Parent group accuses Daredevil of "forever tarnish"-ing Disney's "family friendly crown"

Won’t someone please think of the children, and/or the public image of one of the planet’s biggest entertainment conglomerates?

That’s the gist of a press release issued by the moral watchpuppies of the Parents Television and Media Council earlier this week, deriding Disney for opting to move the Marvel TV shows that used to live over on Netflix to its Disney+ streaming service, starting March 16.

Now, admittedly: There were some open questions about whether Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Punisher, Luke Cage, Defenders, and the other one would be moved over to the squeaky-clean streaming service, rather than, say, Hulu, after their Netflix deals expired; built for adult audiences at their former digital home, the shows were decidedly TV-MA in their approach to violence, moral darkness, and a very un-Marvel willingness to acknowledging the human realities of doin’ it.

Still, though, the statement from the PTC—one of America’s whiniest “advocacy” groups going, responsible for a huge chunk of FCC complaints every year—lays it on a little thick. “For more than 98 years, the Walt Disney Company has been synonymous with the words Family Friendly, and I can think of no other corporation in American history that has been built more squarely on the backs—and on the wallets—of parents and families,” writes group president Tim Winter. “It seems wildly ‘off-brand’ for Disney Plus to add TV-MA and R-rated programming to this platform, ostensibly to increase subscription revenue. So what comes next, adding live striptease performances in Fantasyland at Disney World?”

(And, god, but is there anything sadder than watched a limited imagination try to invent some “real” depravity?)

The irony of all this is that the PTC briefly acknowledges that the arrival of the Defenders shows will come with new parental controls for Disney+, specifically designed to make it easier for parents to stop their children from hearing a violence or doing a swear. Even so, Winters winds himself up to a big finish, writing of Disney that: “Its foray into TV-MA-rated fare will forever tarnish its family friendly crown.”

Tim, buddy: If Iron Fist was enough to destroy a company’s brand, it would have done it to the whole Marvel Studios engine like half a decade ago.