With the huge, global popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s sometimes easy to forget Marvel is much more than that. It’s comic books, obviously, but also video games, toys, TV shows, and excellent animation. Case in point, this week marked the debut of a brand new Marvel show on Disney Channel and it’s getting the kind of reception most MCU movies can only dream of.
That show, which is currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, is Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Based on the comics of the same name by Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, and Natacha Bustos, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur follows a young New York teenager named Lunella Lafayette. She’s brilliant but one day, after experimenting with a fix to the city’s blackouts, opens a portal that allows a T-Rex to come to the city. Lunella and the Rex then become friends and team up to create the titular superhero pair. And while the show, for now, exclusively debuts on Disney Channel (and arrives on Disney+ a few days later), the whole hour-long (with commercials) first episode was uploaded to YouTube. Check it out.
Speaking to Gizmodo, executive producer Steve Loter explained that while this show is obviously its own thing, Marvel (aka Kevin Feige and his team) have had input on the show and that Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur won’t exist completely outside of its Marvel origins.
“Marvel’s been an amazing collaborator on the series, and we’re all fans of the MCU,” Loter said. “We consider Moon Girl to be ‘complementary’ to that universe — you’ll see characters from the films appear. But you’ll also see a lot of deep cuts, characters from the comics who’ve never made it to film, TV, or any other medium before. It’s been great to be able to bring all these kinds of characters to life.
“We start out in the first few episodes establishing Lunella Lafayette and her world, and making her the central part of it,” he continued. “But as the series goes on, we bring in more Marvel elements to enhance the story.”
Moon Girl, Devil Dinosaur and…who would you want to see? See if you’re right as the show debuts on Disney Channel and then on Disney+.