Every Marvel TV show in the Cinematic Universe, ranked

The official debut WandaVisionThe launch of Disney Plus 2021 was a significant milestone for Marvel-branded TV shows. It marked an era where Marvel Studios explicitly began to integrate these shows and control them into the overall narratives of their movies. The era also saw Marvel Cinematic Universe shows begin to play exactly the same way as MCU movies. They have the same mixture of drama, humor and action.

That’s a very different approach from the pre-Disney Plus days, when Marvel Studios was still licensing its characters to other studios and networks, which all tried to crack the Marvel formula in different ways. And it’s also a different approach from the 2022 experiments in MCU “specials,” one-off stories that bend the Marvel formula in much more director-driven, idiosyncratic ways. What are the differences between these different approaches? To rank every MCU-integrated television on the same level, we decided to compare them all.

[Ed. note: Shows are included on this list if they were MCU-compliant in their day, regardless of whether they’ve since been or will later be retconned out of existence. Not included on this list are pre-MCU Marvel shows like Blade, or never-MCU-canon Marvel shows like the excellent mind game Legion, the X-Men spinoff The Gifted, or the animated series Guardians of the Galaxy. Latest update: November 2022, to include The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Werewolf by Night, and She-Hulk.]

22. Helstrom (2020).

Photo: Katie Yu/Hulu

2020’s Helstrom This was the final live-action MCU show that was available on Hulu prior to the debut of Disney Plus. It was cancelled after a nearly unanimously negative season. The show is borderline unwatchable, a dour procession of exorcist and paranormal tropes with only the loosest connection to the comic book characters it’s based on. The story follows two siblings who are born with demonic blood. It lacks characters that can relate, strong performances and interesting special effects. If you’re looking for a spooky supernatural story about fighting demons, check out Evil Paramount Plus. If you want superheroics, you’re better off watching anything else on this list. —Samantha Nelson

21. Inhumans (2017)

Image: ABC

This movie was originally planned to be an MCU movie, with its own MCU sub-franchise. Humans suffered in part from the same thing that gave it so much potential: It’s built around an entire society hidden from the rest of the world, where separatist superpowered folk live according to their own laws. But a series about supers who aren’t attached to human society has none of the relatable aspects that make MCU characters interesting. And the story, about a coup that might turn the Inhumans’ awful, oppressive oligarchy into a different kind of awful, oppressive oligarchy, doesn’t have a lot of stakes for the average viewer.

If an alternative version Humans’ Black Bolt (still performed by Anson Mount), eventually appears in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of MadnessMCU fans had a greater interest in their favorite character because of this. But it still doesn’t make Humans It’s just more fascinating and entertaining. It’s not a great movie. Game of Thrones sadist Ramsay Bolton) is ridiculously obvious in his clumsy evil, and even once the action moves from the moon to Earth, the story never feels like it’s about actual people. Technically, it’s all there in the series title, so we can’t say we weren’t warned. —Tasha Robinson

20. Special Holiday for Guardians of the Galaxy (2022).

Photo: Jessica Miglio/Marvel Studios

James Gunn’s Christmas special featuring his take on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy team is consciously cheesy, but the self-awareness doesn’t make it any less grating. Gunn can move more between comedy, action and sentiment at feature length. However, Gunn’s roughly 40-minute running time makes it feel awkward and unprepared.

Marvel rounded up most of the GOTG regulars (apart from Zoe Saldaña as Gamora, for story-continuity reasons) for this outing, but the story centers on Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) trying to give their buddy Peter “Star-Lord” Quill (Chris Pratt) a traditional Earth Christmas by giving him a human present: his favorite movie star, Kevin Bacon (Kevin Bacon). So the story directly centers the kind of shallow “non-humans trying to understand human stuff” that’s usually more of a welcome side note in GOTG stories, and the results are pretty dire. All the broad, flat conversations about The Meaning of Christmas, meant as retro callbacks to an earlier era of holiday specials, are probably meant to feel playful and nostalgic, but they aren’t clever enough to feel like commentary instead of copycatting. —TR

19. Runaways (2017-2019)

Photo: Michael Desmond/Hulu

Frankly, RunawaysThis list would be several notches more high if the runaways were gone earlier. Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s original comics series, which launched in 2003, let the young protagonists find out early that their parents were powerful supervillains, and run off together out of fear and frustration, leading to plenty of plots about the difficulties facing homeless kids coming to terms with their powers and fighting villains without adult assistance. In 2017, the TV series spent its first season with children pondering what they should do once they find out their parents were murderers. As they dither in uninteresting ways, the series dilutes the focus on their characters further by giving equal screen time to their parents’ soap-operatic power struggles and relationship dramas.

