Time to update my ranking of the MCU which I have been drafting for ages and not being helped by the company itself. When I finished phase 4, I figured I could update my thoughts on Marvel- and I also need to add the last two films of phase three (Endgame and Far from Home) to my ranking- and having been lazy finishing this and Marvel not being slow with things meant I might as well rank the first bit of phase 5 and also as January 2024 the Netflix Marvel shows as they are now canon MCU. Now phase four did add a complexity of the TV shows and the TV specials- so here I sit finally finishing this in early August 2024 after yet more Marvel releases. I will rank the shows seperate to the films, and for the specials, I have decided to treat the longer one-offs (GofTG Holiday and Werewolf by Night) as films and the shorter multiple eps as TV shows (I am Groot). This means I have 36 "films" and 18 "TV shows" to rank. Now I'm not going to write any reviews/comments on anything I have ranked (phase 3 less Endgame and Far from Home) or reviewed aka ranted about (Endgame) before. The link to my earlier pre End Game ranking is at https://clarewoodley.blogspot.com/2019/04/marvel-filmsmy-rankings-and-end-game.html and to my rant about Endgame is at https://clarewoodley.blogspot.com/2019/07/dont-forget-to-have-baby.html (warning it is also about the end of Game of Thrones, but you know that was YEARS ago so it ain't a spoiler anymore really).
When I was first watching phase 4 films, I did declare that one film in the phase 4 was my new favourite film of the MCU...on reflection it wasn't BUT phase 4 did include my favourite project to date so watch out for that (note, this was messed up the canonising of Netflix Marvel as some of that is now the best of the MCU- the Netflix shows had a much better hit rate than the Disney+ ones and one of my all time favourite seasons of TV is in fact a season of a Netflix Marvel show- and then again it was trumped by a phase 5 offering). Also I did debate breaking up my long locked in bottom three films of MCU as there is another film I'm not a fan of now- lucky for this film I really do dislike those three a lot. Now I don't believe Marvel fatigue is a thing but I do think the MCU has been wise to slow down as the quality of phase 5 to date has been patchy IMO and I know that phase 4 wasn't loved by a lot of internet folk (as someone who likes more women and more diversity, I like phase 4 more than some people). Them slowing down meant I got to catch up on Star Wars content in the last few years which I enjoyed a lot.
So as I watch the one piece of legacy Fox content I'd not seen pre Deadpool & Wolverine (curse being as a completionist as I suspect it will suck- I think I'm good to say it is 2003 Daredevil as Jennifer Garner appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine was announced an age ago so that ain't a spoiler) (well then I took another week and am now watching one of my go to YouTube nerd channels update their MCU films ranking too)... to quote Deaadpool & Wolverine but cleaned up... LFG:
36. Iron Man 2
35. Thor: The Dark World
34. The Incredible Hulk
(yep all the same at the bottom and these three are near interchangeable)
33. Ant Man and Wasp: Quantumania
I did go back and forth about whether this was worse than any of the bottom three. It has taken all the way from phase 2 to phase 5 for me to debate if anything is that bad. This is nearly as bad as those three and as my previous list established I don't love the Ant Man solo films (even though I love Paul Rudd). It is just one long trip down the uncanny valley and the story was too weak and had too many plot holes for me. I think also there are too many questions on the Jonathan Majors of it all, they hang so much of this film on him and unlike something else impacted by that, I think that this was planned at the time to have more continuity into the future of the MCU and I mean they didn't know they would have recast him at the time of filming this and other content he is in but it does create some mess. Thankfully based on announcements at ComicCon it looks like they will not be hanging much of the future of the MCU on this after all.
32. Ant Man and the Wasp
31. Eternals
Here is the first phase 4 film for the list- which isn't a great sign for phase 5 as it got in lower. It looked amazing and had many actors I love it in but it was doing TOO much. I also was new to the Eternals as it didn't have an animated TV franchise in the 90s (I am and will always be an X-Men girl because of this), so I went into this having to absorb a lot. Honestly I don't know what they would do to cut the amount of characters and my lack of familiarity with the source material, just meant I was on struggle street to care about anyone, and it was not helped by some of the characters being a tad bland. Best thing about the film, the post credit scene because I'm KEEN for Blade (but who knows when that is coming now).
30. Thor: Love and Thunder
OK I hate to do this to Taika Waititi as I love his films but I felt the edit on this one and the edit made it subpar. Did I love Natalie Portman getting to redeem Jane Forster? Yes. Great visuals in that final fight sequence? Yes. However it needed following- MORE Christian Bale (I loved his Gorr but I needed him killing more gods and not being the universe's worst baby sitter) and more Valkyrie (she felt very tacked on and she deserved more). My biggest issue in the end, it leaned too hard into the theme of "everyone gets a kid" (which aside from grief was the theme of phase 4), and also doubled down by having lots of kids in it which messed with the tone a little- it felt like it was trying to be kid friendly film but only by packing in the children on screen which isn't quite the same thing and some of those kids could not act. In addition to all of this, there was again a little too much uncanny valley.
29. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
28. Captain America: the First Avenger
27. The Marvels
Part of me wants to be this higher as I know the white men of the internet hated it but I can't in good conscience do that as it is a middling to poor MCU film that is nearly convinced me it was better due to the presence of the Khan family (more on them to come), end of film and post credit scenes that gave me hints of both teams I'm hoping for in the MCU soon, and the best use of "Memory" from Cats in anything ever. It was pulled down by not fleshing out the villain enough, Brie Larson looking a bit tired (and hey she has been busy so justified), and not landing the musical sequence. I know the MCU took note on people complaining about the length of its films, but this maybe wasn't served by them cutting it down to be the shortest film that isn't a TV special in the MCU especially when you could predict from the jump that the white men of the internet were going to hate it before they even saw it (because how dare you have three female leads (two of them women of colour and the third hinted to maybe be queer) and also a female villain (who is also a person of colour and a gender twist on the comics)).
