After a long run that took the comic giant into the live-action small-screen business, Jeph Loeb is leaving Marvel Television.

The four-time Eisner Award winner and Heroes co-EP will exit the home of the concluding Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. and the upcoming Helstrom by the end of the year, sources close to the Marvel matter tell Deadline. “Jeph has been thinking about making a change for a while, and now seemed the right time to take that step,” asserted one source in reference to the recent awarding to Kevin Feige of the title of chief creative officer for all of the Marvel empire.

‘Ghost Rider’ Jennifer Clasen/ABC

In another sharp-elbow move at the Disney-owned Marvel, the new title sidelines Dan Buckley and makes Loeb a direct report to Feige. Marvel and Disney did not respond to request for comment on news of Loeb’s forthcoming departure

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To many outsiders, the end of the Marvel series on Netflix in the past two years, the recent kiboshing of the planned Ghost Rider series on Hulu and the lack of a significant role in the November 12-launching Disney+ streaming service, all were indications that Loeb had lost out in the office politics of the Disney unit. Indications that seem to be piling up into an inevitable.

Exactly when the Marvel TV boss will officially leave the company remains fluid, but indications are Loeb is not averse to offering his talents elsewhere in the near and soon-to-be-even-more competitive future. Loeb hasn’t always been a Marvel guy, and his next steps could be predicted in his past. As well as being a writer and exec on the Tim Kring-created NBC series Heroes from 2006-08, Loeb was also a staff writer and supervising producer on Smallville and ABC’s Lost with the likes of JJ Abrams and now-Watchmen chief Damon Lindelof. Loeb also wrote more that a few DC Comics over his nearly 40-year career so far — a point not to be lost as the demand for experienced content creators grows with every new streaming service about to enter the arena.

Now answering to Feige in the Marvel Entertainment hierarchy, Loeb shared the stage with his longtime colleague and short-term boss at the Saturn Awards last month.

The former EP of Netflix series Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist was being honored with Dan Curtis Legacy Award as MCU feature film kingpin Feige was being feted with the inaugural Stan Lee World Builder Award. The Dan Curtis Legacy Awards is intended to honor maestros of genre TV and quality programming. Having started in the business back in the mid-1980s with the script for the Teen Wolf movie, Loeb gone on to work across multiple mediums from penning Superman, Hulk and Captain America comics to taking on the top job at Marvel TV in 2010.

Variety first reported the news of Loeb leaving Marvel.