By Charles Pugh
The Marvel Cinematic Universe was able to grow significantly during Phase Two, as more new heroes were introduced like the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and other heroes that played supporting roles like Falcon, Wanda Maximoff and Vision. Also, the expansion to television and streaming also brought in street level heroes like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, while continuing the stories of previously established characters like Peggy Carter and Phil Coulson in other shows.
However, as production got underway on the franchise’s third Phase and the final part of the Infinity Saga that had started with Iron Man, major disagreements between Kevin Feige and the offices of Marvel Entertainment, led to Feige being given free reign by Bob Iger, to make a much more diverse and creative set of films, that are currently regarded as some of the franchise’s best moments, while also bringing the Thanos and Infinity Stones stories, to a powerful conclusion.
Although it came at the cost of the television characters having any chance to help their film counterparts until Marvel Television was absorbed into Marvel Studios at the end of tbe 2010s decade, they will still be included, to show how vast this was….
38. Inhumans (2017)
Directed by: Roel Reiné, Chris Fisher, David Straiton, Kevin Tancharoen, Neasa Hardiman and Billy Gierhart
Written by: Scott Buck, Rick Cleveland, Wendy West, Scott Reynolds and Quinton Peeples
Starring: Anson Mount, Serinda Swan, Ken Leung, Eme Ikwuakor, Isabelle Cornish, Ellen Woglom and Iwan Rheon
Music by: Sean Callery
Rated: 12
Although Inhumans, a small percentage of humanity that was experimented on by the Kree to gain abilities on exposure to Terrigan Crystals, have resurfaced in recent years, Earth remains unaware of the strongest group of these people, who reside in a kingdom on the Moon called Attlian. When the rulers of this kingdom, King Black Bolt (Anson Mount) and Queen Medusa (Serinda Swan), alongside the former’s cousins, Karnak (Ken Leung) and Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor) and the latter’s younger sister, Crystal (Isabelle Cornish), are banished to Earth by Bolt’s treacherous brother, Maximus (Iwan Rheon), they must rely on humanity to help them get back home…
Even though Marvel Studios didn’t have the rights to the X-Men characters throughout the length of The Infinity Saga, some people at Marvel, including the head of Marvel Entertainment , Ike Perlmutter, desperately wanted their own group of superhumans that humanity would hate, and decided to go for the closest thing Marvel Studios owned at the time, the Inhumans, a royal family from the Moon that gained their powers from Terrigan Crystals rather than extreme pressure.
While the Inhuman Royal Family was pushed into every Marvel comic, videogame and animated show during the 2010s as a replacement for the X-Men, Kevin Feige was not a fan of this direction especially when the MCU’s first television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., didn’t even have the royal family characters, and focused on completely different Inhumans that were very similar to mutants.
When Kevin split Marvel Studios from the rest of the company in 2016, he managed to get the previously announced Inhumans film cancelled, but Perlmutter went behind his back to redevelop the film into a television series that inexplicably ignored every aspect of the previously established Inhumans on S.H.I.E.L.D., while cost-cutting at every turn to make these cosmic characters, appear in live-action as cheaply as possible, including not giving any opportunity for Black Bolt to use his sonic abilities and infamously cutting Medusa’s iconic hair.
Along with having some of the most annoying side characters in the franchise’s history, Inhumans’s short length for a television series, prevents any character development for the Royal Family, which causes major problems for Bolt and Medusa, as they don’t go through an arc about realising that their way of life, or Chaste system, was not working for the population, and that in spite of his violent actions, Maximus had the right idea for a more equal society. While some of the acting is some of the worst ever, Anson Mount fully commits to the silent nature of Black Bolt, Iwan Rheon is great as Maximus, and Lockjaw, the teleporting giant bulldog is adorable.
Overall, while the potential for a interesting MCU version of Inhumans could have worked, given how the subject was built up so successfully on SH.I.E.L.D’s second, third and fourth seasons, this miniseries certainly wasn’t it. While some actors were trying, this completely misguided approach ironically led to the characters being permanently killed off in the comics a few years later, while the X-Men came back in full force after the Disney-20th Century Fox merge was finalised, although Black Bolt’s brief return in a future MCU film (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), would show that anything is still possible in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Rating: 1/5
37. Iron Fist: Season One (2017)
Directed by: John Dahl, Tom Shankland, Miguel Sapochnik, Uta Briesewitz, RZA, Farren Blackburn, Kevin Tancharoen, Jet Wilkinson, Peter Hoar, Deborah Chow, Andy Goddard and Stephen Surjik
Written by: Scott Buck, Quinton Peeples, Scott Reynolds, Cristine Chambers, Dwain Worrell, Ian Stokes, Tamara Becher, Pat Charles and Tamara Becher-Wilkinson
Starring: Finn Jones, Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, Ramón Rodríguez, Sacha Dhawan, Rosario Dawson, Wai Ching Ho and David Wenham
Music by: Trevor Morris
Rated: 18
After being presumed dead for fifteen years after he and his parents were involved in a plane crash in the Himalayas, a young man named Danny Rand (Finn Jones), returns to New York City to reclaim his family’s business at Rand Enterprises. While his childhood friends, Ward (Tom Pelphrey) and Joy Meachum (Jessica Stroup), aren’t too happy with this, their father and Danny’s father’s former business partner, Harold (David Wenham), sees his return as an opportunity to get rid of the Hand, who have secretly infiltrated New York, in preparation for their ultimate plan. The reason for this, is because Danny spent those last fifteen years training in K’un-Lun, a secret dimension populated by warrior monks, to become the only being that can destroy the Hand, the Iron Fist. With the help of a martial arts instructor named Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), Danny must discover the Hand’s secrets, if Ward and Joy don’t remove him first…
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe had had some low points in its first decade, the likes of The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and even Thor: The Dark World and the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., had mixed responses at worst, and had enough good elements to avoid being considered outright failures. All that changed in March 2017, though no one ever considered that the franchise’s first failure would have come from the line of the Netflix shows, that had all been highly praised so far.Much like how Luke Cage was created by Marvel Comics in the 1970s to cash in on the popularity of Blaxploitation films, his future best friend and Heroes for Hire teammate, Iron Fist, came from Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in 1974 as a response to the love that martial arts and Bruce Lee films were getting back then.
However, while Danny Rand had seen success as a supporting character in animated shows like Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Ultimate Spider-Man, his origin story being way to similar to Batman’s, of a rich kid losing his parents and becoming a crime fighter as a result, as well as the very problematic problem of most versions of the character coming across as a “white saviour” who is the best at martial arts, showed that this was going to be a near impossible situation.
While the debate about whether Danny should have been played by an Asian-American actor is one that has no easy answers, Finn Jones (through no fault of his own, given the direction he had to work with), makes his character so annoying, stupid and impossible to sympathise with, (being a rich kid when compared to the three other Defenders), that it leads to some unintentionally hilarious moments when Danny realises something that everyone figured out episodes ago. Thank god, that he got better direction when he was working with his fellow Defenders in future shows, that he has been getting numerous new chances even today, with the upcoming Born Again season three.
Jessica Henwick is absolutely fantastic though as fan favourite, Colleen Wing,and thankfully, made it out completely unscathed, in spite of her character making some incredibly stupid choices in the second half.
While there is potential in some of the first season’s moments, such as the always reliable Rosario Dawson and Carrie-Anne Moss as beloved returning characters Claire Temple and Jeri Hogarth, as well as the Hand’s build up to them being the ultimate antagonists that would get paid off in The Defenders, Iron Fist is so boring and dull, that one could just cut out at least one Meachum, and nothing will change,even if it starts getting slightly better in the second half of episodes, when it starts focusing on the martial arts, as opposed to a boring business drama.
Overall, while not the worst thing the franchise has done, the first season of Iron Fist is a massive letdown due to the over ambition of trying to add a very fantasy based character that fights dragons, to the dark realism that the other Netflix shows tried to stick to, and the fact that half the season is so boring, that it is a major problem, when the best elements of this, comes from bringing back material from the other shows, without establishing an identity for itself. At least Shang-Chi took advantage of its material…
Rating: 2/5
36. Iron Fist: Season Two (2018)
Directed by: David Dobkin, Rachel Talalay, Toa Frasey, M.J. Bassett, Mairzee Almas, Philip John,
Stephen Surjik, Julian Holmes, Sanford Bookstaver and Jonas Bate
Written by: M. Raven Metzner, Jon Worley, Tatiana Suerez-Pico, Jenny Lynn, Declan de Barra, Matthew White, Rebecca Dameron, Melissa Glenn and Daniel Shattuck
Starring: Finn Jones, Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, Sacha Dhawen, Simone Missick and Alice Eve
Music by: Robert Lydecker
Rated: 18
A year after finally bringing an end to the Hand alongside the rest of the Defenders, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) has vowed to protect both Chinatown and Hell’s Kitchen as Iron Fist, after the disappearance of Matt Murdock. Despite having moved into a new apartment with Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), troubles with an escalating gang war between smaller criminal families, more issues with Danny’s former childhood friends, The Meachums (Tom Pelphrey and Jessica Stroup), and the reappearance of Danny’s former K’un Lun ally, Davos (Sacha Dhawen), who has found a way to permanently steal his abilities, forces the young former billionaire to reevaluate his path as the Iron Fist…
Despite the first season of his Netflix show being infamous for being the first critical failure of the MCU in 2017, long before the list would pile up in the Multiverse Saga, Finn Jones’s Danny Rand/ Iron Fist had been getting slightly better throughout both The Defenders and the second season of Luke Cage. While the second season is a massive improvement on the first season’s problems, by having better fight sequences and completely cutting out the business subplots in favour of the world-building of K’un Lun, it still lacks what made a lot of the MCU Netflix shows stand out.
While his performance has gotten better, with the amount of chances that Finn Jones has gotten for his version of Iron Fist, a lot of it is held back by not giving him much to do, and, much like how his episode in Luke Cage, was designed to be a potential pilot for a Heroes for Hire series with Luke, a lot of the episodes of this season also hint at a potential Daughters of the Dragon series, with Jessica Henwick’s Colleen and Simone Missick‘s Misty Knight. However, as both those characters are the best in this season, it comes across as a genuine shame that this premise, along with Luke and Danny’s potential team-up, never happened due to the pivot to Disney+ shows.
Overall, despite taking one of the MCU’s least popular shows in an interesting direction, and having a fantastic debut to the underrated Typhoid Mary character in the franchise (played fantastically by Alice Eve, even if it is obvious that it was originally going to be Moon Knight ), the second season of Iron Fist wasn’t enough to save this series from a one-hit knock-out, during the Great MCU Netflix Cancellation Purge.