26. Iron Man 3
25. Dr Strange
24. Ant Man
23. Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
This is a lot of fun. It was straight up what you want from a holiday film. The number of MCU films now means I like more substance that it gave me to crack top 20, but as a fifty minute Christmas special, just delightful. Also the post credit scene...perfection.
22. Avengers: Age of Ultron
21. Avengers: End Game
Sorry not sorry folks. I cannot get past my WALL of issues with this one for all the points that were good. They did my girl, Black Widow, dirty and I will never forgive them. I know others love it but just nope.
20. Captain America: Civil War
19. Spiderman: Far from Home
No shade to this, I do love it but it is the weakest of the Spidey films to date in my opinion which I have to say saying a lot as I'm halfway through this list (about) and it is higher than all Ant Man films and also most Iron Man films and two Thor films. Like End Game, it introduced the theme of grief into the MCU before phase grief. I think all the actors did well and I think Jake Gyllenhaal was a good Mysterio, just the whole Spiderman in Europe thing didn't fully land even though generally I liked the film.
18. Black Widow
OK this is the film I declared my new fave MCU film when I first saw it but I think that was just me being so happy that Black Widow finally got a film. Was it a Natasha Romanoff film? If I'm honest, no. It was more origin of Yelena Belova film but I love Florence Pugh and love her take on this character and I cannot wait to see more of her (she was also the best thing about one of the MCU TV shows). I would have liked more Natasha but I still loved it, thought it had great action sequences, and I felt the theme of the exploitation of women was important even if the villain was a little weak. Also if you think it wasn't about grief, you didn't see me crying both times I watched it to see the tears at knowing my favourite MCU heroic character of phases 1-3 was about to die. There is also part of me that wants to like this a lot as the white men of the internet hated it- I mean I already do like it a lot more than they do putting it here.
17. Iron Man
16. Thor
15. Spiderman: Homecoming
14. Captain Marvel (yes I did change a previous ranking swapping this and the next one)
13. Avengers: Infinity War
12. Spiderman: No Way Home
I know this was a lot of people's favourite of phase 4. I had a lot of love for it trust me- hence why it nearly cracked top 10. They handled the nostalgia perfectly and Willem Dafoe gave one of the best performances of phase 4 (I will get to my favourite performance in a minute but Dafoe was a close third in best performance of phase). A lot of grief getting passed around to satisfy the phase 4 grief requirement. I think second most impactful death in phase 4 in Aunt May. Also points... all the points for Daredevil!
11. Shang- Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
We have more Asian representation in the MCU...finally...Wong was holding up a lot for an age there. It was also written by an Asian writer, so win there. This film features a bunch of actors I adore. As soon as I saw the cast, I was like Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh in an MCU film, the MCU just massively levelled up its acting chops. Wenwu as a villain is up there with Loki, Kilmonger, Thanos, and a villain to come as I think the best villains of the MCU, and I'm very sad that we will likely only get him for a single film. I love the wushu fight style (the film Hero is one of my hands down one of my all time favourite films- yep Tony Leung is in one of my all time fave films, I said I was a fan)- it just a visually stunning to watch and I could live with more of it in many films. Also love Simu Liu- he is gorgeous and very talented- and the more visceral street fighter style fighting he does is great. Finally if you need comic relief nowadays, Awkwafina is someone you shouldn't sleep on.
10. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
I know this is much higher for me than it is for others but hey I never claimed to be being objective here. Is it because I finally got a X-Man in the MCU? Maybe as they are my fave Marvel people. Seriously I had so much joy when Patrick Stewart's Professor X entering to the sound of the animated series theme (that series being the beginning of my love of Marvel). However two seconds of Professor X did not make it this high on its own. The things that mainly made it this high...Elizabeth Olsen and Sam Raimi. I'll start with the latter of these. As you might know, I didn't mind me a horror film from time to time, and as excited as I was that Raimi was coming to the MCU for a "scary" film, I was worried that MCU might rein him in. My worries are often justified in the MCU but not this time. They let Raimi be Raimi and even bring Bruce Campbell along (loved that post credits scene). It was beautiful thing. The cinema I saw it is at cheered at zombie Strange and I have to say I nearly cheered again myself at this point when I rewatched it at home. The scene were the Scarlet Witch kills the Illuminati was the closest the MCU will likely get to a violent horror film perfection (non violent horror I'm getting to) between the oil that covered her like blood to the violent deaths she causes. Now that I've mentioned her, the Scarlet Witch...so great. Scarlet Witch was the personification of the grief that coloured phase 4 (oddly, or maybe not, for grief phase, you can do the maths and see that the two films most about grief finished one and two of phase 4 for me- if you ignore the TV specials), and Olsen played so many versions of her in phase 4 which I will get to more when I get to the TV shows and she was perfect every time. I have to say though I would rank Wandavision higher than this if I ranked TV shows against films, this film might be my favourite Scarlet Witch performance to date. She is a complex character and regardless of what many think I think we needed the fully dark horror version (to weigh in on the debate, this worked after Wandavision for me based on the credit scene of the show finale). Those two favourite things aside, I also have to take up how much I loved the Illuminati. We got Hayley Atwell back as Peggy Carter but this time as Captain Carter, John Kraninski as Richard Reeds (yes I'm on the train of having wanted him to play the role for ages- even though I'll never pass on Pedro Pascal in anything now that he has been cast), and most importantly, Patrick Stewart as Professor X....finally an X-MAN. For a Dr Strange film, you'll notice I've not spoken much about Strange, Cumberbatch is fine as Strange again. I think this film is better for not being all about him though I did love the music fight. Its main weak point was the fact it made America Chavez (who is a total boss) a bit of a damsel and I really hope they fix that for Young Avengers- which I'm totally excited for especially as it is clearly on the cards in some way and the diversity of that team is beautiful and I'm keen for it (announce it already MCU as it is so clearly coming!)
