How Doctor Who Did The MCU First - And How It Can Again
Before the MCU, Doctor Who built the same kind of shared universe and brought in millions of viewers. Russell T Davies used his 2005 revival of Doctor Who as a launchpad for two major spinoffs featuring popular characters from the series: the darker, Captain Jack Harkness-fronted Torchwood; and the kid-friendly The Sarah Jane Adventures, which focused on classic companion Sarah Jane Smith. Each proved a hit with viewers at the time, and their shared DNA gave the Whoniverse a sense of scale that covered all audience bases. There was even a behind-the-scenes show, Doctor Who Confidential, which was similar in style to the MCU's Marvel Studios Assembled.
The Doctor Who spinoffs featured crossovers and shared threats, such as a Cyberwoman appearing in Torchwood’s basement or The Doctor visiting Sarah Jane on Bannerman Road. The most significant crossover was the Doctor Who season 4 finale, consisting of the episodes “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End,” which aired in 2008, the same year the first MCU movie,Iron Man was released. This was essentially Doctor Who doing The Avengers before the MCU did, with a franchise team-up to defeat a Thanos-scale universal threat, namely Davros and his hoards of Daleks. And it brought in over 10 million viewers. This era of the show lasted from 2006 to 2011, at which time both Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures came to an end.
Related: Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary: Every Tennant Set Photo & Reveal (So Far)
During those years, Doctor Who and its spinoffs essentially took over British television in the same way the MCU has now taken over blockbuster cinema. By creating a diverse universe of characters aimed at different audiences, Davies and the production teams that followed him
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