Subsequent seasons finally put a little more focus on the young heroes, but the show really never overcomes the problem of its overcrowded cast, or its baffling attempt to make the parents personable and sympathetic, even as they’re systematically exploiting and murdering young people. The show’s focus on quick-resolved subplots like the plot to control mind via cell phones prevented it from gaining series points or any meaningful energy. —TR

18. Cloak & Dagger (2018-2019)

Photo by Freeform

Freeform Cloak & Dagger The strong chemistry that Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt), aka Dagger, and Tyrone Johnson (aka Cloak) started the show off strongly. They were teenagers who tried to learn about their powers and understand the circumstances surrounding the incident that ignited them. Because the writers were focusing on extremely minor Marvel characters, they didn’t need to adhere to comics canon — they were free to deliver a mix of heady wonder and romance, combined with sharp examinations of police brutality, addiction, and corporate malfeasance.

That early charm wore away as the show’s stakes increased and the comics tropes piled up. A twist on fridging meant to be edgy still came off as unnecessarily brutal, the writers tried to make the show’s least interesting character work by giving her an evil personality, and both seasons ended in near-apocalyptic conflicts. It isn’t a terrible YA adventure, but it’s a textbook case of diminishing returns. —SN

17. Iron Fist (2017-2018)

Photo: Linda Kallerus/Netflix

The premiere season Iron Fist It was rightly criticized for Danny Rand, a rich white man-child character. He used his Chosen One powers and showed up people of color who were meant to be his faithful friends. Raven Metzner, the showrunner of season 2, oversaw remarkable changes by moving the emphasis away from Danny’s and building the support cast.

Sacha Dhawan does a remarkable job as Danny’s brother-in-arms-turned-bitter-rival Davos, and Luke Cage cop Misty Knight (Simone Missick) is just as dismissive of Danny’s abilities as a vigilante as she works to come up with better solutions to Chinatown’s problems. The writers still didn’t seem to know what to do with some of the supporting cast, and the show continued to suffer from having too many subplots and villains, but it ended in a strange and surprising place compared to where it began. It’s almost sad that there wasn’t a third season or spinoff that could have really embraced the potential to explore the MCU’s deep well of mystic kung-fu weirdness. —SN

16. Agents for SHIELD (2013-202020).

Photo: Mitch Haaseth/ABC

ABC’s SHIELD agents Before Disney Plus, this was the MCU’s most intimately connected show. The show stars Phil Coulson, a recurring MCU movie character (Clark Gregg), and he is mysteriously revived after being murdered by Loki. The AvengersThe group was to investigate everything, from rogue Asgardians all the way through cyborgs. The show’s first season was written to complement the The Winter Soldier: Captain America It was revealed that SHIELD has been infiltrated into Hydra. This gives the story an interesting twist.

This connective tissue began to wear down over time. In later seasons, the characters were sent to different timelines or space in an attempt not be intertwined with MCU films. It’s firing at all the right cylinders when it is. SHIELD agents This is one of the best Marvel series. It embraces the genre-bending sensibilities and meta humor of comic books. It is a slow-moving show that struggles with its core characters, as well as a cast of different quality. —SN

15. The Punisher, 2017-2019

Photo: Cara Howe/Netflix

Jon Bernthal’s gruff, fierce portrayal of Marine-turned-vigilante Frank Castle is the true highlight of Daredevil Season 2, the second season The Punisher It is one of Netflix’s best movies. While the character’s legacy is highly problematic, showrunner Steve Lightfoot manages to keep the show from being just a brutal revenge fantasy by delivering plots that examine PTSD, the military industrial complex, and ethical hacking. The show is also buoyed by a fantastic supporting cast, with Ben Barnes playing an all-too-charming villain, and Castle’s sidekick, Micro (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), giving the series some desperately needed levity.