Rating: 3/5
35. The Punisher: Season Two (2019)
Directed by: Jim O’Hanlon, Jeremy Webb, Iain B. MacDonald, Stacie Passon, Jamie M. Dagg, Jet Wilkinson, Michael Offer, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Alex
García López, Meera Menon and Stephen Kay
Written by: Steve Lightfoot, Ken Kristensen, Angela LaManna, Dario Scardapane, Christine Boylan, Felicia D. Henderson, Bruce Marshall Romans and Laura Jean Leal
Starring: Jon Bernthal, Ben Barnes, Amber Rose Revah, Josh Stewart, Giorgia Whingham, Floriana Lima, Jason R.Moore, Royce Johnson and Deborah Ann Woll
Music by: Tyler Bates
Rated: 18
Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), has finally decided to reevaluate his role as the ruthless vigilante, The Punisher, a year after he let his traitorous former friend, Billy Russo (Ben. Barnes) live. However, circumstances change after Frank befriends a teenager named Amy Bendix (Giorgia Whingham), a mysterious new villain named John Pilgrim (Josh Stewart) arrives to New York City, and a now amnesic filled Billy escapes from jail, who is hell bent on revenge…
Made as the penultimate Netflix MCU television shows as The Infinity Saga made its grand conclusion in 2019, the second solo season on Frank Castle’s war on criminals, despite not originally intending for this to be his last solo series for his character, brings his story to full circle of him officially taking the name of “The Punisher”. While a lot of this season’s subplots, especially the one with the character of John Pilgrim, could have been cut entirely, Jon Bernthal and Giorgia Whingham‘s chemistry as Frank and new character, Amy, is surprisingly quite charming at times, given how gory this particular show, is.
Even though the second season of Punisher still suffers from the 13 episode formula that has hindered loads of the previous Netflix seasons, the fight scenes are far better staged and, as expected from the ending of the previous season, Ben Barnes does a great job at fully transforming into the fan-favourite antagonist, Jigsaw. The likes of Amber Rose Revah and Jason R. Moore’s characters getting larger roles is nice, and the ending of this particular season (even if they definitely weren’t planning this for obvious reasons), perfectly sets up the alliance between Frank and some government forces for future missions, as seen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day years later.
Overall, despite the filler getting really annoying at times and some characters desperately needing to be removed to make the plot tighter, the second season of The Punisher, is another gunblazer for Gerry Conway’s edgy anti-hero, even if the extra baggage does make his aim off a bit, this time.
Rating: 3/5
34. Runaways: Season Three (2019-2020)
Directed by: Larry Teng, Philip John, Allison Liddi-Brown, Jeremy Webb, Rob Hardy, Vanessa Parise, Katie Eastridge, Jeff Woolnough, Getta V. Patel and Ramsey Nickell
Written by: Tracy McMillan, Warren Hsu Leonard, Kirk A. Moore, Russ Cochrane, Quinton Peoples, Ashley Wigfield, Kendall Rogers, Hsu Leonard and Stu Selonick
Starring: Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virgina Gardner, Ariela Barer, Gregg Sulkin, Allegra Acosta, Ryan Sands, Annie Werching, Ever Carridine, James Marsters, Brigid Branagh, Kevin Weisman, James Yaegashi, Clarissa Thibeaux, Scarlett Byrne, Olivia Holt, Aubrey Joseph and Elizabeth Hurley
Music by: Siddhartha Khosla
Rated: 15
With their arch-nemesis Jonah pulling off one final move to stop the Runaways from achieving his goals, bodyswapping into three members of Pride alongside his other alien family members, Alex (Rhenzy Feliz), Nico (Lyrica Okano), Karolina (Virginia Gardner), Gert (Ariela Barer), Chase (Gregg Sulkin) and Molly (Allegra Acosta), must reunite and band together to stop him, even with a potential traitor within their midst, a fateful meeting with fellow heroes, Cloak (Aubrey Joseph) amd Dagger (Olivia Holt), and Nico getting private mentorship from a sorceress known as Morgan le Fay (Elizabeth Hurley)…
While the decision made by Marvel Studios to fully absorb Marvel Television and completely change the approach to their television shows in the next saga, seems to have hurt the Runaways most, as it was not only cancelled despite getting lucky with three seasons, but its structure feels like three seasons spliced into one.
With the first four episodes feeling like the third act of Season Two with the climax of the Jonah and the Pride arc that had been there since the beginning, the next five episodes switching focus entirely on the Doctor Strange side of the MCU, with the Runaways (with Cloak and Dagger along for the ride) going against fan-favourite Avengers villain, Morgan le Fay, and the last episode of the series, feeling like a tease for a potential adaptation of the source material’s most infamous story arc, that never gets a satisfying pay off, calling this season overstuffed, would be an understatement.
While the actors are all fantastic as usual, including the always entertaining Elizabeth Hurley who is having so much cheesy fun with Morgan, and Lyrica Okano’s Nico getting some of the best character development so far, the final season of Runaways, feels too rushed to be fully entertaining, as well as some questionable directions for both the titular heroes and the parent characters.
Rating: 3/5
33. Runaways: Season One (2017-2018)
Directed by: Brett Morgan, Roxann Dawson, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Ramsey Nickell, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Patrick Norris, Peter Hoar, Millicent Shelton and Jeremy Webb
Written by: Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, Kalinda Vazquez, Tamara Becher-Wilkinson, Rodney Barnes, Michael Vukadinovich, Quinton Peeples, Jiehae Park and Kendall Rogers
Starring: Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, Gregg Sulkin, Allegra Acosta, Angel Parker, Ryan Sands, Annie Wersching, Kip Pardue, Ever Carradine, James Marsters, Brittany Isabashi, Kevin Weisman, Brigid Branagh, James Yaegashi and Julian McMahon
Music by: Siddhartha Khosla
Rated: 15
In the streets of Los Angeles, far away from any of the antics of the Avengers, six teenagers named Alex (Rhenzy Feliz), Nico (Lyrica Okano), Karolina (Virginia Gardner), Gert (Ariela Barer), Chase (Gregg Sulkin) and Molly (Allegra Acosta), who used to be childhood friends before being split apart by tragic circumstances, are brought back together by discovering a dark secret. While most teenagers think their parents are evil, they discover that their parents might actually be one, as they catch them in the act of human sacrifice…
Even by pre-Disney+ MCU television standards, this first example of a attempt to branch out the Marvel Cinematic Universe into another streaming service alongside both airing on ABC and on Netflix, Hulu, only lasted for two years before the franchise moved to Disney+ and closed down Marvel Television. With one of the three completed shows, 2020’s Helstrom, being completely removed from being a part of the franchise, the first of the Hulu shows, was intriguing enough to last for three seasons, even if (as of 2026), is the only MCU show that was fully made by Disney, to not be on Disney+.
Based on a cancelled film that was planned for Phase One, way back when the franchise was getting started in 2005, the first season of Runaways, based on Brian Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s 2003-2004 miniseries about a group of teenage superheroes on the run from their supervillain parents, feels like one, as absolutely not one mentions any events from the previous shows or films, even by these show’s standards.
However, Runaways does manage to be very accessible for newcomers, with great acting from all the leads and some solid drama based on the premise alone. However, this first season does feel like a very drawn out origin story at times, with the main characters not even running away until the last episode, and some of the source material’s braveness is toned down a lot, regarding how the parents are portrayed.
Overall, the first season of the MCU’s brief venture into other streaming services than Netflix, does feel a lot more fresh when compared to other MCU films and shows and the premise of Runaways does come out strong, complete with the dinosaur sidekick. However, it could have done better with that as well…
Rating: 3/5
32. Jessica Jones: Season Three (2019)
Directed by: Michael Lehmann, Krysten Ritter, Anton Cropper, Liesl Tommy, Mairzee Almas, Tim Iacofono, Larry Teng, Stephen Surjik, Jennifer Getzinger, Sanford Bookstaver, Sarah Boyd and Neasa Hardiman
Written by: Mellisa Rosenberg, Holly Hicks Jr., Lisa Randolph, Jamie King, J. Holtham, Jesse Harris, Nancy Won, Scott Reynolds and Jane Espenson
Starring: Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Eka Darville, Benjamin Walker, Sarita Choudhury, Jeremy Bobb, Tiffany Mack, Rebecca De Mornray, Aneesh Seth, Mike Colter, Carrie-Anne Moss and David Tennant
Music by: Sean Calley
Rated: 18
A year after ending her friendship with Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor) due to her actions leading to the death of her mother, Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) has resumed her work as a private eye. However, when a new serial killer named Gregory Sallinger (Jeremy Bobb) has his eyes set on taking down Jones, Jessica and Trish, having received her own super abilities from Karl’s experiments, must put aside their differences, to save the city. Unfortunately, Trish is slowly starting to lose her sanity…
While not the best ending for the MCU’s Netflix era before Marvel Studios would fully take over the television shows for the Disney+ streaming platform in the Multiverse Saga, the final season of the only non-Daredevil Defender to get a third season, Jessica Jones, does get a satisfying payoff.
Despite the new antagonist played by Jeremy Bobb, feeling like a less interesting version of the first season’s Kilgrave, the misdirection is cleverly intentional as the tragic conclusion to Jessica’s relationship with the now unhinged Trish Walker, with Krysten Ritter and Rachael Taylor, giving their best performances as these characters , even of her comic counterpart was not an antagonist. However, with the sole existence of the Punisher in this franchise, Trish’s ending feels a little too extreme, even if what happens to this universe “in-universe” a few months later, that may be for nothing.
While a lot of the new side characters, apart from Aneesh Seth‘s fabulous new assistant for Jones’s detective work, don’t really leave an impression, both Eka Darville’s Malcolm and Carrie-Anne Moss’s Hogarth, also get satisfying ending to their stories, even if the thirteen episode pacing of these shows, haven’t done much favours in pacing their subplots organically.
Overall, the final season of Jessica Jones is a fitting conclusion to the drinking detective of Hell’s Kitchen’s story of her individual relationships, in spite of the long subplots and very downbeat ending for some characters. However, Jessica, along with her Defenders teammates, would one day, return to this franchise in a different era, one that was more willing to acknowledge their existence…
Rating: 3.5/5
31. Marvel One Shots: Team Darryl (2018)
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Written by: Taika Waititi
Starring: Daley Pearson, Jeff Goldblum and Zach Campa
Music by: N/A
Rating: 12A
After Thor left Earth to save his people from Ragnarok, his former roommate, Darryl Jacobson (Daley Pearson), moves from Australia to Los Angeles for new job opportunities. However, Darryl is soon burdened with another, even more rowdy roommate, the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), seeking a new home on Earth after being thrown out of Sakaar…
While lacking the presence of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Taika Waititi’s final short in this entertaining series of shorts, as well (as of 2026), the final episode of the MCU’s One Shot Shorts, is a darkly humorous way to end this series of shorts.
Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster is as funny as ever, but Daley Peterson’s Darryl does prove to be entertaining enough, that it isn’t surprising why the MCU would make an even more hilarious epilogue short of Thor’s roommate dealing with Thanos’s actions in Infinity War, as well as making him canon to the franchise by having him move to New Asgard in Thor: Love and Thunder (in spite of the huge plotholes.)
Overall, Team Darryl is a hilarious conclusion to both this trilogy of comedy shorts and to the One Shots in general.
Rating: 3.5/5
30. Marvel One Shots: Team Thor: Part Two (2017)
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Written by: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth and Daley Pearson
Music by: N/A
Rating: 12A
Still living in Australia with his roommate, Darryl Pearson (Daley Pearson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) adapts to his more laidback lifestyle, even if he has trouble understanding how to pay rent in money that isn’t Asgardian, looking for jobs that don’t involve fighting bad guys and in teaching school children, stories that don’t have him fighting in wars..
Another sneak preview of the tonal shift that Taika Waititi was planning to bring to the Thor franchise with Ragnarok, the second part of Team Thor, is more antics of the Asgardian god’s misunderstanding of Earth culture, which people still loved from the first Thor film.
While showing more signs of the divisive approach to his character that the franchise would adopt over the next few films, Chris Hemsworth’s skills at comedic timing does make Team Thor: Part Two, another harmless short of his antics.
