Here We Go Again: A Timeline of John Ridley's 'Ms. Marvel' TV Series Rumors

Back in 2015, Marvel fans were left delighted at the news that John Ridley, the socially-conscious producer of 12 Years A Slave, was working on a Marvel project with ABC. Two years later, the nature of this series remains a mystery, although both Ridley and ABC have said it's still in the works. That said, there's one recurring rumor: that Ridley's show will star none other than Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel! As speculation begins to circulate once more, let's take a look back at the history of whispers and rumors surrounding John Ridley's project.

2015: Where The Rumors Began

We first learned of John Ridley's mysterious series back in 2015, and it didn't take long for the rumors to start. Within months, there was an anonymous post on Reddit that suggested this series was a Ms. Marvel show:

"Originally, ABC pitched to him Cloak and Dagger, since they've tried to develop it in the past, but Ridley took more interest in a certain Kamala Khan and decided to incorporate her into the MCU.Now the obvious first question is 'how does Kamala work without Carol Danvers?' Well apparently the current plan is to slow-burn her origin into actually being Ms. Marvel over time a la Daredevil (or at least in terms of her taking that name, I don't know whether or not she'll have her costume from the start or wait it out). The series will focus more on her fascination with superheroes in general, while balancing issues of religion, racism and Islamaphobia along with her crime fighting."

It definitely sounds like the kind of series John Ridley would be interested in, but it's worth noting this is just another anonymous Reddit post (which was swiftly deleted). Fans were intrigued at the level of detail, but unsure how much trust to put in the rumor. Others speculated that it could be Cloak and Dagger or even a relaunch of Blade, but we can safely rule both those options out. Marvel is now working on Cloak and Dagger as a separate project, while Marvel visionary Kevin Feige is insistent that nothing is in the works for Blade right now.

Adding Credence To The Rumor

The Ms. Marvel rumors gained traction a year later, when Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter advocated for Donald Trump. Marvel staff weren't pleased, and one of Ms. Marvel's creators — G. Willow Wilson — was vocal in her displeasure. Over on Twitter, she mentioned that she was in Burbank, California, and discussed this with various Marvel colleagues. She then took to Tumblr to give further detail:

"Rather fortuitously, I’m down in California on Marvel-related business at the moment, so I had the opportunity to talk all of this over in depth with a bunch of people who have been at the company a long time, and whose opinions I value. But after we talked, I found myself with more questions than answers. Can we separate a CEO from the company he runs, or the company from the creators, or the creators from the art? Should we?"

At the time, Burbank was the center of Marvel Studios and Marvel Television. Most fans assumed she'd headed to Burbank to discuss Kamala Khan's live-action series, and associated the business trip with Ridley's project. Shortly after, Marvel's Chief Operating Officer, Joe Quesada, made a throwaway comment about Ms. Marvel having a future in "other media." He didn't go into detail, but fans sat up and took note.

The Latest Rumor

We've just had another anonymous post on Reddit, and again it claims to have inside knowledge of Ridley's project.

"The pilot of the show is being written by John Ridley, who worked on 12 Years A Slave and American Crime. While it was originally written with the intent for the character to debut on ABC, ABC Studios is also considering Freeform and Hulu as potential platforms for the show. The original pitch began development in the Spring of 2015, but following Marvel's success on platforms outside of ABC, as well as changes to the schedule of Marvel Studios, in particularly the development and delays of the Captain Marvel film, have altered both the original script and the expected release timeline significantly. The script has undergone several rewrites since its initial commission over two years ago, but development is expected to be officially announced soon, as John Ridley will be able to showrun the project himself following the cancellation of American Crime, which he had previously been working on during the show's long development."

Again, this is anonymous, so should be treated with a sizable pinch of salt. That said, the timeline mentioned in the post matches up. Ms. Marvel was created by an all-star team back in 2013, and has proven to be phenomenally popular. She's inspired by the heroism of Carol Danvers, soon to make her big screen debut in the #MCU, and it's not surprising that changes in plans for the Captain Marvel film would have an impact on this series.

Back when #Marvel Studios first announced their plans for Phase 3, Captain Marvel was scheduled to release on July 6th, 2018. Marvel changed that release dates in the wake of their Spider-Man deal with Sony, and the movie was pushed back to March 8th, 2019. What's more, we have no way of knowing how Marvel's plans for Captain Marvel have changed over the years; at SDCC 2017 we learned that Captain Marvel will be set in the '90s, which would surely change Marvel Television's plans to tie Ms. Marvel into the film.

Meanwhile, the Redditor is also right to note that the last few years have seen Marvel Television embrace a surprising range of new channels. The first wave of critically-acclaimed Netflix shows are due to come to a head in The Defenders later this month, while Hulu's Runaways will air in November. During ABC's presentation at the Television Critics Association, ABC President Channing Dungey refused to discuss the project, and led to speculation that it was a bust. She described questions about Ridley's show as "a question for Marvel," hinting that ABC's involvement had been reduced. Many sites took that as confirmation that the project was in trouble, but it actually fits well with the Reddit post.

Right now, we don't know for certain that Ridley is working on a Ms. Marvel series. That said, this is the third time rumors have linked Ridley with the character, and you can easily see why Kamala Khan would be of interest to him. If the rumors are true, then the series is also gradually changing shape as Marvel Studios change their plans for the Captain Marvel movie. With that film due to start production early next year, we can expect to discover if the Ms. Marvel rumors are true in due course.

[Sources: ComicBook.com, ComicBookMovie, ComicBookResources, IGN, Tumblr]