9. The Avengers
8. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
If you have seen my earlier count down, you know that I said that Black Panther, though not my favourite MCU film, is in my opinion the best as a film (or it was, I think it has some competition now from a film I'm getting to). This sequel, though not quite as good as the original, is also a remarkable achievement and I think might have some of the furtherest impacts of phase 4 on any thing that isn't about the multiverse. What are the impacts I mean? It comes from the fact that we have a mutant in the universe of the MCU in a film (Professor X was in another universe and the other one was on TV), and also the small white people bits of the film dropped a few things that might be big for in particular the Thunderbolts film which is in phase 5 (maybe 6 now- the MCU has been moving things). The cinematography and the costuming again are beautiful. The performance are brilliant even though clearly tinged by grief for the actual death of Chadwick Boseman. Angela Bassett gives the performance of phase 4 (just beating out Elizabeth Olsen and Willem Dafoe) and it might the closest to Oscar worthy that the MCU has given us. The other actors in this film that is often dominated by women also smash it out of the park, the surprise cameo was amazing, and Tenoch Huerta Majia was great as Namor (though much less keen for him to hang around now...people need to stop being problematic humans). Also again points for the soundtrack and score.
Just to finish (almost), combined with Shang-Chi we had two films in the phase which were mainly about people of colour- Wakanda Forever had more white people than Black Panther (two main roles up from one, and a bunch trying to invade Talokan and at governing bodies) and also more than Shang-Chi (that was mainly one and then background folk), but it still wasn't many. I thought the decision to make Namor a native of the Yucatan region in Mexico instead of white as he is in the comics was genius. It gave the additional theme of the way in which colonialism often has the impact of different colonised people being turned against each other instead of the real enemy of the coloniser. It was just like complexity of the first film addressing the relationship between people in Africa and black people in America. It means that Namor cannot fully be a villain just as Kilmonger wasn't. I love that the MCU seems to be giving Ryan Coogler a free hand to explore themes like this- even if it seems to at times rein other directors and writers in.
To properly finish, everyone knows that this film was massively re-written due to Chadwick Boseman's death and the re-write doesn't show too much. The thing it does do is mean that in a phase all about grief, there ain't nothing to compare with the level of grief here. It is next level grief so get ready for that.
7. Deadpool & Wolverine
I'm giving zero spoilers but I loved this film. Might this ranking change in the future as the film just came out and I'm still in that post preview screening glow... possibly. But for now, a real X-Men character that wasn't just a cameo in the MCU finally... here for it even if the Fox X-Men series relied too heavily on said character. I will say I do want them to give us more Cassandra Nova somehow as Emma Corin was great.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3
I'm being brief on phase 5 so I'll keep this short. This could have been phase 4 for how much I cried and it seems like quite the journey from the first GotG film which I declared the funnest film in the MCU when it came out. As someone who is a vegetarian in part for animal welfare reasons, there was no way I was not going to find a film that is in large part about this mistreatment of animals a rough watch. I often think that Bradley Cooper is an actor who is a tad overrated (he is talented for sure but should he have as many Oscars noms as he has...maybe not) but his voice work as Rocket has been excellent from the jump and I think this should have been the 2023 film that gets more Oscar consideration than Maestro.
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. Thor: Ragnarok
3. Black Panther
2. Werewolf by Night
That is right...my highest ranked "film" of phase 4 and the only phase 4 film to crack my top five (a feat that neither phase 5 (yet) nor now phase 1 can claim) is a TV special. This is the film that as a creature feature stops Multiverse of Madness being the MCU's best horror film (though it is definitely a more horrifying film in terms of violence than Werewolf by Night) and it also is the film that challenges Black Panther for being the best film as a film in the MCU. I felt like I was sitting through the beautiful, genius take on a Hammer Horror film for the 21st century. The black and white cinematography was gorgeous as is the gradual shift to colour as the film ends. The performances by Gael Garcia Bernal (who I'm a long term fan of) and Laura Donnelly (even if it drove me nuts to figure out where I knew her from- to save you the google I needed, she is Jenny from Outlander) are great and you can tell the actors are having a brilliant time. It is also taut at only less than an hour in length and effects are a perfect call back to the era it is echoing.
I think it is the biggest risk the MCU has ever taken as it is genre piece that is an homage to films that are 80-90 years old. I think because of this it oddly becomes ones of the most becomes one of the most accessible MCU films or TV show to date- this phase also gave the least accessible which is Multiverse of Madness (I love it but I had to say to people that it wasn't going to be watchable if you hadn't seen several other MCU things, in particular WandaVision). There is no reference to the rest of the MCU and it is truly enjoyable if you are keen for references to the films of yore- if you like Hammer Horror and other mid 20th century creature features, I'm near certain you would love this.
I don't know that we will see these characters again but with Blade coming (in the mystery future) and this being not the only piece of horror in the MCU, I say bring on the supernatural vibes and that opens the door to more from Elsa Bloodstone (I have to say she is the one I most want more from), Jack Russell, and Man Thing.