Rating: 3.5/5
29. Captain Marvel (2019)
Directed by: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Written by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Being, Clark Gregg and Jude Law
Music by: Pinar Toprak
Rating: 12A
Thirteen years before the events of Iron Man, a human woman named Vers (Brie Larson), has been living alongside the Imperial Kree race as a member of their Starforce unit, under the watchful eye of her superior, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). When a mission to arrest Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), the leader of a shapeshifting species of alien known as Skrulls, goes horribly wrong, Vers ends up crashing on Earth. Alongside a younger Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), she seeks find a way to get back to her base and stop the Skrulls, while also learning the truth about someone named “Carol Danvers”..
The first of two superhero films that came from both DC and Marvel in 2019, to have a hero known as Captain Marvel, what’s important to note about these two characters is that they have absolutely nothing in common with each other, despite the name. Going into the history of the Marvel version, the character of Carol Danvers held a record as the longest time for a character to take up their titled name, after their debut.
Created by artists Roy Thomas and Gene Colan in 1968’s Marvel Super-Heroes issue 13, Carol started off as a supporting character and love-interest to another character called Mar-Vell, an alien who rebelled against his own race, the Kree, to protect Earth.
Although Carol herself would finally gain powers of her own from 1977 onwards, and would fight alongside the Avengers and the X-Men for the next few decades, she was known as Ms. Marvel, Binary and Warbird in those years. It wasn’t until 2012 where writer Kelly Sue DeConnick finally had the character take up the mantle of Captain Marvel, after Mar-Vell perished and since then, she has become a lot more prominent in Marvel storylines since then.
Going back to her feature film debut, as the penultimate film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before Avengers: Endgame concluded the franchise’s Infinity saga, it’s understandable that like Ant-Man and the Wasp, putting it between Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, can feel very jarring, as it tells a story with much smaller stakes compared to those huge event films.
However, aside from a massive change from the source material that seemingly threw away any possibility of a Secret Wars adaptation under the bus (at least, until a disastrous attempt in 2023) and a retconning of how a certain returning character’s iconography came to be in the first place, Captain Marvel is still a good film that feels like part of the MCU.
The production design and the presentation of the Kree technology, coming back from the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, is still bright and colourful to look at, and although they don’t as much screen-time as the advertising suggests, the returning characters of that film’s villains, Ronan (Lee Pace) and Korath (Djimon Hounsou), and even a younger Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), returning for the first time in the MCU films since 2012’s The Avengers, after years as the main character in the SHIELD TV series, are all welcome surprises.
Speaking of younger, since this film takes place in 1995, it is amazing to see how far the de-aging technology had come after it was used to de-age the likes of Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr. and Kurt Russell in Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Now, it has been used for an entire film, and the use of it on the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg, is almost flawless in presentation.
Brie Larson may not be the most complex or relatable character when compared to the likes of Wonder Woman or even the MCU’s own Black Widow, Wanda or Jessica Jones, but she does give the character enough likability to make her interesting enough and her friendship with a younger and more optimistic Nick Fury, is a charming little subplot and give the MCU some credit for finally doing something different for Ben Mendelsohn’s typecasting.
Overall, Captain Marvel does not live up to the heights of Black Panther, and some of the plot holes do have legitimate problems with the rest of the films, but it is not worth boycotting over, as it is still a highly enjoyable film, that like Wonder Woman before it, Captain Marvel should hopefully build up a great future for female-lead superhero films, even if different circumstances sunk The Marvels a few years later.
Rating: 3.5/5
28. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot (2016)
Directed by: Joe Quesada
Written by: James C. and Sharla Oliver
Starring: Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Chloe Bennet, Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons and Jason O’Mara
Music by: Bear McCreary
Rated: 12A
Set between the events of Seasons Three and Four, the super-speedy Inhuman and former Secret Warrior, Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley), is struggling to deal with her new role as a part-time S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, especially with her being forced to sign the Sokovia Accords. When a figure from her past resurfaces, Yo-Yo sets out to avenge her murdered cousin, with the help of her disgraced fellow Inhuman and Secret Warrior leader, Agent Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet)…
Notable as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first foray into original YouTube content, Slingshot, being a one-shot spin-off miniseries about one of the most popular Inhuman characters of the MCU’s longest running television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is a fun little adventure for the titular secret warrior.
While the war that was going on between the Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment divisions would prevent any of these characters from showing up in the films, Natalia Cordova-Buckley does make a great impression as one of the first Latin American protagonists of this franchise, and the likes of the other stars of the show, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge and the always reliable Clark Gregg, all get their moments to shine in this miniseries.
Overall, while feeling like a lost episode at times, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Slingshot is an entertaining and engaging look into the background of one of the show’s most interesting supporting characters.
Rating: 3.5/5
27. Agent Carter: Season Two (2016)
Directed by: Lawrence Trilling, David Platt, Craig Zisk, Metin Hüseyin and Jennifer Getzinger
Written by: Brant Englestein, Eric Pearson, Lindsay Allen, Jose Molina, Sue Chung, Brandon Easton and Chris Dingess
Starring: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj, Bridget Regan, Wynn Everett, Reggie Austin, Currie Graham, Lotte Verbeek, Lesley Boone, Matt Braunger, Kurtwood Smith and Dominic Cooper
Music by: Christopher Lennertz
Rated: 12
A year after finally moving on from the loss of Steve Rogers, SSR Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), is reassigned to Los Angeles to work with her recently promoted workmate, Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj), who is now the Chief of the organisation’s Los Angeles base. Reuniting with Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy), who is helping Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), with his new passion for directing movies in Hollywood, Peggy soon discovers that, not only are a group of murders tied to Whitney Frost (Wynn Everett), the most popular actress in Hollywood, and that the also newly promoted chief of the SSR, Jack Thompson (Chad Michael Murray), may be hiding secrets from her, she now has to face her toughest challenge yet, finding new love…
Despite being one of the first MCU projects to go a bit overboard with its humor, and not being as tightly focused as the excellent first season was, the second season of Agent Carter did not deserve to be so poorly marketed, or being thrown in between a major war between Marvel Studio’s film and television divisions at the time, that led this to become the first cancellation of an MCU television show, and on a major cliffhanger that would never be resolved.
The directors and writers, thankfully, give this final season of Peggy Carter’s pre Multiverse adventures, a lot of personality in how it uses its 1940s Hollywood setting, with a creative musical number and the arc of new antagonist, Whitney Frost, getting the best moments here. Hayley Atwell’s arc of her finding new love, even if Avengers: Endgame would kick out that idea, does lead to a nice culmination of her arc so far, and James D’Arcy’s Edwin Jarvis is still as lovable as ever, while also getting an extremely emotional arc, which adds new dimensions as to why Tony Stark would name his AI Assistant after him in the films.
Overall, while some of the new characters are a bit forgettable, the second season of the prematurely cancelled Agent Carter, is a fun 1940s Hollywood adventure and shows off more of Hayley Atwell’s work as this fantastic character, before she would get a seemingly final sendoff in that year’s Captain America film, at least before Endgame and the Multiverse Saga.
Rating: 3.5/5
26. Jessica Jones: Season Two (2018)
Directed by: Anna Foerster, Minkie Spiro, Mairzee Almas, Deborah Chow, Millicent Shelton, Jet Wilkinson, Jennifer Getzinger, Zetna Fuentes, Rosemary Rodriguez, Neasa Hardiman, Jennifer Lynch, Liz Friedlander and Uta Briesewitz
Written by: Melissa Rosenberg, Aida Mashaka Croal, Lisa Randolph, Jack Kenny, Jamie King, Raelle Tucker, Hilly Hicks Jr., Gabe Fonseca and Jenny Klein
Starring: Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Eka Darville, J.R. Ramirez, Terry Chan, Leah Gibson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hal Ozsan, Callum Keith Rennie, Janet McTeer and David Tennant
Music by: Sean Callery
Rated: 18
After defeating both Kilgrave (David Tennant) by herself, and The Hand with the Defenders, Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) has returned to her private eye lifestyle of spying, sex and sipping on booze. However, when she discovers shocking truths about the IGH organisation that gave her abilities, as well as about her late family, Jessica is forced to overcome potential new traumas with both new enemies, and with her friendships falling apart…
While lacking the sheer presence of David Tennant’s Kilgrave apart from one episode in this second season of The MCU’s closest thing to a Neo-noir franchise, Jessica Jones, does give the titular cynical detective, a lot more interesting depth, even if a lot of it is lifted from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, of all things. Even though a lot of people had stopped watching the MCU Netflix shows after The Defenders seemed to wrap everything up (with one exception later on), one has to admire how unforgiving the bleakness can be in some of them, especially with this show.
Krysten Ritter, Eka Darville and especially Carrie-Anne Moss’s Jeri Hogarth, are given fantastic character development and performances, with the latter getting a very emotional story about dealing with terminal illness, but not letting it define her. Janet McTeer, while obviously not living up to the massive shadow of Kilgrave, does do well as the new antagonist, with possibly the best use of recasting that the franchise has ever done. However, the large amount of subplots could have been trimmed down, with the thirteen episode requirement for these shows, being a drag on the pacing, and not everyone will like the very controversial direction that other supporting character goes down, which would get worse in the final season.
Overall, while still having pacing issues and a bit too many events going on, the second season of Jessica Jones, is a smartly written and entertaining (in the noir sense) continuation of the MCU’s darkest show.
Rating: 3.5/5
25. Cloak and Dagger: Season Two (2019)
Directed by: Jennifer Phang, Jeff Woolnough, Matt Hastings, Amanda Row, Rachel Goldberg, Lauren Wolkstein, Joe Pokaski, Jessika Borsiczky, Ami Canaan Mann and Philip John
Written by: Joe Pokaski, Peter Calloway, Niceole R. Levy, Kate Rorick, Marcus J. Guillory, Joy Kecken, J. Holtham, Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandra Kenyon
Starring: Olivia Holt, Aubrey Joseph, Gloria Reuben, Andrea Roth, J.D. Evermore, Miles Mussenden, Dilshad Vadsaria, Brooklyn McLinn and Emma Lahana
Music by: Mark Isham
Rated: 15
Eight months after taking down Roxxon Gulf, Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph), are trying to get their lives back together, while putting their new superhuman identities as Dagger and Cloak, to use in taking down sex traffickers and gang leaders. As Tyrone is still being hunted down by the police due to him being framed, both him and Tandy struggles to deal with her personal issues, they both now have to deal with two new threats to New Orleans, consisting of their ally, Brigid O’Reilly (Emma Lahana), who has developed a (literal) split personality with a violent side called Mayhem, and Andre Deschaine (Brooklyn McLinn), the leader of the trafficking operation, who has the power to drain everyone’s hopes away…
Despite coming at the end of the first era of the MCU’s television shows, which does lead to a lot of rushed resolutions to this show’s main plot lines and new subplots that this second season introduces, at least the final season of Cloak & Dagger was wise enough not to end on a cliffhanger that would never get resolved, even if the main characters did get one last appearance in another show.
Speaking of them, Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph’s Tandy and Tyrone, are taken to new depths as both actors give great moments in wrapping up their character arcs, with the final episode neatly bringing things full circle when they fully embrace their powers. While still limited by the television budgets of these shows, showrunner Joe Pokaski does blend both their world-building and New Orleans mythology, to the same degree of creativity that he brought to the first season.
While a lot of the supporting characters are downplayed this time, Emma Lahana does manage to add a lot of fun menace to embracing the Mayhem side of her returning O’Rielly character and Brooklyn McLinn’s Andre,does have a lot of fun moments of using jazz as a weapon, despite also being a disturbing look into how sex traffickers warp their victim’s minds.
