Loki has just wrapped up, I’ve had a week to think on it, so let’s talk about the first wave of Marvel TV shows on Disney+. At this point in time, things like the Netflix shows, Agent Carter, and Agents of SHIELD aren’t canon anymore. So we have a new era in Marvel TV shows to talk about.

What Didn’t Work

I always start with the negative because I want to end with the positives of what has worked. I think that there are a few things that haven’t worked, and for me a lot of them have come from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That show was the roughest for me, though it did have the best action.

The big thing that didn’t work for me in Falcon and the Winter Soldier was that they removed a massive storyline and gave us some weird payoffs on things. The Flagsmasher storyline was supposed to have contained a story about a disease that was going to the GRC camps. Obviously when 2020 happened, they pulled that because they didn’t want to do a virus storyline. However, that removed the motivation of the Flagsmashers. And that left everything feeling bland in terms of a bad guy.

I also need to knock WandaVision a little bit, because it, along with Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn’t seemingly have much MCU payoff. Now, it might be that having watched the the shows we’ll find more Easter Eggs as the movies came out. But as someone who likes the speculation, I wanted more payoff on some of the things that the cast said and the comic nods thrown in there. Now, I will talk about what those shows were trying to do and did well in next section.

Finally, the Sharon Carter is the Power Broker in Madripoor. That was a twist that was kind of set-up, but then extremely poorly set-up that she was the Power Broker. It is something that makes no sense in what she was doing and how she first reacted when characters show up. So they really didn’t do her character anything that helped it make sense.

What Worked

Character development. Character development was huge throughout the three shows. Even Loki who is more developed as a character had some solid development. But really with Wanda and Vision we had amazing character development. We got to know them better than we had in the movies, and we got to see them grow together and then fall apart as, well, Wanda’s hex came undone. Even in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we got to see some character development with them.

We also get a few interesting end credit scenes or big reveals. So, Loki is obviously the one that did this the best. Bringing in He Who Remains who is a version of Kang in the show in the final episode was amazing. That was the payoff that we were hoping for from WandaVision. But we also got the Skrull cameo in WandaVision, and the end credit scene where Wanda is going through the Darkhold. Both of those things are definitely setting up more. Falcon and the Winter Soldier had Val, but that was fun but felt lacking.

They got the look right for each of the shows. WandaVision obviously had the most to do with going through various decades and sitcoms, but they nailed it. Falcon and the Winter Soldier, that one was more standard Marvel. But those are more standard Marvel characters, and by that I mean no magic. I really feel like it would have made sense to be the first one to be released. And Loki gave us this weird bureaucracy vibe to it and a dated vibe. It set the tone for the TVA drones.

What Do I Expect For the Next Bunch

That’s an interesting question. We are getting a show with another character we know, after What If. Hawkeye is probably going to give Clint Barton a way to step away from being Hawkeye and set-up another Young Avenger. But I don’t expect it to have anything as big as Loki, probably more on par with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

But for What If, I’m not sure what they are going to do. It seems like something that they are just going to have fun with, and I’m cool with that. I wouldn’t be surprised if the movies will drop little nods to what the show does, but I doubt it shakes up Marvel too much.

After that we get new characters like Ms Marvel and She-Hulk. This is where things again get really interesting. We get new characters that are going to show up in the movies, eventually. Ms Marvel is definitely going to be in the Marvels movie with Captain Marvel and more. So are we going to get an origin story, are we going to get something that leads into the movies, I don’t know. I hope by the time Ms Marvel rolls around they’ll know that most people are watching the shows and continue to make them important like Loki was.

Favorite To Least

1. WandaVision
   That one just worked for me. I like the changing aesthetic of the show for each decade and I love the character development. Even without Mephisto, it did still manage to set-up a lot.
2. Loki
   So close between these top two. Loki gives us some Loki character development, but really drives forward Phase 4 more than any other show did. We got our Mephisto there with He Who Remains.
3. Falcon and the Winter Soldier
   This one is kind of a miss for me. It had some powerful moments, but in the end, it felt like it didn’t progress Sam and Bucky much. We knew Sam was going to become Captain America at the end of Endgame, so a show where he steps back and then steps back up isn’t that great to me, plus missing plot.

What order do you put them in?

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