The second season fails to recapture that magic, though, with Micro’s absence keenly felt and DHS agent Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah) going from fierce foil to victim. That season’s plot also feels like a retread of the same conflicts presented in season 1, with little new to say. Many of Netflix’s MCU shows suffered a decline in quality after the first season.The Punisher’s second and final outing was the worst offender. —SN

14. The Defenders, 2017

Photo: Sarah Shatz/Netflix

Netflix’s single-season crossover series attempted to be a kind of miniature TV version of The Avengers, one-upping Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke CagePlease see the following: Iron Fistit brings together all of the heros in one plot. It’s lacking Avengers’ impact or scope, but it does share some of its strengths: Bringing these four heroes together in different combinations lets the writers explore their personalities and abilities in new contexts. They laugh and banter at one another, highlighting the flaws of each of their individual shows. Their stories get a new energy when they realize how their talents and personalities can work together. Although the plot is disappointing, it’s generally more entertaining and exciting for these characters than their stories on their own. —TR

13. Werewolf by Night (2022).

Image: Marvel Studios

You can also be cheeky Holiday Special by Guardians of the GalaxyBut it’s a lot more sophisticated in its sense of play than the Halloween Special. You Werewolf at NightIt draws heavily upon classic Hollywood horror movies and Hammer Film Productions films to make its self-aware cheddar cheese. The story is a bit abbreviated but tells the solid tale of two misfits who face off to solve a problem in a family full monster hunters. It doesn’t Feel like a part of MCU continuity — the tone and look are radically different from any previous MCU story, which is a breath of fresh air — but longtime Disney composer turned director Michael Giacchino confirms that it’s part of the MCU narrative, which raises a ton of fun questions about the implication of this weird, gleefully ghoulish little side story. —TR

12. Luke Cage (2016)-2018

Photo: Myles Aroniwitz/Netflix

This is the first half of season 1. Luke Cage is nearly perfect, with Mike Colter’s titular hero with unbreakable skin still struggling to make a real difference when fighting against the formidable mix of criminal and political power wielded by Mahershala Ali’s Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes. But the series quickly takes a turn as Stokes is replaced (Erik LaRay Harvey), by Diamondback, a generic psychopath. It becomes nearly impossible to watch. While Season 2 shows more consistency than season 1, it does not reach its peak.

It’s too bad that the Netflix MCU ended before showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker could really develop the examination of moral compromises he was clearly setting up with Luke walking dangerously close to Stokes’ path by the end of season 2. Despite these flaws, however Luke Cage is a vibrant portrait of Harlem, with an impeccable soundtrack and fantastic performances that call on the significant charisma of Colter, Ali, and Theo Rossi, who plays Stokes’ opportunistic underling Shades. The other Netflix MCU series mainly focus on brooding, withdrawn heroes. Luke Cage, however, revels in his fame and powers, giving the show an unmistakable bombastic feel. —SN

11. Hawkeye (2021).

Image: Marvel Studios

It’s reasonable that so many of the Marvel shows following Avengers: Endgame deal with that movie’s world-changing aftermath and the characters who are mourning, coming to terms with loss, and reflecting on their identities. However, this is just one of many dynamic series that deal with similar themes. HawkeyeIt feels small and unassuming, and lacks originality. A jangling plot thread gives it some borrowed energy. Black Widow and a villain from Netflix’s DaredevilAlthough it is a good idea, the show feels more like an effort to introduce Kate Bishop as a hero to Marvel Comics and MCU-ify other Marvel Comics obscure characters. The show isn’t bad, it just isn’t much. —TR

10. Jessica Jones (2015-2019)

Photo: David Giesbrecht/Netflix

Jessica JonesThe mixed blessings of an excellent first season and a villain almost unbeatable in Kilgrave (former) were a great combination. Doctor WhoDavid Tennant, the star), whose voice seems to be inescapably mesmerizing. Krysten Ritter delivers a consistent, complex performance as Krysten Ritter’s title character. She is a superhumanly strong detective who tries to forget the traumas Kilgrave has inflicted upon her, and deals with the return of his father. The series might have been ranked #1 if it had the two subsequent seasons been as focused and intense. Instead, Jessica Jones Its second and third season lacks focus, tension and personal stakes. Still, it’s well worth sitting down to that first season, a street-level superhero series, crime procedural, and personal story about abuse and recovery all rolled into one. —TR

9. Moon Knight (2022).

Photo: Gabor Kotschy/Marvel Studios

This is Moon KnightA canon section of the MCU? Executive producer Grant Curtis says it is, but apart from the tiniest references — a mention of Black Panther’s Ancestral Plane, another of Madripoor — the links are minimal, tenuous, and easily explained away, given Marvel Studios’ new focus on multiverses. Still, Disney Plus includes the show on its “MCU in timeline order” list, placing it right after Hawkeye.

