The Marvel show that Disney tried to hide from its own audience
In short: Helstrom arrived on Hulu in 2020 as a dark, supernatural outlier in the Marvel catalog. Despite its comic book origins, the series was intentionally distanced from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stripped of the iconic brand logo, and ultimately canceled after just one season as the final project from Marvel Television.
Created by Paul Zbyszewski, Helstrom follows siblings Daimon and Ana, the offspring of a notorious serial killer, as they navigate a world of occult threats. While initially conceived as the flagship for a horror-focused franchise called Adventure into Fear, the show’s trajectory shifted dramatically during its production. In December 2019, Marvel Television was absorbed into Marvel Studios, leaving the series in a state of limbo. By the time it premiered on October 16, 2020, Disney had scrubbed the Marvel name from the marketing to prevent viewers from expecting the tone of a typical superhero blockbuster.
The series was filmed in Vancouver between October 2019 and March 2020, but it struggled to find its footing. Critics were largely unimpressed, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting a 27% approval rating. Many reviewers described the show as a generic supernatural drama that lacked the spark of its source material, noting that it felt more like mid-2000s network television than a modern Marvel production. Despite some praise for its visual effects, the consensus was that the characters and plot failed to distinguish themselves in a crowded genre landscape.
Ultimately, Helstrom serves as a historical footnote—a project completed under contractual obligation that exists in a siloed pocket of the Marvel universe. With no crossovers and minimal connections to the broader continuity, it remains a rare example of a Marvel-branded property that the studio actively sought to decouple from its own identity. When Hulu canceled the series on December 14, 2020, it marked the end of an era, closing the book on the final live-action production overseen by the original Marvel Television division.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Helstrom (TV series)
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