1. Captain America: Winter Soldier
Firmly still number one for me in the end...even if I'm worried about this arm of the MCU without Steve Rogers.
So there are the films...
Now onto the TV shows...where the MCU made me WORK by canonised hours and hours of additional content between starting this and finishing it...
18. Iron Fist
This show had baggage to begin with as Iron Fist as a character has some uncomfortable cultural appropriation/colonisation vibes in the comics and it was not helped but people already having hammered out a lot of the Marvel related discussions in that space when Dr Strange came out the before. I found Finn Jones fine in Game of Thrones back in the day but he is very bland and appears to be having no fun as Danny Rand. Generally I found the show boring which isn't what you want to say about an action show. Points to Jessica Henwick who does try her best as Colleen Wing and I would have watched in a solo show, but I think if I ranked TV shows against films, the first season of Iron Fist might have broken up my trio of worst films as I really was not a fan (the second season might get it above them though).
17. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Universally this was considered one of the worst things to come out of phase 4 (if comparing it to the films, I would possibly put it below Eternals). I don't think I've seen anything I've seen in cinema or TV was as negatively impacted by COVID as this show. The obvious last minute edits, the amount of ADR, the plot lines that went nowhere, the uneven pacing, it was a mess. It wasn't long after it started airing that the rumours started that one major plot line was cut as it was about a pandemic (a deeply silly move in my book as during COVID heaps of people I know (myself included) read Station Eleven and a popular miniseries was made of the book and it is about...a pandemic), and as soon as you heard that, you couldn't unhear it as it is glaring in every episode- also yes I hated the reveal at the end as it made no sense even if it returned Sharon Carter to us finally. I thought the Flag Smashers could have been interesting if their plot has not been largely sliced out of the film. I thought Isaiah Bradley was fascinating but his plot wasn't sufficiently explored. I thought John Walker fell flat even though his act of violence was one of the most intense thing to date in the MCU and would have been interesting elsewhere. There were positives though. I love Julia Louis-Dreyfus so she being in the MCU is just pure gold. I love Zemo dancing and Ayo popping up briefly. Finally I love love love the chemistry between Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie but that wasn't enough to get beyond giant plot failures.
16. Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion didn't have COVID to blame like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier did, but also was on very shaky ground. There was more of a through line and less of the chopping editing but just opened giant plot holes in the MCU especially with James Rhodes as a character, with creating a character who is way too OP, and with a presidential decree that it will be hard for the MCU to deliver on going forward. It fridged a long term key player in the MCU (RIP Maria Hill) and in a move that heralded bad things for graphic artists in Hollywood, it had AI designed credits (I think humans would have done them better). All of this said Samuel L Jackson once again delivered as Nick Fury (if the depiction was inconsistent with The Marvels), Olivia Coleman just delivered her normal gold on MCU debut, Ben Mendalsohn was once again great as Talos and is a great buddy cop to Jackson (sadly RIP to our favourite Australian alien), and, for all the issues the story created for the character, Don Cheadle's performance as James Rhodes was amazing and I think his best to date in the MCU.
15. Punisher
I'm not sure why but Punisher just didn't gel with me. I don't have many more thoughts than that. I can see why some people liked it but I found it a bit dull. I might need to give it another go at some stage but I don't see it getting any higher.
14. Hawkeye
It only takes one bad episode to take down a good show. When this first started, I was ready to be indifferent to Hawkeye. I'm not a fan of the character of Hawkeye and he is the reason Black Widow is dead in the MCU after all. Then it started and I was shocked as I loved it. The mediation of grief was the second best of the TV shows and the work Jeremy Renner did to appear hearing impaired was very good. That said it was the women that made this show. I thought Hailee Steinfeld was genius as Kate Bishop, Alaqua Cox owned it as Echo , and Florence Pugh was in a few scenes the best thing about the show. It was ticking all the boxes as it started and I started to think that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had been a blip of the TV shows would otherwise be brilliant. Then Kingpin showed up and I was so excited to have him back, but sadly then the last episode happened. The last episode felt very shaky and thrown together and undermined so much of the good work that preceded it.
13. Defenders
I didn't hate Defenders. I had three characters at its helm who I love in Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage, BUT then it also had Iron Fist. Iron Fist didn't drop this in my ratings on his own. The problem with this show was that it went too big. The best thing about the Marvel Netflix shows was how grounded they were and how it was just the streets of New York, and they lost it here. The resurrection plot was fine to a degree (it happens all the time in comics after all) but it was the whole there is a giant hole in New York vibe that was too much for me.
12. Echo
The MCU at Disney+ needs to learn to stick the landing. I was loving this show especially in episodes 2 and 3, but then towards the end of episode 4 and in episode 5, it fell apart a bit. Did it get as bad as Hawkeye in its falling apart? It did not in my opinion. Also this show is important in the sense that it was beautiful complex portrayal of first nations people that clearly was careful in being respectful to the people of Choctaw nation, and in the sense that it had a woman who is both deaf and an amputee as the hero.
11. She Hulk: Attorney at Law
This is getting interchangeable for the next few as I loved She Hulk. I loved how meta it got, I loved that Daredevil got a fun storyline (I'm very keen for the new Daredevil series but I think he ain't getting any more fun), I loved the whole Abomination and his self help vibes, I loved them just throwing in random back catalogue Marvel characters, I loved Nikki and Puck as support characters, I love Mark Ruffalo in all the things, I love Tatiana Maslany in all the things, and I loved that nearly every plot line was "how evil are men". The plots were a bit unresolved and there were some eps that fell flat and I did hate the twist in the post credit scene, but I loved so much else. I mean I say interchangeable but I do think this one might just be a lock at eleven right now for how unresolved things were at times- after saying I like the free rein that Feige appears to be giving film directors like Raimi and Coogler, I felt his hand holding back the writers here.
