Now that the first season of Marvel’s What If…? has concluded, it’s a good time to look back on the four Marvel Cinematic Universe series that have appeared on Disney+ thus far, and critique them. As a hardcore Marvel fanboy since I was a kid, I was stoked for the shows before they came out. Since then, though, I’ve found them to be a mixed bag. Let’s take a look at them, from best to worst.
(Spoilers ahead)
WandaVision: 5 stars
The best Marvel TV show not only of the Disney+ bunch, but ever done so far (sorry, but not sorry, fans of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Bill Bixby’s Incredible Hulk), WandaVision brings back two of the most interesting but underused characters from the MCU and puts them at the forefront.
As I discuss here, the series is done in the style of classic sitcoms from the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties, with an underlying and perplexing creepy vibe. The show picks up where Avengers: Endgame left off, breaking new ground as it asks (more convincingly than the animated series does later), what if a superhero became the bad guy?
The chemistry between leads Elizabeth (“Scarlet Witch”) Olsen and Paul (“Vision”) Bettany is superb, and both are on top of their game throughout each episode. In the later episodes, the show loses some steam and charm as more characters appear from the world outside the artificial reality that Wanda has created. Also, the climactic confrontation between her and the true villain, Agatha Harkness, is not a strong as one would hope.
All that is made up for, though, with the literal meeting-of-the-minds moment between the two Visions (one a self-aware illusion conjured by Wanda; the other, a resurrected but emotionless drone) in the brilliant “Ship of Theseus” segment. In a genre where conflicts are settled by fists and power blasts, these two come to a resolution through the power of logic.
In WandaVision, we’re as much a part of Wanda and Vision’s new life as if we were in the studio audience watching it filmed before us. We resist any nagging suspicions that all is not what it seems; we worry as events spiral out of control; and we mourn when Wanda loses Vision, her children, and the happiness she thought she had. I can’t wait to see what Season 2 brings.
Loki: 3 stars
Of all the Marvel shows, this is the one I was looking forward to the most. Saying that Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is the best and most engaging villain of the MCU is like saying Mozart was a good composer: uh, DUH. (Sorry, not sorry, Thanos: you may have gotten the better of him onscreen, but you’re still second-best to Loki).
So, you can imagine my dismay as the series often made out the master trickster and god of mischief to be the dumbest guy in the room, a constantly clueless chump continually jerked around by the Time Variance Authority. Worse still was how Loki became a supporting character in his own show as the annoying Sylvie, aka “Lady Loki” (played by Sophia Di Martino) took center stage.
Also an issue was the uneven pacing throughout the series: the episode where Sylvie and Loki race against time to get off a soon-to-be destroyed planet was like watching snails crossing the street. The tedious ending encounter with He Who Remains was like an extended role-playing session where the game master improvises a pointless, rambling monologue through an NPC that he’s overly enamored with.
Some things happened too quickly: Loki goes through the same character arc as he did in the movies, from unrepentant villain to scheming opportunist to mourning son and finally to hero in his own right, just much faster.
The series is saved by Hiddleston, who could make reading a grocery list compelling theater. It’s a shame he’s not given more to do. High points also include appearances by the other Loki variants, with Alligator Loki stealing the scenes he’s in, and by the chronically underused Sif, played by Jaimie Alexander. Props to the writers for borrowing an actual Norse myth—the story of Loki cutting Sif’s hair as a prank—and working that in. Props also to Owen Wilson as the engaging TVA agent Mobius.
I would have given Loki 5 stars if it had simply been Loki being…well…Loki from the movies, always plotting, always planning, always with another lie on his lips and a trick up his sleeve. Even if movie Loki’s reach often exceeds his grasp, he’s far from the hapless, befuddled Disney+ version who’s pushed out of the limelight by a variant of himself with considerably less character and charm.
What If…? 3 stars
What If…? was another one that I was eagerly looking forward to, especially since most of the returning characters were going to be voiced by the actors who played them on film. Alas, it, like Loki, was hit and miss.
The series started out strong, with episodes featuring T’Challa as StarLord, and Peggy Carter taking the super-soldier serum in place of Steve Rogers, and becoming “Captain Carter.” I would prefer that she be called “Captain Britain,” a favorite Marvel character of mine, but that’s a minor quibble.