Overall, the second and final season of Cloak & Dagger does feel overstuffed with too much subplots, but it does wrap up the story of Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan’s characters in the context of the MCU, on a high note, even if, aside from one more appearance, we are unlikely to see them again.
Rating: 3.5/5
24. The Punisher: Season One (2017)
Directed by: Tom Shankland, Andy Goddard, Kari Skogland, Dearbhla Walsh, Jeremy Webb, Antonio Campos, Marc Jobst, Jim O’ Hanlon, Kevin Hooks, Jet Wilkinson and Stephen Surjik
Written by: Steve Lightfoot, Dario Scardhapane, Michael Jones-Morales, Christine Boylan, Bruce Marshall Romans, Felicia D. Henderson, Angela LaManna and Ken Kristensen
Starring: Jon Bernthal, Ebon Moch-Bachrach, Amber Rose Revah, Daniel Webber, Jason R. Moore, Michael Nathanson, Ben Barnes, Paul Schulze, Jamie Ray Newman, Clancy Brown and Deborah Ann Woll
Music by: Tyler Bates
Rated: 18
Some time after his encounter with Daredevil, Frank Castle, the most ruthless vigilante in the world (Jon Bernthal), has finally eliminated everyone responsible for murdering his family. Struggling at finding his place in the world, with the occasional punishments every now and then, Frank is soon called back to action, when a hacker named David Lieberman (
Ebon Moch-Bachrach), informs him that several figures from Frank’s past, including his long lost family friend, Billy Russo (Ben Barnes), may have additional information regarding Frank’s family and his past as a military veteran…
After making a great first impression in the second season of Daredevil, Jon Bernthal’s take on Gerry Conway, Ross Andru and John Romita Sr.’s iconic skull-armoured vigilante, The Punisher, is finally given his own show, the last of the MCU Netflix shows to be greenlit before Marvel Television was merged with Marvel Studios in 2019. Although the character, out of all the previous characters who had had live-action appearances before their MCU depictions, had had the most appearances as Dolph Ludgren in 1989, Thomas Jane in 2004 and the late Ray Stevenson in 2008, Bernthal’s more aggressive, yet more interesting take on the merciless warrior, is taken to fascinating new depths during this mystery focused first season, even if he does lose some of his nastier traits in the process.
While future MCU Thing, Ebon Moch-Bachrach’s David, is only here to give Frank someone one to talk to and the inclusion of Daredevil character Karen Page, is only here to tie up loose ends from that show’s second season, the rest of the supporting cast do a good job at displaying the differences at how New Yorkers react to the Punisher’s actions. Ebon’s David still manages to be a good counterpart to Frank in depicting how things might have gone differently for the former, if he made different choices in his life. Ben Barnes also shines as one of the most twisted and vile villains in the MCU’s television history, with his punishment being the most brutal of all.
Overall, while lacking some potential of how Frank’s vigilance affects the whole of New York and a lot of characters whose arcs don’t get fully explored enough to make an impact, the first season of The Punisher, offers enough brutality, darkly humorous moments and interesting character development for the main ones, to make the MCU’s last Netflix season debut, hit its intended target.
Rating: 3.5/5
23. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season Five (2017-2018)
Directed by: Jesse Bochco, David Solomon, Kevin Hooks, Stan Brooks, Clark Gregg, Brad Turner, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Garry A. Brown, Eric Laneuville, Kate Woods, Kevin Tancharoen, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Jennifer Lynch, Cherie Gierhart and Jed Whedon
Written by: Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, DJ Doyle, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, Drew Z. Greenberg, Craig Titley, Brent Fletcher, James C and Sharla Oliver, George Kitson, Jeffrey Bell, Matt Owens, Iden Baghdadchi and Mark Leitner
Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward, Joel Stoffer, Dominic Rains, Eve Harlow, Florence Faivre, Catherine Dent, Dove Cameron, Brain Patrick Wade, Briana Venskus, Spencer Treat Clark, Nick Blood, J. August Richards, Zach McGowen, Reed Diamond, Lexy Kolker, Peter Mensah and Adrian Pasdar
Music by: Bear McCreary
Rated: 15
After their traumatic experience with the Framework, things get worse for former S.H.I.E.L.D director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team, when they end up as prisoners of the Kree, after being transported to the future where Earth has been destroyed by a catastrophe involving earthquakes. Even after Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), manages to help them get back home via time travel, the trauma causes Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), Mack (Henry Simmons), and Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley), to keep making rash decisions that seem to hasten the coming of the upcoming disasters, especially when a heartbreaking truth is revealed about Coulson’s deal with Ghost Rider…
It is obvious that the fifth season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s longest running show was supposed to be the last one, given how much loose ends from the previous seasons, such as returning side villians, and the whole Season One subplot about Gravitonium, are all brought to an end here, including a very heartbreaking ending for one of the supporting characters, after loads of character development, and the fact that the crew behind the show was aware of the impact of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame on the franchise.
However, while the second half of the season can be very contrived in how it handles all the returning elements, including a case of character assassination done so badly, that they had to kill off that version of that character only when another version could still be recovered, some returns, such as a surprising amount of depth for Absorbing Man (Brian Patrick Wade) and a huge role for a very minor character from a previous seasons, are some of the best parts about this season.
While some of these elements would be undone by the unexpected greenlight of Seasons Six and Seven, Clark Gregg gives his character of Phil Coulson, a fantastic conclusion to his long character arc that started with the first Iron Man film, while Chloe Bennet, Henry Simmons and especially
Natalia Cordova-Buckley, are given some of their best performances in the entire series. However, aside from the already mentioned villain arc for that supporting character that won’t be named for spoiler reasons, a lot of the villians, feel like the show was running out of ideas, especially with how the Kree and the returning (for the last time, I swear) Hydra.
Overall, despite being a lot more flawed due to both production and writing issues, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season Five is a very entertaining, emotional and great send off for the MCU’s longest running television series,……..at least, until an unexpected renewal set to air after Endgame, would throw things off the loop.
Rating: 3.5/5
22. Runaways: Season Two (2018-2019)
Directed by: Allison Liddi-Brown, Chris Fisher, Larry Teng, Patrick Norris, Scott Peters, Ami Canaan Mann, James Madigan, Anna Mastro, Wendy Stanzler, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Stephen Surjik and Jeremy Webb
Written by: John Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, Warren Hsu Leonard, Kirk A. Moore, Tracy McMillan, Jake Fogelnest, Ashley Wigfield, Quinton Peeples and Kendall Rogers
Starring: Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, Gregg Sulkin, Allegra Acosta, Angel Parker, James Marsters, Ryan Sands, Ever Carradine, Brigid Brannagh, Kevin Weisman, Brittany Ishibashi, DeVaughn Nixon, Jan Luis Castellanos, Myles Bullock, Clarissa Thibeaux and Julian McMahon
Music by: Siddhartha Khosla
Rated: 15
Now on the run from their evil parents known as The Pride, the newly formed Runaways, have fled to an abandoned mansion as their new home and base for their plans to stop their parents. With Alex Wilder (Rhenzy Feliz) growing closer tomorrow Darius (DeVaughn Nixon) and his family, Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardner) dealing with her alien heritage, Gert (Ariela Barer) and Chase (Gregg Sulkin) dealing with their feelings, Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano) learning how to control her magic, and Molly Hernandez (Allegra Acosta) being forced to grow up too quickly, as well as Pride themselves, plotting against their master, Jonah (Julian McMahon), nothing will be the same ever again for them…
While not being as standalone as the first season was, the second season of Runaways, one of the MCU’s most forgotten television shows due to it being the only one that was permanently removed from Disney+ due to tax write-offs, does up the stakes for the titular teenage protagonists, even if it often feels like two stories at once.
Even though the show’s handling of the antagonists gets more divisive as it goes on, due to the writers having no idea of what to do with the Pride after season one, the late Julian McMahon still gets fantastic moments to shine as the villainous Jonah, and despite having younger protagonists, the body count is nearly as high as some of the Netflix shows, with the theme of consequences, being the most prominent in the entire MCU television shows so far.
Overall, despite being yet another case of being too long for its own good, Runaways: Season Two is great at taking the titular characters into the darkest directions possible, while also being highly enjoyable in how each character’s coming of age arcs, go.
Rating: 3.5/5
21: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season Three (2015-2016)
Directed by: Vincent Misiano, Kevin Tancharoen, Garry A. Brown, Ron Underwood, Jesse Bochco, Dwight Little, David Solomon, Kate Woods, John Terlesky, Michael Zinberg, Wendey Stanzler, Elodie Keene and Billy Gierhart
Written by: Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, DJ Doyle, Monica Owusu-Breen, Paul Zbyszewski, Craig Titley, Drew Z. Greenberg, Lauren LeFranc, Brent Fletcher, Jeffrey Bell, George Kitson, Sharla Oliver and Chris Dinguss
Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Luke Mitchell, Constance Zimmer, Blair Underwood, Matthew Willig, Powers Boothe, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Adrian Pasdar, John Hannah and William Sadler
Music by: Bear McCreary
Rated: 15
In spite of the organisation helping out the Avengers during the Battle of Sokovia, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Organisation is still operating as small groups, under the watchful eye of Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). As the agent formerly known as Skye, Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennett), seeks to recruit a team of Inhumans, to help out in the final stages of the War on Hydra, a successful rescue operation to save Agent Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), leads to the discovery of a new planet. As Daisy must convince her new team to help out, a despicable act by the now fully evil Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), causes Coulson to finally take his revenge on his traitorous former friend. Unfortunately this action leads to horrific consequences, when an ominous secret is revealed about Hydra’s true creator…
While this would be the last season of the MCU’s first television series to actually acknowledge the events of the films, with the next four seasons either not acknowledging the events, or have the characters go to space or alternate dimensions, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’s third season, is a mostly satisfying conclusion to the Hydra Wars story arc.
Some of the shocking retcons, including the truth about the origins of Hydra and the ultimate fate of the Inhumans, would not be addressed after this season , due to the real life Civil War between Marvel Studios and Marvel Entertainment resulting in the film and television divisions splitting up, and the cancellation of the Inhumans film certainly didn’t help. (Don’t get me started on the writing off of the planned additional spin-off show, Marvel’s Most Wanted, despite one of the episodes leading up to the never-aired pilot).
However, the emotional journeys of the characters do manage to be taken in new directions, including having some of Chloe Bennet and Brett Dalton’s best moments, as Daisy becoming Quake and the latter, taking both Grant Ward and another character, into the role of the built up main villain of this season, in his final appearance as main character in this show.
Overall, having great moments for some characters, questionable ones for others and having payoffs of the same quality as these, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season Three is a great conclusion for both Hydra in the MCU (At least, the main version of it that features in the films) and for the Inhumans storyline, even if the Secret Warriors aspect is very misleading.