This said it gave us one of best new characters in the MCU in phase 4 (the others were in my favourite live action non Netflix show of this count down)...give me my Wong and Madisynn spin off now!
10. I am Groot
There isn't much to say about this TV special. The episodes are five minutes and they are adorable. If you need something to entertain your small kids and subtly introduce them to the MCU, this is here for you. It gave me joy but there isn't much to it as a whole as it is for kids. That said the finale of season 2 did hint something massive for Groot- I don't think they will pick it up again but Groot seeing the Watcher (HUGE).
9. Ms Marvel
There aren't many characters who I encountered in comic form first before the MCU- most of them I first met in films, cartoons or video games long before I picked up comics (I often feel guilty that I don't read more comics from the jump). Kamala Khan is the exception to this. I can't remember where I heard about it but someone said that Marvel had a new teenaged, nerdy, Muslim superhero, and I intrigued enough to pick up the comics and read a bunch. This meant that she was almost up with the X-Men as a character I was most keen to see in the MCU, and the show made her even more exciting for me by making her a mutant (yay mutants in the MCU). The show like most of the MCU shows did have a few hiccups (I was one of those who grumbled about the changes to her power set for example- by the end of the series I was fine with them, initially less so) but buoyed by the pure joy Iman Vellani brings to her performance as Kamala Khan, it was just impossible not to be drawn into it. I am very keen for more Iman Vellani in the MCU (again Young Avengers now please) and also more of the rest of the Khan family as that was some perfect casting. I like that between this and the Doctor Who episode, "Demons of the Punjab" (one of the strongest of the otherwise weak Chibnall era), we are seeing in the last five years two depictions of the partition of India and with that more attention paid to non Western history in Western media output- thereby educating western folks on the evils of western empire building.
8. Moon Knight
Hard to disappoint when you cast Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke. That said Moon Knight was a character I was not very familiar with prior to this show and I always go into any show or film that presents DID with a degree of caution as they often do it poorly. The show stuck the landing though- don't mind an Egyptian version of a kaiju fight to close out a series. I think Oscar Isaac was particularly good as the title character- all of his identities, even if that English accent was "interesting"- and Ethan Hawke gave a great villain performance (the TV shows from here up have no issue on the villain front (unlike the films) as the length of the shows gives time for proper character development). I still hold out hope that we get a second season but that is looking less likely by the day sadly.
7. Luke Cage
Don't let how low I ranked Punisher and Defenders fool you...I LOVED the first three Netflix shows. Luke Cage was a character that could have proven hard to land as having created at a time when blaxplotation was the big thing in film and TV. Moving that character into a modern era needed a deft hand to ensure that it celebrated black identity and didn't tip into racism. The show completely landed this brief. Mike Colter's Luke Cage first appeared in the first season of Jessica Jones as a supporting character and I was a little worried that might hinder his solo show too but in the end it set the ground well as an introduction. Colter really brought out the humanity of Luke and made him more than just muscle, and the show really gave a reality to Harlem and the black community there. It also gave us another two amazing villains in Mahershala Ali's Cottonmouth (still interested to see how they deal with this show being canonised and him being about to play Blade...whenever that happens) and Alfre Woddard as Mariah Dillard. Finally it has one of the best soundtracks of a Marvel product- likely just after Black Panther on that front.
Am I sad as someone who has read Jessica Jones comics that the Netflix world didn't develop on Luke Cage and Jessica Jones as a couple beyond season 1 Jessica Jones? I have to say I am a little but there is still time for them to bring back Colter and Krysten Ritter, and deliver on it (please Kevin Feige, bring them back even if it ain't for a romance- you already brought back most of the cast of Daredevil after all and whatever the ranking I'm about to type might indicate, Colter and Ritter gave my favourite performances of the Netflix shows, except one villain).
6. What if....?
Like Hawkeye, season 1 had a single weak episode- the Party Thor one- but the other episodes were disconnected to it, the weak episode wasn't the season finale, and it gave us likely the best episode of any show in the MCU to date so it didn't break the series and then in my opinion (I know most people disagree), season 2 delivered even more than season 1 (and gave another one of the best ever episodes of the MCU shows). It was delightfully random to go into all the options that the multiverse might supply- including Black Widow being alive. It also gave us an intro to someone who then entered live action in Captain Carter. It gave actors who are normally not voice actors the opportunity to show some voice acting chops, and it gave the world a solid last performance from Chadwick Boseman- just hearing his voice was very sad. It gave me the zombies I needed before they came to live action- just saying if Disney is listening, I would love a live action Marvel Zombies (I know the animated one is coming). Let's return to grief of phase 4 as the grief episode of this season 1 was the thing that made the series for me when it came out. I have said above that Dr Strange was not what sold Multiverse of Madness to me- basically if they didn't need a sorcerer, anyone could have lead that film (just saying Wong could have done it). However Dr Strange was by far the strongest thing about What If season 1 and the episode where he tries and fails to save Christine Palmer from dying is an exceptional performance from Benedict Cumberbatch and one of the high points of television the year of its release. Season 2 didn't have a weak episode in my opinion (the "fun" one this season was a Die Hard homage so didn't need to do much to hook me) and though it did get a bit far from the concept of only one change to trigger the alternate universe in the first half of the season, it came back to it strongly. It did great further development of Captain Carter, and introduced the first original MCU character to lead their own episode, Kahhori. The Kahhori episode of season 2 was that season's best episode and again one of the best things the MCU has delivered to date- especially as it is nearly all in a Mohawk delict which is just amazing- not just to see some thing that was so much in a native language but also something this main stream, with this broad a reach, from a major studio, that is in part a show for kids (HUGE).
