In this first year of Marvel TV (on Disney+ anyway) with probably the biggest slate of their heavy hitters… how did they do? Which shows worked and didn’t? Which ones were forgettable and which ones felt like they could have been movies?
This is all my opinion of course. But below my Marvel TV Year one Rank Least Favorite to the Best….
(Some of this is going to get spoilery so beware!)
Falcon and Winter Soldier
To be fair this is the show with probably my least favorite characters. (Perhaps not so surprising since they are intricately tied with Captain America who I generally am sick of…)
It had some really good stuff. Great performances from Mackie, Stan and Wyatt as well as a really lovely powerful performance from Carl Lumbly. The discussions on racism was good. The action was mostly fine. And the bloody shield scene should have been far more iconic on a more memorable show.
But it also had a big old annoying villain problem…
The thing with the Flag Smashers is while I can understand the point of protecting what they got after people disappeared it was also too easy to see the bigger picture… that it would be a really impossible situation for anyone and any government (literally unthinkable only something to exist in comic book world) and frankly Sam (and the shows need to see her as sympathetic as she became increasingly violent) really only annoyed me.
The actress was fine but I don’t think has the chops to pull something like that off. Better than Emily Vandekamp as poor Sharon Carter and what they did with her.
Still not interesting.
On top of that Zemo was not really necessary and the fact Bucky just broke him out of prison (and it all happened so easily and Sam just shrugged) well that also annoyed me. I mean honestly the Dora Milaje should have hit Bucky harder for that one.
Loki
I can’t believe I’m putting this show so low but mostly it was just disappointing for me. I loved the first two episodes. Loved Ms. Minutes. Loved that they did deliver on the man behind the curtain. Owen Wilson was perfect for Mobius and honestly I could have watched him and Tom just talk to each other going back and forth…
Plus love Richard E. Grant and alligator Loki.
So…
My opinion on Sylvie remains torn I liked her and the actress far, far better as an antagonist than sad girl/love interest.
Plus I didn’t understand her as a variant nor really when I think about it too hard their use of the multiverse or any of that stuff. They should really have just kept it all to time travel.
But when I really think about it my biggest problem with Loki was personal. This is a character who I think over the years in the MCU had some of the best character work and I didn’t particularly like it or buy it here. I know that’s on me but it is what it is and new Loki was disappointing.
What If?
After the snooze fest that was Captain Carter I didn’t think I’d rate this show so highly but really Party Thor is going to stand as one of my favorite MCU bits period.
Plus overall most of the shows I loved. Even if there was the usual Marvel stuff like dreadful humor (ugh T’Challa really should have left Ant Man behind in the Zombie episode) the voice work was 95% perfect. It was lovely work from Chadwick Boseman for the last time as T’Challa over a couple of episodes.
That being said they really should have brought James Spader back as Ultron cause that just didn’t work for me at all.
But they brought it all together in the end which I didn’t think they would manage so it was overall a win for me. And it was a good time.
Wandavision
I can’t believe I’m putting one of my favorite characters as number two. I loved the sitcom element and the production design and attention to detail was amazing. But… despite really excellent character work for Wanda, fantastic performances especially by Kathryn Hahn and a great introduction to adult Monica I’m sorry the Quicksilver thing really annoys me.
And the thing is I knew he wasn’t going to be her brother… but the complete and utter waste of Evan Peters to what feels like just troll the fans for absolutely no pay off. I mean it didn’t even make sense! They even mocked her for going with it!
The finale was slipshod and yes that was likely do to COVID restrictions but they could have given them extra time to get the special effects. I mean you don’t just tease a demon bunny!
Plus (and I fully admit my opinion of this might change after Multiverse of Madness) while I appreciate the emphasis on Wanda’s character and her being in complete control her and not manipulated it also feels like they took a lot of the bigger pay off away from her in terms of larger story. She should have been the one to open the multiverse.
Oh and Hayward could have made a lot of points about who can step in and stop supers when they are hurting people (which she was and at times the show seemed to absolve her or excuse weirdly) and the kind of things the people who survived the blip lived through but… they made him a cartoon villain who actually wound up taking a shot at kids!
Hawkeye
I can’t believe I’m putting Hawkeye at number one!
And I’m not saying this show was perfect either. The pacing was off and I think (like a lot of them) it could have benefited from an episode or two more. Kingpin maybe should have been introduced earlier so we had more time with him and Maya.
But the thing is I absolutely loved everyone on this show including the Tracksuit Mafia and Jack in the end. They did a fantastic job of casting and introducing Kate Bishop and Maya Lopez. (My big problem is now I want a Kate/Yelena show…)
Okay maybe that could also be a big problem depending on how you look it. Florence Pugh’s Yelena pretty much stole the show for me.
Everything with her and Kate was great fun but the final fight with her and Renner as they truly dealt with he emotional toll Natasha’s death took on both of them had me tearing up.
I reserve some rights to complain about what Marvel might do with Kingpin but damn it Vincent D’Onofrio is so good in the role and so he was even menacing in that Hawaiian shirt. (But seriously I know the look is right out of the comics but I’m going to need the beautiful suits back okay Marvel?)
Overall Hawkeye was just a really enjoyable show and that’s the one I’d like to see a season 2 of most to be honest. Plus I’m not going to lie I enjoyed the full song from the Rogers Musical during the credits
I also took a random Buzzfeed Quiz and was finally for once happy with my answer:
I mean I would have been happy with any of them and it’s not really all that true but I’m going with it 🙂
Next year we get a full on Oscar Isaac show! But the one I’m most looking forward to next has got to be Secret Invasion… just on the cast alone!
Hope everyone had a great holiday 🙂
Not too surprising considering everything you’ve said this year. My ranking would be a little different, but not too far off. I’m mostly looking forward to She-Hulk next year!
That’s high on my list to mainly based on Tatiana! She’s fantastic. I’m shocked that this is the first big thing she’s gotten off her amazing turn on Orphan Black. Secret Invasion is number one for me… if we’re getting it next year? I don’t think anything’s confirmed on that!