Rating: 3.5/5
20. Luke Cage: Season Two (2018)
Directed by: Lucy Liu, Steph Green, Marc Jobst, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Kasi Lemmons, Millicent Shelton, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Neema Barnette, Clark Johnson, Andy Goddard, Stephen Surjik, Everardo Gout and Alex García López
Written by: Cheo Hodari Coker, Akela Cooper, Matt Owens, Matthew Lopes, Ian Stokes, Aida Mashaka Croal, Nicole Mirante Matthews and Nathan Louis Jackson
Starring: Mike Colter, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Gabrielle Dennis, Mustafa Shakir, Jessica Henwick, Finn Jones, Stephen Rider, Reg. E Cathey, Ron Cephas Jones, Rosario Dawson and Alfre Woodard
Music by: Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad
Rated: 15
Some time after defeating the Hand alongside his fellow Defenders, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) has resumed his solo career as the protector of Harlem against the wrath of Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) and Shades (Theo Rossi). However, things soon get worse for both Cage and Harlem, when Bushmaster (Mustafa Shakir), a member of the Jamaican cartels, with the same abilities as Luke, arrives in Harlem to seek revenge on Mariah, for the sins of her family. Luke, along with the still-recovering Misty Knight (Simone Missick), must find a way to permanently stop the gang violence, while Luke struggles with his past and present relationships.
While it is disappointing that this second and last season of Luke Cage, ended up being the first of what many refer to as “The Great MCU Netflix Cancellation Purge” that started a few months later when this was unexpectedly cancelled, the last solo adventure for everyone’s favourite Harlem hero, does keep a lot of what made the first season great.
By using the hiphop soundtracks that defined the first season and by further embracing the culture of Harlem, while also throwing in some exploration of Jamaican culture, the second season of Luke Cage gives Mike Colter, alongside the returning Misty Knight, with her getting her iconic robotic arm, a lot of new material to work with regarding the true costs of ending gang warfare.
While the guest appearance from Luke’s fellow Defender teammate, Iron Fist (Finn Jones), ultimately didn’t lead to a potential Heroes for Hire series, his presence is possibly his best performance so far.
Even though the new antagonist, Bushmaster and the rest of his crew, do manage to be interesting in exploring how the Stoke’s criminal empire affected people far beyond Harlem and for being one of the rare MCU Netflix villains that stays consistent throughout the season, this season is Alfre Woodard’s show. Fulling showing Mariah’s full descent into being the most evil MCU villains out there, is done superbly by her fantastic performance, especially at the end of the tenth episode, where her actions are so f..ked up, that nearly every other antagonist turns on her.
Overall, while the large amount of subplots may have overcrowded Harlem this time, the second season of Luke Cage is another entertaining adventure for the bulletproof man, with all the culture love that people loved about the first season, still present here, even if Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple deserved a better ending.
Rating: 3.5/5
19. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season Four (2016-2017)
Directed by: Billy Gierhart, Vincent Miasano, Magnus Martens, Brad Turner, Kate Woods, Jesse Bochco, Kevin Tancharoen, Garry A. Brown, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Wendy Stantzler, Jed Whedon, Oz Scott and Eric Launeuville
Written by: Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Drew E. Greenberg, Craig Titley, Matt Owens, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, Jeffrey Bell, DJ Doyle, Paul Zbyszewski, Brent Fletcher, James C. and Sharla Oliver and George Kitson
Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, John Hannah, Gabriel Luna, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Mallory Jansen, Jason O’Mara, Parminder Nagra, Patton Oswalt, Adrian Pasdar, B.J. Britt, Zach McGowen and Brett Dalton
Music by Bear McCreary
Rated: 15
Six months after the final defeat of both Hive and Hydra, three events take place that will forever change the lives of former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team. In Ghost Rider, Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet) finds herself on the run from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and an anti-Inhuman group named the Watchdogs after her actions from the influence of Hive, but with the help of another mysterious vigilante named Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna), better known as the mystical Ghost Rider, she might have a path back to her friends. Then, in LMD, Coulson and his team are secretly being watched by a Life Model Decoy android clone of Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), after being replaced by Dr. Radcliffe (John Hannah), a former slave of Hive and his new AI companion, Aida (Mallory Jansen). Finally, in Agents of Hydra, both Daisy and Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), set out to save their friends from the Framework, a virtual simulation of an alternate universe where Hydra successfully took over, where they believe that this is their reality. However, both Daisy and Jemma have to rely on the help of the last person they ever expected to be a hero in this world…
After two and a quarter seasons that covered the timeline of the War with Hydra in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sets out towards a new direction that sometimes works really well, and at other times, due to forseen consequences of the result of the 2016 split between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television, misses a lot of potential.
Due to getting the rights of the character back in 2013 (along with Daredevil and Blade), the Ghost Rider, even if he is not the Johnny Blaze version of the character due to confusing copyright issues, is well-used in Daisy’s character development and Gabriel Luna does a good job as the Robbie Reyes version of the fiery skeleton vigilante.
The LMD and Agents of Hydra arcs are strongest whenever focused on the new Ultron-like antagonist, Aida, who stands out enough from James Spader’s reflection of Tony Stark’s dark side, to show a more human take on how an artificial intelligence can become slowly evil, especially how the Madame Hydra concept is used in the final arc. However, both the returning Brett Dalton and especially Iain De Caestecker, are used best in Agents of Hydra, showing completely different sides to Ward and Fitz, that completely shows that all of the original team was capable of becoming like the former, and the former could have been as heroic as the rest of them, if he made the right decisions. Plus, it helps that both arcs are better versions of both the Secret Invasion and What If concepts that would be infamous in the Multiverse Saga.
However, the fact that the television shows started to largely split from the films is what ultimately holds the limitless potential of those last two arcs, as both the Life Model Decoy invasion and the alternate Framework virtual universe, raise so many questions about the likes of Iron Man, War Machine and Vision (the active Avengers at this point in the timeline) would react to S.H.I.E.L.D. coming back, and what the evil versions of the Avengers would look like in the Hydra ruled world and why the villains in that arc never thought of getting them, or even the Winter Soldier to take out Daisy’s group.
Overall, while having a lot of problems of missed opportunity, the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D does have a lot of fun new characters and enough excitement in all three arcs, to make this attempt to break the show’s previous format, a very successful one. Dammit Ghost Rider, you had one job with that Darkhold, though (yes, this is where that demonic book that would result in Phase Four’s darkest events, would first appear in the franchise).
Rating: 3.5/5
18. Cloak and Dagger: Season One (2018)
Directed by: Gina Prince-Bythewood, Alex García López, Peter Hoar, Ami Canaan Mann, Ry Russo-Young, Jennifer Phang, Paul Edwards, Jeff Woolnough and Wayne Yip
Written by: Joe Pokaski, Peter Calloway, Christine Boylan, Marcus J. Guillory, Niceole R. Levy, J. Holtham, and Jenny Klein
Starring: Olivia Holt, Aubrey Joseph, Gloria Reuben, Andrea Roth, J.D. Evermore, Miles Mussenden, Carl Lundstedt, Emma Lahana and Jaime Zevallos
Music by: Mark Isham
Rated: 15
Although they barely remember it, two troubled teenagers named Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph), have share a special bond, set off during an event in their childhoods where they lost a family member, but gained superhuman abilities after falling into seawater powered by an energy source coming from an explosion at an oil rig belonging to the Roxxon corporation. Despite only meeting during that event, both Tandy and Tyrone reunite in unexpected circumstances, and must learn to combine their powers of hope and nightmares, if they ever hope to bring Roxxon to justice, and gain much needed closure for their traumas…
The final new show to have been green-lit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga era, before Disney decided to absorb Marvel Television into Marvel Studios and completely change the way the MCU films and tv shows were connected, the first season of Cloak & Dagger, a superhero couple who controlled powers of light and shadow and debuted in Spider-Man comics in 1982 from Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan, does make some smart decisions to set it apart from the rest of the shows.
By ditching the New York setting from the comics for New Orleans, the first season uses the culture and legends of this state, to further strengthen the world-building of how Cloak and Dagger fit into the wider MCU. Speaking of connections, it is nice to finally give the Roxxon corporation, who had appeared in the background of the Iron Man films and the MCU Netflix shows, a major antagonistic role in this, giving off strong Deepwater Horizon subtext in what their crimes are.
Even if the romantic aspect of their relationship is toned down, both Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph are fantastic in the titular roles, with the theme of overcoming trauma and predestined fate, being one of the best character arcs seen in the MCU’s television shows up to that point. While a lot of supporting characters played by Emma Lahana, Gloria Reuben, J.D. Evermore and Jaime Zevallos do offer a lot of subplots, they thankfully don’t get in the way of the origin story and the conspiracy themes.
Overall, the first season of Cloak & Dagger is a highly underrated coming of age show and one of the major highlights of the franchise’s short-lived Hulu era, before the next MCU show to get another season would be hit by a major change in the franchise’s future.
Rating: 4/5
17. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Written by: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, David Dastmalchian, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale, Randall Park, Abby Ryder Fortson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne and Michael Douglas
Music by: Christophe Beck
Rated: 12A
As punishment for violating the Sokovia Accords by assisting Captain America’s team in the Avengers Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has been forbidden from wearing the Ant-Man suit again, and has been forced to undergo two years of house arrest. A few days before his house arrest end, after having a strange dream involving his mentor Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) long-lost wife, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Scott reunites with Hank and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who have a plan to get her back, only this time, Hope will join Scott as the powerful Wasp. But the greedy arms dealer, Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins), and a mysterious being known as “The Ghost” (Hannah John-Kamen), have their own plans for Hope’s mother….
After witnessing an technologically advanced African nation take on the world in Black Panther, and the tragic tale of how the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy made an attempt to prevent a powerful alien warlord from conquering reality in Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third and final film of 2018, is a sequel to the film that had originally started under the direction of Baby Driver director Edgar Wright, before creative differences, led to Peyton Reed taking the reins. A sequel to Ant-Man may not have been seemed that exciting, when compared to those film’s massive critical and financial performances. However, much like it’s two pint-size heroes, Ant-Man and the Wasp proves that being smaller isn’t really a bad thing.
The plot itself of Scott, Hank and Hope trying to get essential items to rescue Janet, is admittedly one of the weaker plots that the MCU has offered, when compared to the massive world-building and emotional stakes of the last two films, and the character of Sonny Burch is mostly pointless filler. However, as mentioned before, what this film lacks in those areas, it makes up for in it’s humour and characters.
Paul Rudd once again brings his cheeky likability to Scott Lang and his relationship with his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) is still the cutest thing the MCU has ever done, Michael Peña is still laugh-out-loud funny as Luis, and both Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly get to explore new sides of their characters, with the former being a bit more hopeful with the knowledge that his wife is alive, and the latter, finally being allowed to fight alongside Scott as a super heroine of her own.
Speaking of the Wasp, she and Ant-Man’s fight sequences once again, showed how far depicting shrinking and growing visual effects had evolved since the Honey, I Shrunk the Kid films, with the latter’s growing powers first seen in Civil War, and an outrageous, yet amusing scene in a school, taking centre stage as the main highlights.
Although the likes of Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger and Josh Brolin’s Thanos may have been extremely hard to live up to, Hannah John-Kamen’s performance as a gender-swapped Ghost from the comics, is good enough as its own thing and her arc does manage to subvert the arcs that numerous villains in the MCU have suffered from over the years, eventually leading to her playing a much larger role in the next saga.
Overall, if you need cheering up after the devastation of Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp is an entertaining epic of miniature proportions that most will enjoy, though young kids may want to leave before the post-credits scene, if you want to keep them cheered up.