However Moon Knight’s lack of visible MCU tie-ins also leaves it light on the usual burdens of forwarding a giant franchise’s narrative agenda. That gives creator Jeremy Slater and his team plenty of room to tell their own thrilling weird-adventure story, built heavily around the mystery of what’s going on with Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), whose visions of a supernatural world sometimes coincide with blackouts that leave him with blood on his hands and a contemptuous voice in his ears. While the finale is somewhat rushed as is typical for MCU shows, much of what takes place along the way is quite interesting and unusual, which is not surprising considering it’s an MCU series. It’s all boosted by Isaac’s clear enjoyment of his wild dual role, a constant series of surprising reveals, and action that takes place both on a worldwide scale and a very personal one. It’s one of the stronger MCU series, marred mostly by a tendency to zip past important plot points without letting them breathe and to spend too much time on largely irrelevant red herrings. —TR

8. She-Hulk (2022)

Image: Marvel Studios

Jessica Gao’s series She-Hulk has a whole lot going on in its first season — too much to fully cohere by the end, though its week-to-week attempts to balance a legal drama, a fourth-wall-breaking comedy, and a wry running commentary on societal sexism are still a lot of fun to watch. As the title character, Jen Walters/She-Hulk, Tatiana Maslany carries a lot of weight on her shoulders as she tries to keep the show’s emotions relatable and realistic, even when she’s turning directly to the camera and mocking her show’s structure or the latest plot development. The first season fizzles out a bit by the ending, leaving Jen in a weird state of “Is anything here real, and does any of it matter?”, but the journey to get there is light, airy, and often sharp as hell in its observations about the day-to-day flak professional women have to navigate over their gender. —TR

7. Loki (2021).

Image: Marvel Studios

LokiThe series is expected to rise in the ratings charts as it gets closer to its final episode. Rating it after the closing of season 1 feels like rating it in the middle of its story, given the cliffhanger ending that’s far more about setting up the next wave of Marvel movies than about actually respecting the characters or themes on deck throughout the show. Season 1 is a mind-bending whirl through a game-changing series of reveals for the MCU, and specifically for Loki, who’s been through so many changes over the course of a decade in the movies, even accounting for how many of those changes have been retracted or reversed. Tom Hiddleston remains a standout in the MCU, an expressive, electric presence who’d make this series stand out no matter what. However, Loki is creative, colorful, and often a lot of fun, season 1 perpetually feels like it’s been edited down to the bone, with no time for the stronger character development or emotional exploration of some of the other shows on this list. It’s Disney Plus’ most purely fun MCU show so far, but at the moment, it’s still a story half-told. —TR

6. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).

Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

This story is about Bucky Barnes, a former Winter Soldier who struggles with MCU traumas. It also tells how Sam Wilson chooses to become Captain America. The Falcon, and the Winter SoldierIt is a bit rushed and clumsy at the end. As a story about a network of secret super-soldiers who could be labeled terrorists or freedom fighters, depending on your perspective, it’s well-meaning, but often just graceless. But as a story about two men trying to separately deal with losing their mentor and inspiration, each resenting the other for doing it wrong until they finally bond over what they learned from him, it’s resonant and thoughtful in a way MCU stories rarely can be.

Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie are the title characters. Their roles bring an essential combination of warmth, prickliness and vulnerability to their characters. At its absolute best, this action bromance is so good that it’s actively frustrating when it blows some of its narrative potential by zipping past important plot points with a hand-wave or a stuffy speech. —TR

5. WandaVision (2021

Image: Marvel Studios

WandaVisionIt takes time to unveil its agenda.Avengers: Endgame Story about how to navigate grief and loss. Wanda Maximoff is the main character. In complete denial she has made her own sitcom, with Vision as her love. It’s a fake reality that the series creators create, using decades of sitcom designs and direction to have more fun than any MCU shows.

