Every Marvel TV show in the Cinematic Universe, ranked

The debut of WandaVision on Disney Plus in 2021 marked a brand new period for Marvel-branded TV sequence: one the place Marvel Studios extra expressly began controlling and integrating these reveals into the overarching story of its films. It additionally marked an period the place Marvel Cinematic Universe reveals began enjoying precisely like MCU films, with the identical mix of humor, drama, and motion.

That’s a really completely different strategy from the pre-Disney Plus days, when Marvel Studios was nonetheless licensing its characters to different studios and networks, which all tried to crack the Marvel formulation in other ways. And it’s additionally a special strategy from the 2022 experiments in MCU “specials,” one-off tales that bend the Marvel formulation in way more director-driven, idiosyncratic methods. How do all these approaches examine? We put each installment of MCU-integrated TV on the identical scale to rank them and discover out.

[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 was the final of the live-action MCU reveals launched on Hulu earlier than the launch of Disney Plus, and it was canceled after one almost universally panned season. The show is borderline unwatchable, a dour procession of exorcist and paranormal tropes with solely the loosest connection to the comedian ebook characters it’s based mostly on. Following a pair of siblings with demonic blood that offers them superpowers, it lacks likable characters, significant stakes, nuanced performances, and even spectacular particular results. If you’re on the lookout for a spooky supernatural story about preventing demons, try Evil on Paramount Plus. If you need superheroics, you’re higher off watching the rest on this checklist. —Samantha Nelson

21. Inhumans (2017)

Image: ABC

Originally deliberate as an MCU film and its personal MCU sub-franchise, Inhumans suffered in half from the identical factor that gave it a lot potential: It’s constructed round a whole society hidden from the remainder of the world, the place separatist superpowered folks dwell in response to their very own legal guidelines. But a sequence about supers who aren’t connected to human society has none of the relatable points that make MCU characters fascinating. And the story, a few coup which may flip the Inhumans’ terrible, oppressive oligarchy into a special form of terrible, oppressive oligarchy, doesn’t have a number of stakes for the common viewer.

When an alternate model of Inhumans’ Black Bolt (nonetheless performed by Anson Mount) finally turns up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, that gave MCU followers much more rooting curiosity in the character. But it nonetheless doesn’t make Inhumans any extra fascinating or watchable. The performing is stiff, the writing is clunky, unhealthy man Maximus (Iwan Rheon, well-known for enjoying Game of Thrones sadist Ramsay Bolton) is ridiculously apparent in his clumsy evil, and even as soon as the motion strikes from the moon to Earth, the story by no means feels prefer it’s about precise individuals. Technically, it’s all there in the sequence title, so we will’t say we weren’t warned. —Tasha Robinson

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

Photo: Jessica Miglio/Marvel Studios

James Gunn’s Christmas particular that includes his tackle Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy crew is consciously tacky, however the self-awareness doesn’t make it any much less grating. At characteristic size, Gunn has way more area to veer between motion, foolish character bits, and sentiment, however the roughly 40-minute run time right here makes all these twists really feel rushed and clumsy, and the humor is especially compelled.

Marvel rounded up most of the GOTG regulars (aside from Zoe Saldaña as Gamora, for story-continuity causes) for this outing, however the story facilities on Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) making an attempt to present their buddy Peter “Star-Lord” Quill (Chris Pratt) a standard Earth Christmas by giving him a human current: his favourite film star, Kevin Bacon (Kevin Bacon). So the story straight facilities the form of shallow “non-humans trying to understand human stuff” that’s often extra of a welcome aspect notice in GOTG tales, and the outcomes are fairly dire. All the broad, flat conversations about The Meaning of Christmas, meant as retro callbacks to an earlier period of vacation specials, are most likely meant to really feel playful and nostalgic, however they aren’t intelligent sufficient to really feel like commentary as an alternative of copycatting. —TR

