shows on ABC, alongside the Marvel Netflix shows of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.

While Damage Control won’t be premiering until next year,  an adaptation of the Alias comics revolving around Jessica Jones – a superpowered private investigator with a dark past –  was released on Netflix on November 20th.