5. Wandavision
The show that brought the MCU to our TV screens and boy did it come in strong. This show and the one that directly followed up (which spoils is next on the countdown) set the bar very high for what the MCU on Disney+ would be. Sadly I have to say, it often hasn't delivered on that early promise as well as it could have. This top 5 includes some of the best TV I think I've ever watched (from my nerdy biased view point) but to think the same studio delivered WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is mind boggling, and it is notable that two of my top five MCU shows were Netflix product originally. Anyhow to WandaVision...
This show felt like going back to the past. Not because it was paying homage to old sitcoms but because it released weekly and it ended on a cliffhanger each week. A few people said this at the time but it was giving Lost vibes and no shade to Lost unlike Lost it knew when to start giving answers (don't come for me Lost fans, I did love it as a whole but there was a bit in the middling seasons where it felt like it was scrambling and the pay off of the ending wasn't great). The homages to old shows were perfectly crafted and not gimmicking. The background cast was super solid- the joy the Buffy fan in me felt when Emma Caulfield Ford popped up was real (Anya remains one of my all time favourite TV characters so I love to see more of Caulfield Ford), and on the MCU front, I'm always here for Kat Denning's Darcy and Randall Park's Jimmy Woo. On the lead front, I did say I prefer Olsen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but that is not to undermine her performance here which is beautifully multifaceted and she carries the show well, Paul Bettany gives his best performance of Vision to date, and Kathryn Hahn.. there aren't words (there is a reason she is getting her own show and Agatha is up there with Loki, Thanos, Killmonger, and a villain I'm getting to as one of the best villains to come out of the MCU).
Finally on WandaVision, in phase grief and while the world was largely stuck in their houses due to COVID, the show gave us a line that I think perfectly defines grief and it would remiss to not mention how good the writing was (it was great on all the top 5 shows in this countdown). "What is grief if not love preserving"... it could basically be the tagline of all of phase 4.
4. Loki
When I started writing this countdown, the MCU hadn't canonised the Netflix shows or released what is now my number 1 show, and I was going to say, Loki is the best thing the MCU has ever made. Well it ain't true anymore as there are two Netflix shows that I believe are better than it and another show that was just released that outshone it for me too, but I will say it is the best live action thing the MCU has produced that wasn't ever on Netflix. Am I saying that these top 4 shows are better than Winter Soldier and therefore it is no longer my favourite MCU content? Yes it took seven years from 2014 to 2021 for the MCU to beat that high water mark, and then another three after that to add three other shows of that quality.
The first season of Loki was pure brilliance led amazingly by Tom Hiddleston, especially considering it began with him playing a version of the character that he hadn't played in years. The concept of rewinding the reformed Loki of Ragnarok and Infinity War to the Loki of Avengers who hadn't even lived through his mother's death in Thor 2 was a great concept though it could have fallen flat if Hiddleston had not been able to get himself back into that early Loki mindset. In addition to this, the supporting cast of the show had to step up to an actor who has been delivering a powerhouse performance as a character for years, and whose performance has made that character beloved of fans and one of the stalwarts of the MCU. The supporting character quickly proved they were up to that challenge, be it Owen Wilson playing the straight man for once as compared to all his comedic performances, Sophia di Martino matching the charisma Hiddleston brings to Loki and making Sylvie a believable variant, Gugu Mbatha-Raw bringing a subtle villainy to Ravona Ranslayer, Wunmi Mosaku giving us the journey from zealot to someone who is deeply conflicted, and all praise to Tara Strong for her voice work on Miss Minutes (I've been a fan of Strong's voice work for years so I like her getting work in a show with broad exposure- even if I don't agree with her views about the situation in Gaza at all). The final big hurdle set for Loki was introducing what was planned to be the next big villain of the MCU after Thanos which sounded at the time like a wild suggestion for a TV property. The show did nail the introduction of Kang and separating performance from the performer, the performance of Jonathan Majors as He who Remains was great- it shows us what could have been if the actor was not problematic.
The second season continued the brilliance of the first and added the amazing Ke Huy Quan to the cast. The first season had set a high bar and that will be a theme with the rest of this list too, and season 2 of Loki was almost as good, and in the end gave a very fitting end to the character of Loki. While I always want more Loki as he is my favourite MCU villain (on par with Black Widow as my favourite hero- again live action and not on Netflix caveat there), I also think if they left him where he is at the end of the second season of Loki that would work too.
I really hope this show doesn't get overlooked in the future due to the cancellation of Jonathan Majors or any statements another cast member of the show is making in the political space at the minute, as it gave a wall of brilliant performances (esp Hiddleston, di Martino, Wilson, and Quan), a great script, and an intriguing plot.
3. Jessica Jones
The Marvel show that gave us in my option what is the best season of live action television ever. Now you might be questioning why it is at three and not at one due to that, well the second and particularly third seasons while great were not as strong, and the two shows above this either were more consistent in their quality or based on their first season look like they will be (the latter of these might drop in my ranking if the second season isn't as strong as the first). Now it was interesting that Netflix went with Jessica Jones as their second character to hang a TV series on as she isn't the most unlikeable character on face value and also her back story is DARK. Add to that choosing to lean into the noir vibes which they could have failed to land, and the fact that the show was mainly lead by women and people of colour (thankfully in the era before the internet decided that was always bad).