Rating: 4/5
16. The Defenders (2017)
Directed by: S.J. Clarkson, Peter Hoar, Phil Abraham, Uta Briesewitz, Stephen Surjik, Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Farren Blackburn
Written by: Douglas Petrie, Marco Ramirez, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and Drew Goddard
Starring: Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, Eka Darville, Elden Henson, Jessica Henwick, Simone Missck, Rachael Taylor, Deborah Ann Woll, Élodie Yung, Rosario Dawson, RamónRodríguez, Scott Glenn, Carrie-Anne Moss, Rob Morgan, Wai Ching Ho and Sigourney Weaver
Music by: Joe Paesano
Rated: 18
A month after the events of Iron Fist: Season One, Matt Murdock/ Daredevil (Charlie Cox) has retired from being the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, to focus on his now-solo lawyer career after the tragic death of Elektra (Élodie Yung), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), is still struggling to deal with her newfound freedom from Kilgrave and Luke Cage (Mike Colter) has returned to Harlem to enjoy his own freedom from Seagate. However, when Danny Rand/ Iron Fist (Finn Jones) returns to New York City along with Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), to continue their pursuit of the Hand, his conflict against the evil clan, drags Matt, Jessica and Luke into the conflict themselves. As all four New York vigilantes, along with Colleen and their allies, Stick (Scott Glenn) and Misty Knight (Simone Missick), prepare to face the Hand, along with their leader, Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver), Matt is suddenly caught off guard, when the organisation’s ultimate weapon, The Black Sky, is revealed to be a resurrected Elektra…
After five seasons of MCU Netflix shows featuring Daredevil (who got two seasons), Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, the television equivalent of how The Avengers closed off Phase One of the MCU’s films, The Defenders, concludes numerous story arcs revolving around the Hand, in a mostly satisfying way.
Building off the fan favourite arc from both the second Daredevil season and the Frank Miller comics in which Elektra and the Hand get their most iconic moments from the source material, that season’s show runners, Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez, manage to create fantastic moments between Charlie Cox’s Matt and
Élodie Yung‘s far more dangerous Elektra. Both Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter, despite being in a completely different environment from their psychological and Harlem based adventures, have fantastic chemistry as Jessica and Luke, while the former’s rivalry with Daredevil as Hell’s Kitchen heroes and the latter’s mentorship of Danny potentially leading to Heroes for Hire, kicks off some truly fantastic moments in later seasons of future shows.
Speaking of Danny, Despite the miniseries having a massive Iron Fist chain on its story, being that regardless the first season of that show’s terrible reception, the character is way too important to the story to get rid off for plot reasons and Finn Jones’s performance is a lot tolerable here. While more could have also been done with other returning characters such as the supporting cast of the other shows and surprisingly, even Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), Stick, Colleen Wing and Misty Knight all get their best moments here, with the ending setting up the iconic pairing between the latter two, Daughters of the Dragon, with flying colours.
Overall, despite some disappointing payoffs and Sigourney Weaver’s role in the MCU being slightly underwhelming, The Defenders is a mostly good way to conclude this era of Netflix’s MCU content, with fantastic moments and acting and a much tighter pace of eight episodes as opposed to thirteen. While more seasons of the previous shows, along with two seasons of a new one would be made after this, aside from Daredevil’s third season, not much of them are well remembered, and for good reason, as I will explain next time on Netflix.
Rating: 4/5
15. Doctor Strange (2016)
Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Written by: Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins, Mads Mikkelsen and Tilda Swinton
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
An arrogant neurosurgeon named Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), has his life and career destroyed when his hands are severely damaged in a car crash. Desperate for a cure, he journeys to the Kathmandu temple of Kamar-Taj, where, under the guidance of the Sorcerer Supreme, The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and her loyal apprentice, Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), he learns to reach out beyond his physical limits by controlling the mystic arts. This becomes essential when one of The Ancient One’s pupils, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), plots to summon an inter-dimensional being known as Dormammu (Also Benedict Cumberbatch) into the universe…
After many failed attempts at bringing artist Steve Ditko’s most iconic Marvel superhero, next to Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, to the big screen throughout the late 80s, to the 90s and to the early 2000s in which numerous names such as Bob Gale, Wes Craven and David S. Goyer were attached, it eventually ended up as one of the first properties that Marvel reacquired in 2005, when they began planning the MCU as we know it today. Although Sinister director, Scott Derrickson may not have crafted the best narrative for the Sorcerer Supreme, the fourteenth entry in one of the biggest franchises in history, provides one of the best viewing experiences of the franchise thanks to it’s ground-breaking visuals.
One aspect of the character that some people might have a problem with, is that Strange’s backstory and character development may be a bit too similar to Iron Man’s backstory, as both are billionaires which have a sly sense of humour, before suffering a life-changing injury where they both learn to be more humble men. However, as this aspect of the character was present from his first appearance back in 1963, It is reasonably forgivable, and Benedict Cumberbatch does manage to give his usual Sherlock charisma, a little more flair than usual, when he reacts to magic and the secrets of the multiverse.
As mentioned before, Industrial Light and Magic outdid themselves with the representation of the alternate universes and dimensions, with the highlights being the Ancient One’s ability of Astral Projection, involving a person’s spirit being formally removed from their bodies, and the sequences in which Strange has to travel between dimensions via Portals which have some of the best colour palette’s I’ve seen, in terms of visual effects.
Both Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor, despite being radically different from their comic counterparts, are great as both The Ancient One and Mordo, while Benedict Wong gets the funniest moments as Wong the librarian. However, as usual with most Marvel antagonists, Mads Mikkelsen’s Kaecilius is not very impressive, when compared to the likes of Loki, Ultron, Zemo and Killmonger due to his lack of screen-time, which doesn’t allow him the opportunity to be more developed as a genuine threat.
Overall, Doctor Strange is an amazing psychedelic trip into the weird side of the MCU, that may need a bit of polishing narrative-wise, but is still essential IMAX viewing for the full experience.
Rating: 4/5
14. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season Six (2019)
Directed by: Clark Gregg, Kevin Tancharoen, Jesse Bochco, Mark Kolpack, Lou Diamond Phillips, Keith Potter, Kristin Windell, Sarah Boyd, Garry A. Brown, Jennifer Phang and Nina Lopez-Corrado
Written by: Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, James C. and Sharla Oliver, Brent Fletcher, Craig Titley, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, George Kitson, DJ Doyle, Mark Leitner, Iden Baghdadchi and Drew Z. Greenberg
Starring: Chloe Bennet, Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward, Maximilian Osinski, Joel Stoffer, Briana Venskus, Karolina Wydra, Brooke Williams, Winston James Fr.ancis and Barry Shabaka Henley
Music by: Bear McCreary
Rated: 15
A year after the events of both Season Five and Thanos’s snap, although all of S.H.I.E.L.D., now under the command of Mack (Henry Simmons), has come out completely unscathed, is still in small numbers as Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet) and Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) have gone into space to find Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), has passed away from his Ghost Rider illness. However, everything changes when a stranger with the face and voice of Coulson named Sarge (also Clark Gregg), launches several terror raids, in preparation for an upcoming disaster…
Although most of the pre-Disney+ MCU television shows often get a bad reputation for not connecting to the films very well, the likes of Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and the first five seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, still managed to work around these limitations caused by the war between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television at the time, by setting their events in different times and locations (or other areas of New York in the case of the Netflix shows)than the films. Season Six of the latter show though, is the first one to completely break the timeline.
Due to not being informed of the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the writers made the controversial decision to ignore those film’s events, by having every character survive the Thanos snap and having absolutely no one affected by that “little incident”. While I do feel incredibly bad for the future showrunner of a future show that brings these characters back for having to explain this, this season, aside from those problems, is a lot more entertaining than expected.
With a much shorter season and clear focus on one story arc instead of the usual two for the last few seasons, Season Six finally gives Clark Gregg his own villain arc to catch with the rest of his costars , with his new character, Sarge, being one of the most interesting antagonists so far. The episodes, especially the ones set in space, are a lot more enjoyable than expected, especially the ones that pair up Fitz with Enoch the Chromicon (Joel Stoffer), who desperately needs his own spin-off with Edwin Jarvis ASAP.
Overall, in spite of the narrative breaking premise, the penultimate season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has some of the most pleasant surprises of the show so far and is much easier to get through with it’s shorter number of episodes and more interesting moments for these lovable agents.
Rating: 4/5
13. Daredevil: Season Two (2016)
Directed by: Phil Abraham, Marc Jobst, Peter Hoar, Floria Sigismondi, Andy Goddard, Ken Girotti, Michael Uppendahl, Stephen Surjik and Euros Lyn
Written by: Douglas Petrie, Marco Ramirez, Mark Verheiden, John C. Kelley, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Sneha Koorse, Luke Kalteux and Whit Anderson
Starring: Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Jon Bernthal,Élodie Yung, Stephen Rider, Scott Glenn, Rosario Dawson and Vincent D’Onofrio
Music by: John Paesano
Rated: 18
A year after defeating Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), things start looking better for Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), as he tries to balance his life as lawyer with Foggy (Elden Hanson) and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll), and his work as Hell’s Kitchen’s vigilante protector, Daredevil, as numerous crime syndicates battle for control of New York’s underworld in the absence of Fisk. Everything changes when two new vigilantes arrive in the city, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), a former military veteran who seeks to put down criminals for good as The Punisher, and Elektra Natchios (Élodie Yung), a warrior from Matt’s past, who warns him of the coming of a mysterious ninja organisation known as “The Hand”…
Much like how Iron Man 2 is often criticised for being more of a set-up for The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D rather than a straightforward forward sequel to Iron Man, the second season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Netflix series, Daredevil, is slightly weaker than the other two excellent seasons, due to most of the episodes being dedicated to set up both the Punisher and the main antagonists for The Defenders, The Hand.
However, as both the Hand and the character of Elektra both originated in the Daredevil comics, this aspect is well told as Matt’s emotional story for his second solo outing, adapting the beloved story arcs about how these characters tie into Daredevil, with as much of the grit and emotion that this story requires.
Although Charlie Cox’s Daredevil does get extremely stubborn to an annoying point, the actor gives a fantastic performance as a much more flawed character, and Elden Hanson and Deborah Ann Woll finally get to stand out, as both their characters find life outside of Matt’s shadow in their arcs. However, both Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and Élodie Yung’s Elektra, are the scene stealers, with the former being one of the most brutal versions of the character than seen in previous adaptations and the latter, adding in a lot of the deadly charm that Jennifer Garner lacked in her first appearances as the character in the Fox Marvel films.
Overall, despite being a bit overstuffed and not giving much for Wilson Fisk to do, the second season of Daredevil, does manage to take its characters, fight sequences and worldbuilding into exciting new directions.
Rating: 4/5
12. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Directed by: Jon Watts
Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Zendaya, Laura Harrier, Donald Glover, Bokeem Woodbine, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyne Daly, Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr.
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
A few months after being recruited by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) to fight in the Avengers Civil War, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), returning to school life in Queens, can’t wait to become a full-time Avenger as his alter ego, the web-slinging Spider-Man. But when a group of disgruntled thugs led by a former construction worker named Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), are found to be selling left over technology and weapons from the Avengers’ past battles on the black market, to become super powered themselves, with the latter becoming the deadly Vulture, Peter must swing into action, while also having to deal with his best friend, Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), knowing his Spidey secret.
Throughout the last decade, it had been a really rough ride for your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee’s most famous creation, in terms of his film career. Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 all suffered from Sony’s ruthless executive meddling, and poor attempts at trying to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe, solely to keep Spidey in their hands, regardless of how the films were received. However. after Amazing Spider-Man 2 underperformed at the box office and Sony got hacked thanks to a Seth Rogen comedy (The Interview), upsetting certain nations, in early 2015, Sony finally agreed to a deal with Marvel Studios, to allow Spidey to appear alongside the likes of Captain America, Thor and the Hulk in future films, in which the first example of this was seen in Tom Holland’s more youthful portrayal of the character in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. In this much younger Spidey’s first solo film, it thankfully does manage to keep audiences interested in a smaller scale narrative than usual.