19. Runaways (2017-2019)

Photo: Michael Desmond/Hulu

Frankly, Runaways would most likely be a number of notches increased on this checklist if the titular runaways had run away earlier. Brian Ok. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s unique comics sequence, which launched in 2003, let the younger protagonists discover out early that their mother and father had been highly effective supervillains, and run off collectively out of concern and frustration, resulting in loads of plots about the difficulties going through homeless youngsters coming to phrases with their powers and preventing villains with out grownup help. But the 2017 TV adaptation spends its complete first season with the youngsters wheel-spinning about what to do after they see proof their mother and father are murderers. As they dither in uninteresting methods, the sequence dilutes the give attention to their characters additional by giving equal display screen time to their mother and father’ soap-operatic energy struggles and relationship dramas.

Subsequent seasons lastly put a little bit extra give attention to the younger heroes, however the show actually by no means overcomes the downside of its overcrowded forged, or its baffling try to make the mother and father personable and sympathetic, whilst they’re systematically exploiting and murdering younger individuals. And its give attention to short-term, shortly resolved subplots, like a trying-to-be-current plot about thoughts management unfold via cell telephones, prevented the show from build up sequence stakes or significant vitality. —TR

18. Cloak & Dagger (2018-2019)

Image: Freeform

The Freeform show Cloak & Dagger began off robust, pushed by the highly effective chemistry between Tandy Bowen, aka Dagger (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson, aka Cloak (Aubrey Joseph), youngsters making an attempt to know their new powers and the nature of the accident that sparked them. Because the writers had been specializing in extraordinarily minor Marvel characters, they didn’t want to stick to comics canon — they had been free to ship a mixture of heady surprise and romance, mixed with sharp examinations of police brutality, dependancy, and company malfeasance.

That early appeal wore away as the show’s stakes elevated and the comics tropes piled up. A twist on fridging meant to be edgy nonetheless got here off as unnecessarily brutal, the writers tried to make the show’s least fascinating character work by giving her an evil character, and each seasons ended in near-apocalyptic conflicts. It isn’t a horrible YA journey, nevertheless it’s a textbook case of diminishing returns. —SN

17. Iron Fist (2017-2018)

Photo: Linda Kallerus/Netflix

The first season of Iron Fist was rightly maligned for its wealthy, white man-child hero Danny Rand (Finn Jones) utilizing his Chosen One powers to show up the individuals of coloration who are supposed to be his loyal associates. But when Raven Metzner took over as showrunner for season 2, he oversaw a outstanding course-correction by shifting the focus away from Danny and build up the supporting forged.

Sacha Dhawan does a outstanding job as Danny’s brother-in-arms-turned-bitter-rival Davos, and Luke Cage cop Misty Knight (Simone Missick) is simply as dismissive of Danny’s skills as a vigilante as she works to give you higher options to Chinatown’s issues. The writers nonetheless didn’t appear to know what to do with a few of the supporting forged, and the show continued to undergo from having too many subplots and villains, nevertheless it ended in a wierd and shocking place in comparison with the place it started. It’s nearly unhappy that there wasn’t a 3rd season or spinoff that might have actually embraced the potential to discover the MCU’s deep nicely of mystic kung-fu weirdness. —SN

16. Agents of SHIELD (2013-2020)

Photo: Mitch Haaseth/ABC

ABC’s Agents of SHIELD was the show most carefully tied to the MCU earlier than Disney Plus got here alongside. It stars recurring MCU movie character Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who’s mysteriously resurrected after being killed by Loki in The Avengers, then tasked with main a gaggle of brokers investigating all the pieces from rogue Asgardians to cyborgs. The show’s first season was written to enrich the Captain America: The Winter Soldier revelation that SHIELD had been infiltrated by Hydra, which provides the story a wonderful twist as a number of major characters show their true loyalties.