The best thing about her is the freedom she has to express herself creatively while still being completely weird. WandaVisionIt is an outstanding film. The other is the depth of the series’ emotions, as Wanda navigates her own rage, guilt, and selfishness on top of everything else. It wraps up in a messy fashion, leaving behind many loose ends to make way for future films. But it is certainly a thrilling ride, while it lasts. —TR

4. What If…? (2021)

Image: Marvel Studios

The Most Underrated MCU Show is still a sure bet, What If…? series may have been a victim of MCU fatigue, of prejudice against animation, or of fans’ feeling that a series of speculative multiverse stories don’t really matter to the overall MCU continuity. One way or another, fans of the franchise don’t seem to have engaged with the show nearly as much as they did with some of the series on this list. They’re missing out. It’s a straightforward nine-episode season. In a world where Peggy Carter was given the super-soldier treatment, events otherwise followed a predictable pattern. But once the AU training wheels are off, subsequent episodes escalate the stakes and the distance from familiar canon, either heading in much darker and more brutal directions than the mainstream movies ever could, or having much more fun with the characters, as Black Panther’s T’Challa heads to space (and proves the universe is better off without Peter Quill) or Thor throws a worldwide party.

However, what locks the deal? What If…?’s place on this list is the final two episodes of the season, which integrate all those previous episodes in surprising ways, paying off some plot lines that didn’t seem like they were designed to be resolved. The show gets big and cosmic in exciting ways, but it’s also meticulous about the details, from in-jokes like multiple Howard the Duck cameos to the way all the seemingly stand-alone stories line up in the end. While the individual episodes may be uneven in quality, the season is about how it all fits together and what the end result will look like. —TR

3. Ms. Marvel (2022)

Image: Marvel Studios

This list is just one of many superhero properties in an overflowing world. The other 19 are only a small fraction. Ms. MarvelIt was actually possible to create an origin story that felt like a delicious treat. Credit any number of creative choices, including the show’s vibrant, Into the Spider-VerseThe way that it allows Kamala Khan to live a real life, beyond superherodom. Iman Vellani is the star of the show. She makes Kamala feel alive whether she’s staring down a big bad or a big crush.

Her hands are hers Ms. Marvel is the all-too-rare MCU property that feels like it has the engine to run for a while, even if it’s still sorting out how to handle Ms. Marvel’s villains or cultural identity. At six episodes, its weakest link (hopefully) is that it’s only just getting started. —Zosha Millman

2. Agent Carter (2015-2016)

Image: ABC

Where WandaVision Explores what happens to an incredibly powerful super-hero when she loses her love. Agent Carter The formula is flipped by exploring grief in a different way, but soaking it in powerlessness. The events of Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America’s “best girl” Peggy Carter is mourning his supposed death, but also trying to carry on as a hero in an environment that increasingly doesn’t want female heroes.

Mimicking the real-life societal shift that moved women into traditional men’s work during World War II then sidelined them again when the soldiers came home, Agent Carter The story deals with the condescension and sexism Peggy, played fiercely by Hayley atwell), faces while working for the FBI-like Strategic Scientific Reserve. When her sexist fellow agents contemptuously treat her like a side-piece Captain America foolishly allowed a little equality, she’s forced to chase down America’s enemies on the sly alongside Howard Stark’s butler Jarvis (James D’Arcy). Sharp, the series features meaningful conflict, an engaging Marvel-movie storyline, and a noir-movie perspective of both gender wars as well as the role of private investigator. Atwell and D’Arcy make a terrific team. The show looks stunning, and has a Technicolor style sense of style. It’s unquestionably MCU-modern rather than a period piece, but it takes all the most beloved ideas about costuming, cinematography, humor, and storytelling from the period it’s evoking. —TR

1. Daredevil (2015-2018)

Photo: Nicole Rivelli/Netflix

First of all the Netflix MCU Shows Daredevil The venture’s darker tone was established while feeling very much like an action movie with all the costumes and secret identities. The one-shot hallway fight scene proved that Marvel didn’t need a movie-sized budget to create epic set pieces, while the battle between Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), which weaponizes every stray object found in a newsroom provides a strange mix of high stakes and whimsy.

The performances are even more impressive than the combats. Cox’s portrayal as a heroic hero who is driven by both rage and Catholic guilt and tries to improve the world as a lawyer or vigilante is completely believable. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is a study in how to make a compelling villain. It’s also an excellent platform for launching your own show. The Punisher, with Frank Castle serving as a perfect cautionary tale of what Matt Murdock could become if his friends don’t keep him in check. Daredevil isn’t perfect: The back half of the second season descends into an endless onslaught of ninja to set up The Defenders, The writers didn’t seem to have any idea what they should do with certain supporting characters. However, the show managed to remain creative and ambitious. The finale was a positive and satisfying conclusion to a significant chapter in television superheroes. —SN