Due to the existence of the Sam Raimi trilogy and the Marc Webb films, Homecoming establishes it’s own identity from the other films, by having much smaller stakes for the WebCrawler, as Peter Parker is shown trying to balance school life with underground super-heroics, while having to deal with his best friend knowing about his double life. This John Hughes inspired adventure may lack the thrills and life or death stakes of both Raimi and Webb, but its light-hearted approach to Spidey’s world does give its own charm while also subverting a lot of the clichés present in those films, such as showing Uncle Ben’s death and not focusing on romance entirely.
Tom Holland once again proves that his Peter Parker is fantastic, by staying true to his sense of responsibility, while also adding in quirks related to his age, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon do great as Peter’s friends Michelle and Ned, although a twist regarding the former did raise a lot of questions with the MCU’s take on Spidey’s mythos, and despite not having as much screen-time as the infamous advertising suggested, Tony Stark’s inclusion in the film does lead to a nice subplot with his father-son-like relationship with Peter coming full circle. Michael Keaton does an impressive job as Vulture, and the interesting twist to his relationship with Peter compared to the other Spidey villains, makes him another massive improvement of how the MCU wrote their villains at this point.
Overall, it may not be as exciting as the first two Raimi films, but Spider-Man: Homecoming, has a much clearer identity when compared with Sony’s last three films, thanks to Marvel Studios’s understanding about why the character works in the first place and it’s willingness to move the character away from plots motivated entirely by romance and family tragedy for a change, opened up many new possibilities for Peter, in his future career as a new Avenger.
Rating: 4/5
11. Marvel One-Shot: Team Thor: Part One (2016)
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Written by: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daley Pearson and Mark Ruffalo
Music by: N/A
Rated: 12A
Set during the events of Captain America: Civil War, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), has moved to Australia during his search for the Infinity Stones, where he has become more laid back with his new roommate, Darryl Jacobson (Daley Pearson)…
To get audiences prepared for the massive tonal shift that Thor: Ragnarok would bring to the Thor films of the MCU, director Taika Waititi would film the first in a series of mockumentary shorts about Thor’s friendship with a regular guy in Australia.
Despite the massive continuity errors that were caused by the revelation in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder that these shorts were all canon, the first part of Team Thor, is an amusing little look into what the much more goofy take on the Norse Avenger, might have been doing during the Avengers Civil War. However, the inclusion of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), shows that retconning these three shorts into new Marvel One Shot episodes, may not have been such a good idea in the long run.
Overall, Team Thor: Part One, is a very funny set-up for a much different tone for the future of Thor, even if it would only last for seven years.
Rating: 4/5
10. Luke Cage: Season One (2016)
Directed by: Paul McGuigan, Guillermo Navarro, Vincenzo Natali, Marc Jobst, Sam Miller, Andy Goddard, Magnus Martens, Tom Shankland, Stephen Surjik, George Tillman Jr. and Phil Abraham
Written by: Cheo Hodari Coker, Matt Owens, Charles Murray, Jason Horwich, Nathan Louis Jackson, Akela Cooper, Aida Marshaka Croal and Christian Taylor
Starring: Mike Colter, Marhelshala Ali, Simone Missek, Theo Rossi, Erik LaRay Harvey, Rosario Dawson, Frank Whaley, Ron Cephas Jones, Jacob Vargas and Alfre Woodard
Music by: Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad
Rated: 18
After being rescued by Jessica Jones from the influence of Kilgrave, Luke Cage (Mike Colter), the former convict with unbreakable skin, has moved from Hell’s Kitchen to Harlem. Working as both a bartender at the Harlem Paradise nightclub and as a sweeper at a barber shop, Luke is suddenly thrust into action when his beloved boss, Henry “Pops” Hunter (Frankie Faison), is brutally murdered by thugs working for local crimelords, Cornell “Cottonmouth”Stokes (Mahershala Ali) and his cousin, Councilwoman Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard). Although Luke has the support of allies like Detective Misty Knight (Simone Missick) and Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) against these two people, they soon turn out to be the least of Harlem’s problems, as a figure from Luke’s past, Diamondback (Erik LaRay Harvey), seeks vengeance on him…
Being the first African-American Marvel Character to debut in his own series in June 1972’s Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, Luke Cage, or Power Man was created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas and John Romita Sr. to comment on the 1970s Black Power movements as well as to cash in on that decade’s Blaxploitation films. Quentin Tarantino had considered making a film about him in 1995 with Laurence Fishburne or future Blade, Wesley Snipes as Luke Cage, John Singleton being one of the writers , and another attempt by Sony in 2003 with Singleton directing and Tyrese Gibson as Luke, before being one of the first properties that Marvel Studios owned when it was founded in 2005.
After Mike Colter’s version of the character made a strong debut in Jessica Jones, Luke Cage’s first season manages to beat Black Panther by almost two years, by being the MCU’s first true celebration of black culture and with the character’s roots in black power. Harlem, after three Netflix seasons in a row set in Hell’s Kitchen, feels like a character itself, with its environment, culture and atmosphere, being huge motivators for character’s actions, in cinematography and writing alone.
While the second half of the season is taken in a completely different direction than what the first half of it build up to be, complete with one of the villains wearing the silliest costume in the history of the MCU at this point in the final episode, the jazz inspired setting and character development of Luke, Misty Knight and even a much more important role for Claire Temple, is what sets this show apart from Daredevil and Jessica Jones.
Overall, while some actors are better used than others (trying to explain it does lead to massive spoilers), and the last episode’s stupid twist does hint at how disappointing the next two Netflix shows would be, Luke Cage: Season One offers both a fresh perspective at a different side of what a Marvel show could be, while also being a fantastic tribute to both the character of Luke Cage and Harlem, in general.
Rating: 4/5
9. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Directed by: Jon Watts
Written by: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Starring: Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei and Jake Gyllenhaal
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
Thanos has finally been vanquished for good and all of the victims of the snap have been brought back to life, but at the cost of the life of Tony Stark. Heartbroken over the death of Iron Man, the revived Peter Parker (Tom Holland) decides to take a break from being Spider-Man and go on a trip to Europe with his friends Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya). However, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) puts a stop to Peter’s plans, when he hires him to work with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a superhero from another universe, to stop numerous monsters called the Elementals from destroying Europe…
Throughout the third Phase of the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most difficult character to adapt into the Infinity Saga had been the character that was once Marvel’s most iconic superhero, before the likes of Iron Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy ever came to the screens, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. Already having a successful movie trilogy from Sam Raimi, two divisive Mark Webb films and hundreds of animated appearances and videogames, it’s not surprising that despite finally getting permission to share the rights with Sony in 2015, Marvel Studios have had to make their version unique compared to all of the other versions of Stan Lee’s favorite superhero.
Introducing Peter Parker as a minor character in Captain America: Civil War, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped the elements of Uncle Ben, The Osborn Family and any villains which had already appeared on the big screen and gave audiences a much younger Spidey with a friend who knew his secret identity, a more realistic version of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and looked up to Iron Man as a father figure in a high-school setting. Now, after pitting him against Thanos alongside the Avengers, killing him off and bringing him back to life in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, returning director Jon Watts is finally allowed into full superhero mode with Spidey’s second solo MCU film.
Although some of the plot twists are a bit too obvious and Zendaya acts like a completely different character compared to her performance in Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far from Home is one of the most entertaining Spider-Man films to date, in terms of scope and action even if Sony Animation’s Into the Spider-Verse will never be topped.
Tom Holland’s acting has gotten a lot better over the last few years, and his friendship with Jacob Batalon’s Ned still gets the biggest laughs, Samuel L. Jackson is great as always as Nick Fury, but the highlight goes to Jake Gyllenhaal’s scene-stealing Mysterio, whose look and character arc proves that Marvel still has life left after saying goodbye to Robert Downey Jr.
Overall, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a mostly satisfying epilogue to the Infinity Saga era of the MCU films, even if the general public had been getting a bit tired of this Spider-Man being too similar to Iron Man in this franchise. This would all change, next time Spidey was on screen!
Rating: 4.5/5
8. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season Seven (2020)
Directed by: Kevin Tancharoen, Eric Lanuville, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Garry A. Brown, Stan Brooks, Aprill Winney, Jesse Bochco, Eli Gonda, Elizabeth Henstridge, Keith Potter and Chris Cheramie
Written by: George Kitson, Craig Titley, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, Mark Leitner, Iden Baghdadchi, DJ Doyle, Brent Fletcher, James C. and Sharla Oliver, Drew Z. Greenberg, Chris Freyer, Jeffrey Ball and Jed Whedon
Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward, Joel Stoffer, Darren Barnet, Neal Bledsoe, Enver Gjokaj, Tamara Taylor, Dianne Doan, Thomas F. Sullivan, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Warburton, Dichen Lachman, James Paxton, Fin Argus, Bill Cobbs and Iain De Caestecker
Music by: Bear McCreary and Jason Akers
Rated: 15
After being taken by surprise by the vengeful Chromicons, Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), Mack (Henry Simmons), Deke (Jeff Ward) and the heavily injured Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) and Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley), find out that Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) has equipped the Zepher One with time travel abilities, and travel deep into the past. Starting at 1931, and with the help of a LMD copy of the late Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) to help them, the team must travel across the entire history of S.H.I.E.L.D, come to terms with their final insecurities, and stop the Chromicons, with the help of all the allies they can find, for their final missions…
The last season of both the longest running MCU television show as of 2026, and the end of the entire pre-Disney+ television era of the franchise, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’s final arc, goes full out with its inventive time travel premise, to deliver the best season of the entire show, in sheer creativity alone.
Using every decade to its advantage and genre from sci-fi, to film noir, to cheesy 80s television, every episode (with far better pacing thanks to the shorter episode numbers of thirteen), feels like its own mini-movie, setting the stage for shows like WandaVision, to fully push in all directions of creativity (for better or worse).
While the last minute decision to give this show two more seasons came at the cost of Iain De Caestecker‘s Fitz to be absent for much of the season due to the actor’s other commitments, it does manage to give the heart and soul of the series, Elizabeth Henstridge’s Jemma to have her best performances, as she taken in a darker, more secretive direction as the new chess master of the team.
Although one could argue that Clark Gregg might have worn out his welcome by being brought back to life again as a LMD, he also gives a fantastic impression as good old Coulson, even if he gets the least to do in this season. However, the rest, each get an episode each to fully solve their problems, with Mack and Yo-Yo’s being especially heartwarming, and Daisy’s long running bad luck at romance, finally getting a happy conclusion with an unexpected return from a previous MCU show that ended too soon.
Overall, despite a few plotholes, the villains being a slight downgrade from past antagonists, and the obvious last-minute rewriting of the time travel rules to match up better with Avengers: Endgame in the final episodes, the seventh and last season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is a fitting and exciting conclusion to the first MCU television show and a great conclusion to the franchise’s first era of TV, before moving onto the house of Disney+…
Rating: 4.5/5
7. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Written by: Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher L. Yost
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins
Music by: Mark Mothersbaugh
Rated: 12A
Two years after leaving the Avengers and adopting a more laidback approach to life, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to Asgard to find that his adopted brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), has taken the throne again for the last four years and has banished his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), to Earth. When they find him on Earth however, the Goddess of Death, Hela (Cate Blanchett), arrives as a result of Odin’s death of natural causes, that would start the “Ragnarok”, an event destined to wipe out Asgard once and for all. She destroys Thor’s hammer and banishes him to the junkyard planet, Sakaar, where in order to win his freedom from the planet’s eccentric ruler, The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), he must win a battle against his former Avengers teammate, once thought lost forever, The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)….