The next four episodes were downers. The heroes who would have become the Avengers are murdered before they can form the team; Dr. Strange becomes evil; zombies devour almost everyone in the world; and Killmonger leverages a friendship with Tony Stark to commit even more mayhem. I found myself wondering exactly how many times Stark was going to die in this series; maybe a future episode could be, “What If…Tony Stark Lived?”
The “Party Thor” episode was goofy fun, with the good-time God of Thunder slugging it out with a version of Captain Marvel who’s more likeable than the one we’ve had on screen. Frost Giant Loki as Thor’s “brother from another mother?” Priceless!
The fun didn’t last, though, as the penultimate episode, “What If…Ultron Won?” is easily one of the dumbest, and not in an enjoyable way. Throughout the series, logic often suffered to fit the premise of each episode: why would the Avengers simply walk into a horde of zombies and allow themselves to be overwhelmed by numbers?
But this episode gave us the idiotic scene of Ultron/Vision using the Mind Stone to easily laser Thanos—possessing the other five Infinity Stones—in half as easily as you or I tear a sheet of paper. Who knew that it was that easy to kill the “Mad Titan?” If only Vision had done that early in Avengers: Infinity War, it would have saved half the universe.
The final episode, where Captain Carter, Star-Lord T’Challa, evil Dr. Strange, Party Thor, Killmonger, and variants of Gamora and Black Widow team up to take down the all-powerful, cosmic Ultron/Vision was a thrilling end to the first season.
Though What If…? had its enjoyable moments, but too much of it was tragic, or poorly portrayed its characters, or defied logic, or had all three in the same episode. I know that it was a favorite to many fans, but for me, the zombie episode was the nadir of the season.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: 2 stars
And then we come to the unnecessary, plodding, and heavy-handed Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which I gave up on after two of its six episodes. One part buddy comedy, one part thriller, the result is neither funny nor exciting. I found myself wishing that the roughly half-hour WandaVision episodes had been one hour, and that the roughly one-hour Falcon episodes were a half-hour.
The otherwise superb Anthony Mackie plays Sam Wilson, who, at the beginning of the series, angsts about Steve Rogers naming him the new Captain America. Sam sets aside the shield, only to have it and the “Captain America” moniker bestowed on the seemingly admirable but morally shady John Walker.
The introduction of Flag Smasher, one of my favorite villains from the comics, could not keep me tuned in, nor could the return of Don Cheadle as James Rhodes, and Daniel Bruhl as Helmut Zemo. Not even those veteran actors could help me overlook the problems with the story.
While the issue of race is one of the most pressing issues—if not the most—in the United States today, and while it’s certainly worthwhile to explore that in art, even if we’re only dealing with TV shows made from comic books, it just seems labored and pointless in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The question of whether Sam Wilson, a Black man, can be Captain America is moot: who else but Sam—Steve Rogers’ friend, partner, and literal wingman, who shares Steve’s morals and dedication—is worthy of taking up the shield? Nobody: not Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes, with his unsavory past; not the dishonorable John Walker; not the now-corrupt Sharon Carter.
The show ultimately tells us what Steve and everyone in the audience of Avengers: Endgame knew at the movie’s conclusion, that Sam was meant to be the next Captain America, and that he would excel at it.
Going Forward
Next up on Disney+ is Hawkeye, with Jeremy Renner returning for the title role in what appears to be an action/comedy show set around Christmas. Here’s hoping that the pairing of his Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop (a would-be superhero with a bow). Florence Pugh will appear as the new Black Widow, sent to avenge the death of her sister Natasha Romanoff.
Hawkeye looks like it has a lot of potential: here’s hoping it will be of similar quality to WandaVision, outshining Falcon, Loki, and What If…?
Kenton Kilgore writes killer SF/F for young adults and adults who are still young.
In his latest novel, This Wasted Land, high-school senior Alyx is lost and alone on a desolate world of monsters never before imagined. And if they don’t kill her, the witch who has her boyfriend will.
Kenton is the author of Lost Dogs, the story of the end of the world as seen, heard, and smelled by a dog. Stray Cats, the sequel, is coming soon: sign up here to get a free excerpt. He also wrote Dragontamer’s Daughters, like Little House on the Prairie…with dragons!
With Patrick Eibel, he created Our Wild Place, a children’s book about the joy to be found in exploring Nature. Kenton also published Hand-Selling Books to help authors better their sales.
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