What to say about the first season of Jessica Jones, will firstly it is one of the hardest shows to watch if you are a woman and secondly it is perfectly crafted and should have won all the awards with Krysten Ritter and David Tennant (honestly both were robbed by not being nominated for more awards). There has never been a more terrifying depiction of PTSD and the aftermath of a relationship with misaligned power dynamics even more sure one that involves sexual assault as this one does. I was a fan of Krysten Ritter from Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls, Breaking Bad, and the criminally too early cancelled Don't Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 (legit it is one of my fave sitcoms to rewatch), and I was sure that she could carry the lead in a Marvel TV show. Now having watched Jessica Jones and also having read some Jessica Jones comics, I cannot think of how anyone else could have played her as Ritter is just perfect casting and she owns the role. I often say (read even just above here) that Black Widow is my favourite MCU hero well add the caveats live action and never Netflix now (like with so many other things) as Ritter's Jessica is actually my favourite live action depiction of a Marvel hero (just as I cannot imagine anyone other than Chris Evans as Cap or Tom Hiddleston as Loki, I cannot see anyone else as Jessica). Now to my declaration of the other lie above, I often say Loki is my favourite MCU villain and that isn't all a lie, he is my favourite, and I'm not going to caveat it, but is he the best MCU villain now? He is not as David Tennant's Kilgrave has been canonised as it is about the best performance in any MCU actor. Like Ritter, I came into Jessica Jones a huge Tennant fan- I mean he played my favourite modern era Doctor Who after all- and my only question was could he be this evil. The answer without hesitation is a resounding yes as he is so profoundly skin crawlingly evil as Kilgrave that I know some people (thankfully not me) could no longer comfortably rewatch his Dr Who run. I love everything he is in but as a display of his skill as an actor, this is one of Tennant's best ever performances. That is before you get to the supporting cast (Carrie-Anne Moss is brilliant in all three seasons, and though she is the star of the supports, Rachael Taylor, Eke Darville, and, in the first season, Mike Colter are nothing to shrug at), the way it nailed the noir elements, even down to just the great credit sequence.
Now when the latter seasons didn't have Tennant was that a drop in quality, I'd say not due to Tennant not being around but a lot of others would. I think that it was just a case that the first season came in so strong and nailed the brief so well and had such a great villain, that it would have been impossible to live up to it. People said the same about the next show I've getting to but as I've said I think season 1 of Jessica Jones is about the best season of TV ever made, so unlike the next show getting back that level (which the other show achieved or close to) was harder. I still think the second and third seasons are great (honestly the second is better than everything below Luke Cage below, and the third is still damn good) but the first was just so strong. I think I read the through line as understanding different elements of female identity- the first season being about power and living in a world where it is denied you, the second about female anger and strength and living in a world that says that women should be neither angry nor strong, and the third about the ways society pushes women to be competitive with each other by giving them less opportunity. Even though the later seasons aren't as strong as the first, I cannot recommend the show strongly enough and I really hope, as I said above, that Feige brings Ritter back as Jessica Jones and let's this character live again. Tennant coming back as Kilgrave too would be brilliant but not sure my brain needs to revisit that terror.
2. Daredevil
The first Netflix show comes in top of live action (yes spoiling my number 1 is animated). This show defined what a comic book TV show in live action could be (yes the Arrow-verse and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and other things predate it but much as I love them, they weren't broad reaching or award winning quality). I just cannot imagine that we would have got the other Netflix shows or the Disney+ shows without it. I have to say I do prefer that actors with visual impairments play characters with visual impairments, but this is the one performances where I will forgive that. Charlie Cox won awards and accolades from organisations that support people with visual impairments, and especially now that I've seen the Ben Affleck version of Daredevil, I cannot speak more highly of Cox's performance especially as he was a largely unknown British actor for most people coming to the show. In addition to this, you have the redefining of what villain can be. We did have Loki at this point, but Loki aside, we were still in an era at this point where the MCU was being called out all the time on being one and done with most villains and their villain character development being lacking. To that landscape, Vincent D'Onofrio slammed (pun intended when it comes to car doors) into the comic TV world as Kingpin. He was more violent than any other villain to date (would the MCU have known comic TV fan could have sat through US Agent cracking skulls with the Cap shield without the car doors in this show?) and he also brought in a pathos to the character as someone in a cycle of violence. On top of this you had a super solid supporting cast. Deborah Ann Woll I think is under appreciated as Karen Page as of the supports in Netflix I would likely put her just below Carrie Ann Moss in Jessica Jones as I think her performance is outstanding (Jessica from True Blood finally getting her dues). Elden Henson is a great straight man as Foggy and this got to introduce Rosario Dawson who was the through line of the Netflix shows as Claire Temple. I don't know how they would have done Daredevil: Born Again without bringing back Woll and Henson as can you have Daredevil without Karen and more so Foggy and can you see Cox's Matt without this Karen and Foggy? I say not.