But that connective tissue wore skinny over time, and later seasons noticed the characters despatched to area or totally completely different timelines so they might keep away from intersecting with the MCU movies. When the show is firing on all cylinders, Agents of SHIELD is amongst the prime Marvel sequence, embracing the genre-bending sensibilities of comedian ebook tales and a heavy dose of meta humor. Unfortunately, it spends a number of time foundering, taking a number of seasons to develop into a real ensemble show, and even then, battling separated characters and a rotating forged of various high 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 spotlight of Daredevil season 2, and the first season of The Punisher is amongst the finest tales in the Netflix MCU. While the character’s legacy is very problematic, showrunner Steve Lightfoot manages to maintain the show from being only a brutal revenge fantasy by delivering plots that study PTSD, the army industrial complicated, and moral hacking. The show can be buoyed by a implausible supporting forged, with Ben Barnes enjoying an all-too-charming villain, and Castle’s sidekick, Micro (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), giving the sequence some desperately wanted levity.

The second season fails to recapture that magic, although, with Micro’s absence keenly felt and DHS agent Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah) going from fierce foil to sufferer. That season’s plot additionally looks like a retread of the identical conflicts introduced in season 1, with little new to say. Most of the Netflix MCU reveals skilled a high quality dip after their first season, however The Punisher’s second and last outing was the worst offender. —SN

14. The Defenders (2017)

Photo: Sarah Shatz/Netflix

Netflix’s single-season crossover sequence tried to be a form of miniature TV model of The Avengers, one-upping Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist by bringing all the heroes collectively in one large plot line. It lacks Avengers’ affect or scope, nevertheless it does share a few of its strengths: Bringing these 4 heroes collectively in completely different mixtures lets the writers discover their personalities and talents in new contexts. As they banter and snark at one another, they spotlight a few of the particular person faults that bugged followers of their solo reveals. And as they be taught to work collectively, the methods their skills and personalities synergize injects some contemporary vitality into their particular person tales. The overplot right here is disappointing, however the characters themselves are usually each funnier and extra thrilling than they had been on their very own. —TR

13. Werewolf by Night (2022)

Image: Marvel Studios

Cheeky in the identical approach as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special however much more nuanced in its sense of play, the one-off (thus far) Halloween particular Werewolf by Night leans closely on basic Hollywood horror and Hammer Film Productions films for its explicit model of self-aware cheese. But it additionally tells a strong (although abbreviated) story about misfits going through off and teaming as much as deal with an influence shift in a household of monster-hunters. It doesn’t really feel like part of MCU continuity — the tone and look are radically completely different from any earlier MCU story, which is a breath of contemporary air — however longtime Disney composer turned director Michael Giacchino confirms that it’s a part of the MCU narrative, which raises a ton of enjoyable questions on the implication of this bizarre, gleefully ghoulish little aspect story. —TR

12. Luke Cage (2016-2018)

Photo: Myles Aronowitz/Netflix

The first half of the first season of Luke Cage is sort of good, with Mike Colter’s titular hero with unbreakable pores and skin nonetheless struggling to make an actual distinction when preventing towards the formidable mixture of legal and political energy wielded by Mahershala Ali’s Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes. Yet the sequence takes a tough flip when Stokes is changed by the generic psychopath Diamondback (Erik LaRay Harvey), and it turns into borderline unwatchable. Season 2 is extra constant, although it by no means actually reaches the highs of season 1.

It’s too unhealthy that the Netflix MCU ended earlier than showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker might actually develop the examination of ethical compromises he was clearly establishing with Luke strolling dangerously near Stokes’ path by the finish of season 2. But in spite of these flaws, Luke Cage is a vibrant portrait of Harlem, with an impeccable soundtrack and implausible performances that decision on the vital charisma of Colter, Ali, and Theo Rossi, who performs Stokes’ opportunistic underling Shades. While the different Netflix MCU reveals largely give attention to withdrawn, brooding heroes, Luke Cage revels in his powers and fame, which provides the show a uniquely bombastic high quality. —SN

