Our Disney+ MCU show rankings have some good, bad, and ugly, that's for sure.
We've touched upon the MCU movies and their rankings on this site before. This time around we are tackling the Disney+ streaming shows they have developed over the last few years. Like the movies, there have been some from good ones, some great ones, and some awful ones that left me severely disappointed.
*NOTE: I did not include the Netflix Marvel shows*
Loki
Loki, for the time being, wrapped up the best story arc in the MCU, hence the top spot in our MCU show rankings. Fallen from grace and driven by selfish desires, Loki had a long history of always doing the wrong thing until Thanos killed him in Infinity War. Endgame gave him new life and led to his own show, where he battled variants of himself, the TVA, and He Who Remains. It is his sacrifice and selflessness as he becomes the God of Stories that truly sets the show apart.
Hawkeye
If it wasn't for Season 2 of Loki, this might have been my favorite show. A brilliant continuation of the Hawkeye story, where Clint Barton is still dealing with the fallout from Avengers: Endgame and the sacrifice his best friend made. The introduction of Hailee Steinfeld as his protégé, Kate Bishop, only helps the show as her charm will easily win you over. Add in the extremely talented Florence Pugh's return as Yelena and the surprise return of Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin, and the MCU's future only looks bright.
WandaVision
The OG MCU show. A uniquely unfolding story told through TV adaptations of certain decades. This story added a whole lot of depth to Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff and led directly to her becoming the Scarlet Witch. The show does a great job of showing her power and inability to cope with Vision's death/destruction in Infinity War. The show also eventually birthed another show with the introduction of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and introduced us to the adult version of Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) who would go on to join up with a few other superheroes in The Marvels.
What If...?
Animated and amazing. Different iterations and versions of characters in some large scale moments only made possible because it is animation. Possibly the most fun show because of all the potential story ideas it can create. Sooner or later we will see some of these characters jump to live-action.
Ms. Marvel
This show is only so highly rated based all on the performance of Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan. She lights up the screen and is one of the bright spots that would come from The Marvels movie.
Moon Knight
Oscar Isaac is amazing and the multiple roles of a split-personality character plays to his strengths. This show has had the least interaction with the rest of the MCU and isn't as highly rated as a result.
Agatha All Along
A continuation of the story that began in WandaVision. Agatha Harkness returns as we dive into her backstory and get the surprise return of Wiccan, aka Billy Maximoff, who was thought long gone after Wanda released her spell on Westview.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
The pandemic is what truly hurt this show and caused it to fall down the list. It was a little too on-the-nose with current events. The story was changed drastically, causing some background characters to lose their depth. That being said, Captain America remains my favorite franchise of the MCU and the return of Bucky and Sam Wilson had me enjoying this greatly. A new Captain America, Bucky finding closure, and the introduction of the U.S. Marshal trying and failing to live up to the legendary Steve Rogers are the positives of this show. The sudden heel turn of Sharon Carter didn't make sense and hurt this show's chance of being higher on the list.
Echo
Boring dialogue and poorly shot action scenes leave this show in the lower tier. Echo, aka Maya, had a much better role in Hawkeye than she did in her own show. Kingpin was again the bright spot in a rather lackluster show.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
This show was quite good for a while. We got to see Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and the return of Charlie Cox as Daredevil, as some high points. The CGI wasn't so great, the 4th wall break jumped the shark, and the story lost complete cohesion by the end of the show.
Secret Invasion
The most potential and biggest disappointment to come from Disney+ thus far. A story that should have been saved for a movie, this show had unexpected and disappointing character deaths, and the horrible effects given to Emilia Clarke's G'iah in the final battle left me enjoying but having no intentions of rewatching this show.
Comments