Now as mentioned, like other shows it went hard in the first season. I think the first season of Jessica Jones is better than the first of Daredevil but the second is better than the second of Jessica Jones (I think it would slot it in below WandaVision) and it gave us Jon Bernthal as Punisher (I may not love The Punisher show but I think Bernthal is the best ever Punisher actor- he is an actor I've gone on a journey with from my least favourite character in Walking Dead to just being very sympathetic if problematic in The Bear) and Elodie Yung as Elektra. I know while people universally loved Bernthal, some didn't love Yung but I think she is the best Elektra to date (do I think there might be a better Elektra out there? Yes, but she was better than Garner). I think there was more humanity added to Matt in this season and also I think the question of what level can a vigilante go to and really delving into the morality of Daredevil. I think people really missed the powerhouse that was Fisk but just think if you watched this isolation without seasons 1 and 3 would you not love it much more than people seemed to dump on it? I think you would. It is still better than most every thing but Jessica Jones season 1, and Loki (both seasons). Now season three, was a return to season 1 and it is better than Loki and the latter seasons of Jessica Jones. It gave us back Kingpin and D'Onofrio killed it again, and then you had more Vanessa and Ayelet Zurer was great in that role (the fact they were going to recast her for Born Again- LUNACY), and then you have Wilson Bethel who is amazing as proto Bullseye.
Now you can understand why one of my most anticipated upcoming MCU content is Daredevil: Born Again.... if only Marvel stopped delaying it. Now drumroll... number 1...
1. X-Men 97
I've said it many times, I am an X-Men nerd before I am any other kind of comic book nerd. When I was a kid, I remember watching the Superman films as my first superhero content which seems odd as Superman is legit one of my least fave superheroes (no shade on the Christopher Reeve Superman films as I do love them even if Superman is for me a dull hero) and then a bit of Adam West Batman which I was too young for camp fun of (love it now- noting I didn't see the Burton Batman until I was a little older). If you had asked 9 year old me which my fave content of the big nerd franchises was, I would have likely said Jedi (I have never ranked Star Wars- maybe I will- but to say it is not my fave anymore as I got over ewoks) or the 1987 TMNT, and that things based on American comics were not for me. Then stomping into my world came X-Men: The Animated Series followed quickly by Batman: The Animated Series. Between them, they became my favourite Marvel and DC content and they are still my favourite groups of characters in their respective comic universes. If you asked me about my favourite comic based film and TV content to this day, there is a chance even before I recently re-watched it, I would have mentioned X-Men- The Animated Series as being up there and it is flat gold until its last season (where there were weird politics at play- season 4 was meant to be the last season) and this was just confirmed by my recent rewatch. All of this is a giant lead up to me saying that X-Men 97 had huge shoes to fill and I was both hugely excited and hugely worried about it going in especially when the show runner got sacked for still unknown reasons pre pilot release.
Then boy howdy did it deliver. I did say Jessica Jones season 1 is in my opinion about the best seasons of TV ever made, well X-Men 97 season 1 is up there too and I can only see positive things for its future. What to say about it, first the animation style which both gave the nostalgia of the 90s show and beautifully enhanced it. It is definitely the best animation in the MCU to date. Next the connection to the comics. As much as I hated them doing the Rogue and Magneto relationship as I am and always will be a Gambit person and think Rogue and Gambit is the best relationship in comics, but the Magneto and Rogue relationship is a thing in the comics and it does bring out some interesting things in both characters. This is just one of many things pulled straight from the comics and, my preferred character pairings not withstanding, I loved it especially Madelyne Pryor finally appearing outside the comics. Next the character development, the development of Magneto, Rogue, Storm, and Jean Grey yes to all of it. Seeing Magneto's Holocaust survivor identity play out more than we have in the past or seeing Rogue grapple with the importance of physical touch and also with grief in particular were amazing. On to, giving side characters more time and not getting sucked into Wolverine mania. I love Morph and Nightcrawler, and getting to see Morph's gender identity and their crush on Wolverine (which is hinted in the original series) confirmed and also Nightcrawler really come into his identity as Rogue's brother just amazing. In addition to this, Wolverine was always just part of the team in The Animated Series and I was worried that they might be swayed by the dominance of Wolverine in the films. I was so happy that they were not swayed by this as they keep him as just part of the team- this said that fight with him and Nightcrawler tag teaming up in first episode of the three part finale amazing. Then on to the voice acting, give Lenore Zann all the awards....literally all of them. I might be biased as Rogue is my favourite comic character and Zann also voiced her in The Animated Series, but the word she does here as Rogue is just next level and she nails the emotion of a huge arch for the character. Other stand outs are A. J. LoCascio as Gambit, and Matthew Waterson as Magneto, but the whole casts are insanely good. Finally, the writing which is wall to wall outstanding and I hope the room live up to season 1 without Beau de Mayo helming the show (no we still don't know why he was fired).
The fifth episode of season 1, "Remember It", as soon as I saw it shoot straight up there with my favourite all time TV episodes and I think even if you aren't sold on the first four episodes (particular if you don't need Mojo in your live and really none of us do), I would be shocked if you aren't blown away by it. The animation, the script, the voice acting, it is firing on all cylinders and then just for good measure it kicks you the guts and makes you weep like a baby. A lot of the TV episodes I think are the best ever- "The Body" from Buffy or "Two Cathedrals" from The West Wing or "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet" from M*A*S*H (basically any of the more serious episodes of M*A*S*H or "Long, Long Time" from The Last of Us for a recent example- are very very sad, and this is right there with them. It is just a beautiful piece of TV. I suspect it might the anchor that wins the show many of awards it has recently been nominated for.
Bring on season 2!
There you have it I shock no-one by saying just what I would have said before the MCU existed, that the X-Men are the best Marvel product. I also re-watched the Fox X-Men films in the lead up to Deadpool &Wolverine so ranking of them to come.
Finally yep Daredevil the Netflix show might be my second favourite MCU thing ever, but as of a week ago can confirm that the 2003 film was very very bad and no soundtrack needs that much early aughts "rock".