11. Hawkeye (2021)

Image: Marvel Studios

It’s cheap that so lots of the Marvel reveals following Avengers: Endgame take care of that film’s world-changing aftermath and the characters who’re mourning, coming to phrases with loss, and reflecting on their identities. But coming after a number of extra dynamic reveals coping with the identical points, Hawkeye feels unusually small and low-key, with minimal ambitions and a notable lack of unique distinctive parts. It will get a little bit borrowed vitality by bringing in a dangling plot thread from Black Widow and a villain from Netflix’s Daredevil, however largely it looks like an try to introduce a brand new hero (Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop) and to MCU-ify another relative Marvel Comics obscurities. The show isn’t unhealthy, it simply isn’t a lot. —TR

10. Jessica Jones (2015-2019)

Photo: David Giesbrecht/Netflix

Jessica Jones had the combined blessing of a stellar first season with a near-unbeatable villain in Kilgrave (former Doctor Who star David Tennant), whose voice is inescapably mesmeric, to the level the place individuals kill one another or themselves at his informal verbal command. Krysten Ritter provides a constantly layered efficiency as the superhumanly highly effective title character, a detective making an attempt to disregard the deep traumas Kilgrave inflicted on her in the previous, whereas coping with his return. If the subsequent two seasons had been as focused and intense as the first one, this sequence would most likely prime this checklist. Instead, Jessica Jones suffers from the approach its second and third seasons lose focus, rigidity, and private stakes by comparability. Still, it’s nicely price sitting right down to that first season, a street-level superhero sequence, crime procedural, and private story about abuse and restoration all rolled into one. —TR

9. Moon Knight (2022)

Photo: Gabor Kotschy/Marvel Studios

Is Moon Knight a canon a part of the MCU? Executive producer Grant Curtis says it’s, however aside from the tiniest references — a point out of Black Panther’s Ancestral Plane, one other of Madripoor — the hyperlinks are minimal, tenuous, and simply defined away, given Marvel Studios’ new give attention to multiverses. Still, Disney Plus contains the show on its “MCU in timeline order” checklist, inserting it proper after Hawkeye.

But Moon Knight’s lack of seen MCU tie-ins additionally leaves it gentle on the typical burdens of forwarding a large franchise’s narrative agenda. That provides creator Jeremy Slater and his crew loads of room to inform their very own thrilling weird-adventure story, constructed closely round the thriller of what’s occurring with Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), whose visions of a supernatural world generally coincide with blackouts that go away him with blood on his arms and a contemptuous voice in his ears. The ending is rushed per typical in an MCU sequence, however most of what occurs on the approach there’s participating, thrilling, and really fairly bizarre and daring for an MCU show. It’s all boosted by Isaac’s clear enjoyment of his wild twin function, a relentless sequence of peculiar reveals, and motion that takes place each on a worldwide scale and a really private one. It’s one in every of the stronger MCU sequence, marred largely by a bent to zip previous essential plot factors with out letting them breathe and to spend an excessive amount of time on largely irrelevant crimson herrings. —TR

8. She-Hulk (2022)

Image: Marvel Studios

Jessica Gao’s sequence She-Hulk has a complete lot occurring in its first season — an excessive amount of to totally cohere by the finish, although its week-to-week makes an attempt to steadiness a authorized drama, a fourth-wall-breaking comedy, and a wry operating commentary on societal sexism are nonetheless a number of enjoyable to observe. As the title character, Jen Walters/She-Hulk, Tatiana Maslany carries a number of weight on her shoulders as she tries to maintain the show’s feelings relatable and life like, even when she’s turning on to the digicam and mocking her show’s construction or the newest plot improvement. The first season fizzles out a bit by the ending, leaving Jen in a bizarre state of “Is anything here real, and does any of it matter?”, however the journey to get there’s gentle, ethereal, and sometimes sharp as hell in its observations about the day-to-day flak skilled ladies must navigate over their gender. —TR

7. Loki (2021)

Image: Marvel Studios

Loki appears prone to climb the rating charts as soon as the sequence finds its approach nearer to an precise conclusion. Rating it after the closing of season 1 looks like score it in the center of its story, given the cliffhanger ending that’s way more about establishing the subsequent wave of Marvel films than about really respecting the characters or themes on deck all through the show. Season 1 is a mind-bending whirl via a game-changing sequence of reveals for the MCU, and particularly for Loki, who’s been via so many adjustments over the course of a decade in the films, even accounting for what number of of these adjustments have been retracted or reversed. Tom Hiddleston stays a standout in the MCU, an expressive, electrical presence who’d make this sequence stand out it doesn’t matter what. But whereas Loki is inventive, colourful, and sometimes a number of enjoyable, season 1 perpetually feels prefer it’s been edited right down to the bone, with no time for the stronger character improvement or emotional exploration of a few of the different reveals on this checklist. It’s Disney Plus’ most purely enjoyable MCU show thus far, however at the second, it’s nonetheless a narrative half-told. —TR

6. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

Photo: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

As a narrative about how former Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes offers together with his many MCU traumas and the way Sam Wilson decides to take up the Captain America mantle, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is fairly rushed, and in the finish, clumsy. As a narrative a few community of secret super-soldiers who might be labeled terrorists or freedom fighters, relying in your perspective, it’s well-meaning, however usually simply graceless. But as a narrative about two males making an attempt to individually take care of dropping their mentor and inspiration, every resenting the different for doing it flawed till they lastly bond over what they discovered from him, it’s resonant and considerate in a approach MCU tales not often will be.

Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, as the titular major characters, deliver a significant mixture of heat and prickliness to their roles, which helps make their generally broadly drawn characters really feel weak, human, and fascinating. At its very best, this motion bromance is so good that it’s actively irritating when it blows a few of its narrative potential by zipping previous essential plot factors with a hand-wave or a stuffy speech. —TR

5. WandaVision (2021)

Image: Marvel Studios

WandaVision takes fairly some time to disclose its agenda as one more post-Avengers: Endgame story about navigating grief and loss. It begins with its central character, Wanda Maximoff, in full denial, having created her personal cheery sitcom actuality with a re-creation of her useless love, Vision. The sequence creators mess around with that fake actuality, leaping via a long time of sitcom types and customarily having extra enjoyable with design, route, and general fashion than any MCU show thus far.

That freedom to creatively discover her character whereas being outright bizarre is one in every of the two greatest issues that makes WandaVision a standout. The different is the depth of the sequence’ feelings, as Wanda navigates her personal rage, guilt, and selfishness on prime of all the pieces else. The sequence wraps up messily, with loads of unfastened ends that it means to arrange future films, so it by no means looks like a totally self-contained story, nevertheless it definitely is a wild journey whereas it lasts. —TR

4. What If…? (2021)

Image: Marvel Studios

Still a lock for Most Underrated MCU Show, the What If…? sequence might have been a sufferer of MCU fatigue, of prejudice towards animation, or of followers’ feeling {that a} sequence of speculative multiverse tales don’t actually matter to the general MCU continuity. One approach or one other, followers of the franchise don’t appear to have engaged with the show almost as a lot as they did with a few of the sequence on this checklist. They’re lacking out. The nine-episode opening season begins out easy, in a universe the place Peggy Carter bought the super-soldier therapy as an alternative of Steve Rogers, however occasions in any other case largely performed out in a well-recognized sample. But as soon as the AU coaching wheels are off, subsequent episodes escalate the stakes and the distance from acquainted canon, both heading in a lot darker and extra brutal instructions than the mainstream films ever might, or having way more enjoyable with the characters, as Black Panther’s T’Challa heads to area (and proves the universe is best off with out Peter Quill) or Thor throws a worldwide celebration.

But what actually locks What If…?’s place on this checklist is the last two episodes of the season, which combine all these earlier episodes in shocking methods, paying off some plot strains that didn’t seem to be they had been designed to be resolved. The show will get large and cosmic in thrilling methods, nevertheless it’s additionally meticulous about the particulars, from in-jokes like a number of Howard the Duck cameos to the approach all the seemingly stand-alone tales line up in the finish. The particular person episodes are uneven, however this season is extra about the built-in bundle and the place all of it leads in the finish. —TR

3. Ms. Marvel (2022)

Image: Marvel Studios

In a world inundated with superhero properties (the 19 on this checklist are only a drop in the bucket of the broader slate), Ms. Marvel really managed to make an origin story really feel like a deal with. Credit any variety of inventive decisions, together with the show’s vibrant, Into the Spider-Verse-esque visible id, or the approach it provides protagonist Kamala Khan an precise life past the bounds of superherodom. But some acclaim ought to definitely be reserved for Iman Vellani, the absolute star at the middle of all of it. She makes Kamala really feel alive whether or not she’s staring down a giant unhealthy or a giant crush.

In her arms, Ms. Marvel is the all-too-rare MCU property that feels prefer it has the engine to run for some time, even when it’s nonetheless finding out find out how to deal with Ms. Marvel’s villains or cultural id. At six episodes, its weakest hyperlink (hopefully) is that it’s solely simply getting began. —Zosha Millman

2. Agent Carter (2015-2016)

Image: ABC

Where WandaVision explores what occurs when an immensely highly effective superhero loses the love of her life, Agent Carter flips the formulation by exploring the identical form of grief, however steeping it in powerlessness. After the occasions of Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America’s “best girl” Peggy Carter is mourning his supposed dying, but in addition making an attempt to hold on as a hero in an setting that more and more doesn’t need feminine heroes.

Mimicking the real-life societal shift that moved ladies into conventional males’s work throughout World War II then sidelined them once more when the troopers got here residence, Agent Carter offers carefully with the sexism and condescension Peggy (performed fiercely by Hayley Atwell) faces on the job at the FBI-like Strategic Scientific Reserve. When her sexist fellow brokers contemptuously deal with her like a side-piece Captain America foolishly allowed a little bit equality, she’s compelled to chase down America’s enemies on the sly alongside Howard Stark’s butler Jarvis (James D’Arcy). The sequence is sharp, with significant battle, a satisfying Marvel-movie overplot, and a noir-movie idea of each the gender wars and the job of a non-public investigator. Atwell and D’Arcy make a terrific crew. And the show even appears to be like spectacular, with a Technicolor-style sense for fashion. It’s unquestionably MCU-modern somewhat than a interval piece, nevertheless it takes all the most beloved concepts about costuming, cinematography, humor, and storytelling from the interval it’s evoking. —TR

1. Daredevil (2015-2018)

Photo: Nicole Rivelli/Netflix

The first of the Netflix MCU reveals, Daredevil established the darker, street-level tone of the enterprise whereas nonetheless feeling very very similar to a superhero story, full with costumes, secret identities, and spectacular fights. The one-shot hallway battle scene proved that Marvel didn’t want a movie-sized price range to create epic set items, whereas the battle between Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Bullseye (Wilson Bethel), which weaponizes each stray object discovered in a newsroom offers a wierd mixture of excessive stakes and whimsy.

But much more astounding than the combats are the performances. Cox is totally plausible in his portrayal of a hero pushed by a mixture of rage and Catholic guilt as he tries to make the world higher, each as a lawyer and as a vigilante. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is a research in find out how to make a compelling villain. The show can be a launchpad for The Punisher, with Frank Castle serving as an ideal cautionary story of what Matt Murdock might develop into if his associates don’t hold him in test. Daredevil isn’t good: The again half of the second season descends into an infinite onslaught of ninja to arrange The Defenders, and the writers by no means appeared to know what to do with a few of the supporting forged. But the show by no means didn’t be inventive and impressive, and its finale supplied a satisfying and hopeful conclusion to a serious chapter in superhero tv. —SN