Although the MCU had been growing more successful during their Phase Three peak, the films featuring everyone’s favourite God of Thunder, Thor, did not receive as much praise as the other solo films, with the last Thor film, Thor: The Dark World, being one of the least critically successful films of the entire franchise at that point in time.
However, thanks to the creative comedic wit of Hunt for the Wilderpeople director, Taika Waititi, this loose adaptation of the controversial Ragnarok event, with plot elements from Greg Pak’s 2006 graphic novel, Planet Hulk, added in for good measure, ended the Infinity Saga solo Thor films on a dramatic, yet extremely funny note.
After the poor attempts at trying to emulate not only Christopher Nolan’s filming style, but also the epic storytelling of Game of Thrones in Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok goes back to the bright and colourful world building of the first film, with the locations of the trash/gladiator planet Sakaar and even the ruined Asgard, giving audiences the most visually stunning cinematography and set design, since Doctor Strange at this point in time.
Despite being absent from screens for over two years by this time, apart from a few home media mockumentary shorts, Chris Hemsworth once again uses his skill at balancing comedic timing with serious acting, to make Thor one of the most relatable Marvel characters of all time, despite being a Norse God.
Other long- time absentees that came back , Mark Ruffalo and Tom Hiddleston, bring the characters of Hulk and Loki to new depths, with the former, in particular finally getting to speak full sentences and show other emotions than anger while in his Hulk state, and the latter having to live with the consequences of throwing out Odin, in the last film.
As for the new players, although Cate Blanchett is clearly relishing the villainous role of Hela, Tessa Thompson has some incredibly epic moments as former Asgardian protector, Valkyrie, and Jeff Goldblum gives the audience, exactly what they expected from his unique acting style, when they heard of his casting, the real scene stealers come from Karl Urban’s sympathetic Skurge and even Taika Waititi himself as the soft spoken rock-monster, Korg, who gets the biggest laughs with his soft-spoken sense of humour.
Overall despite the questionable treatment of several characters from Thor’s last two films (Ray Stevenson’s Volstagg in particular, getting a very mean-spirited conclusion that gets worse given the actor’s 2023 death), Thor: Ragnarok is without a doubt, the best solo film given to the God of Thunder and although it’s incredibly funny, it’s willingness to end the (at the time) trilogy on an slightly optimistic, yet darkly foreboding note, kept people excited enough for Avengers: Infinity War that would gave the God of Thunder a potentially powerful send-off, before going in a very “unexpected” direction in the saga’s conclusion and future films.
Rating: 4.5/5
6. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Marisa Tomei, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, Martin Freeman, William Hurt and Daniel Brühl
Music by: Henry Jackman
Rated: 12A
A year after the destruction of Sokovia, the world has started to become increasingly hostile towards super-powered beings and the constant destruction caused during the battles of the Avengers. After an attempt to arrest former Hydra soldier, Crossbones (Frank Grillo), goes horribly wrong, world governments finally come to a decision that the Avengers need forced oversight, and that they should only be called as a last resort to threats. Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) doesn’t support this choice, due to his distrust of government run organisations after Hydra’s decades long infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D, and to make matters worse, he refuses to kill his former friend, Bucky Barnes, the former Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), as he believes that he needs rehabilitation, rather than being jailed. Now he must assemble Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Sam Wilson/ The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and even Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), to find out what’s really going on, while being forced to go to war against Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Rhodey/War Machine (Don Cheadle), Vision (Paul Bettany) and two new super powered beings. These are T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the vengeful Prince of Wakanda known as Black Panther, who has his own reasons for hunting Bucky, and a young teenager named Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who operates as a web-slinging vigilante named Spider-Man…
Loosely adapted from the controversial 2005-2006 Civil War comic book arc written by the Kick-Ass scribe, Mark Miller,the launchpad film for in the MCU’s Third Phase was the most ambitious film at the time, in terms of consequences for the characters and revelations about the universe itself.
The directors of the previous Captain America film, Joe and Anthony Russo, both manage to make this narrative, one of the most brutal, heartbreaking and saddest entries in the series as each supporting character is slowly turned against one another, while not actually siding with either Tony or Steve’s points of view. However, unlike another film from that year that also revolved around conflicts between superheroes, it still keeps the franchise’s trademark humour and character interactions, which adds much needed levity to this heavy story.
All the cast ranging from Robert’s more conflicted Iron Man, Sebastian’s reluctant Winter Soldier, and Chris’s determined Cap, give it their all as usual, with the two new additions, the late Chadwick Boseman and Tom Holland being given their best material in their debuts, even before their solo films had come out, with the former being a wise, yet brutal prince whose subplot of his hatred for Winter Soldier, is one of the strongest elements in this huge film and the latter being an excellent new take from Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s iconic takes on this icon, as a much younger friendly neighbourhood web-crawler than what had been brought to the screen in Sony’s last five Spider-Man films.
However what must be praised about Captain America:Civil War is the cinematography and action scenes. The Russo’s brutal, yet impressive direction in shooting action scenes from Winter Soldier is back in full force, with the highlight being of course the full six-on-six superhero brawl in an airport, which is so well filmed, so funny and so entertaining, that it’s shocking that the set-piece wasn’t recognised at the Academy Awards for cinematography and editing alone.
Overall, despite the villain’s plan relying entirely on luck and a few consequences being a bit too easily brushed aside, Captain America: Civil War, while only slightly weaker than The Winter Soldier, is still up there as one of the best moments of the Infinity Saga, and it gave audiences full confidence in what the Russo brothers would have in store for both Infinity War and Endgame.
Rating: 4.5/5
5. Black Panther (2018)
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Written by: Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis
Music by: Ludwig Göransson
Rated: 12A
A week after witnessing his father’s (John Kani) death and participating in the Avengers Civil War as the sleek Black Panther, Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to the technologically advanced African city of Wakanda, for his long-awaited coronation. However, during an attempt to arrest the greedy black-arms dealer, Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), he discovers that his vengeful cousin, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), seeks to bring ruin to Wakanda. Now to prove himself to his new subjects, T’Challa must bring together his former lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), his loyal all-female bodyguards the Dora Milaje and the CIA Agent, Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), in order to stop Killmonger from tearing Wakanda apart…
Much like how 2017’s Wonder Woman film which managed to prove to the film industry that female-led comic book films could finally turn a profit, after years of disappointments such as Catwoman and Elektra, the Marvel Cinematic Universe aimed to the same thing for African audiences with an adaptation of the adventures of King T’Challa, the Black Panther. Starting off as a supporting character in issue 53 of the Fantastic Four comics in 1966, before moving on to gain his own graphic novel in 13 issues of the Jungle Action series throughout the 1970s, Black Panther would become notable as the first Black superhero in mainstream American comics and would inspire the creation of African-American heroes such as Luke Cage and The Falcon for Marvel Comics, and John Stewart as one of the main human Green Lantern Corps for DC Comics.
After numerous appearances in various video-games, animated shows and his much acclaimed cinematic debut in the MCU in which he fought alongside Iron Man’s side in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, Prince T’Challa’s first (and sadly, only) solo film stands out from the rest of the MCU in its impressive skill at world-building. From the opening prologue in which the history of the nation is told as a bedtime story, to cinematographer Rachel Morrison’s sweeping David Lean-esque establishing shots of the city, the world of Wakanda is given the respect it deserves, which rivals Asgard in the first Thor film and most of the planets in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, as one of the most visually striking locations of the entire MCU. That is not even mentioning the beautiful African astral plane shown in several dream sequences, that gives off a strong Lion King vibe or the equally impressive Jambari mountain tribe.
Another thing to admire about this film is its deep respect for African culture. Much like his last two films, Fruitvale Station and the Rocky spin-off Creed that dealt with similar themes, Black Panther embraces racial diversity in almost every aspect of its production, while also using the history of how Africans were treated by Western colonialism, to highlight the flaws of Wakanda’s isolation from the rest of the world, and how it motivates the actions of Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger.
Overall, whether it is the casting of some of the most respected diverse actors such as Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker, into numerous supporting roles, or the use of African instruments and singing in Ludwig Göransson’s score, Ryan Coogler does a fantastic job in bringing T’Challa’s world to life with Black Panther, along with making it feel a lot more than just another entry in the MCU, with its huge impact on popular culture, and being the first MCU franchise to have major success at awards season, including being the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Rating: 5/5
4. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Starring: Robert Downey Jr,, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Danai Gurira, Karen Gillan, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland, Zoe Saldaña, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Letitia Wright, William Hurt, Cobie Smulders, Winston Duke, Jacob Batalon, Vin Diesel, Chris Pratt, Evangeline Lilly, Samuel L. Jackson, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Hayley Atwell, Angela Bassett Robert Redford, Frank Grillo, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Natalie Portman, Hiroyuki Sanada and Josh Brolin
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Rating: 12A
Thanos (Josh Brolin) has succeeded in wiping out half of the universe with the Infinity Stones. With limited options available, the likes of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), along with surviving Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) are forced to deal with the fact that they lost, even after Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) helps them take revenge on the Mad Titan. However, the reappearance of Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), plants the seeds of a plan that could save the universe once and for all…
After 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War ended on one of the most shocking and ambitious notes for a mainstream blockbuster, directors Joe and Anthony Russo truly had a lot to prove with the second part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s conclusion of the Infinity Saga that started with the first Iron Man film in 2008. Although there would be more films when the franchise moved on to the Multiverse Saga, Avengers: Endgame ends this twenty-two film-long story arc, with this heartbreaking, funny and epic conclusion.
Although some aspects of the plot elements of the second act do get confusing and a few character arcs, particularly Thor and the Hulk get questionable resolutions (at least, for their roles in the Infinity Saga), the acting, especially from the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson, and the numerous emotional beats of this powerful story, will make anyone who has followed these films for years cheer and cry at the same time.
Overall, it’s hard to fully discuss Avengers: Endgame without giving away major spoilers, So get out there, pay your respects to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and all of the directors, writers and artists who have brought these characters to life in the media and witness the end of a story that began “with an idea, to bring together a group of remarkable people, so that they could fight the battles that we never could.” While the Marvel Cinematic Universe would make some great things after this, this is (as of 2026), where the franchise peaked for most fans.
Rating: 5/5
3. Daredevil: Season Three (2018)
Directed by: Marc Jobst, Lukas Ettlin, Jennifer Getzinger, Alex
García López, Julian Holmes, Stephen Surjik, Toa Frasey, Alex Zakrzewski, Jennifer Lynch, Jet Wilkinson, Phil Abraham and Sam Miller.
Written by: Erik Olsen, Jim Dunn, Sonay Hoffman, Lewaa Nasserdeen, Tonya Kong, Dylan Gallagher, Sarah Streicher, Dara Resnik, Sam Ernst and Tamara Becher-Wilkinson
Starring: Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Joanne Whaley, Jay Ali, Wilson Bethel, Stephen Rider, Peter McRobbie, Matt Gerald, Auret Zurer and Vincent D’Onofrio
Music by: John Paesano
Rated: 18
After being separated from his friends and fellow Defenders during the final battle against the Hand, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), has spend the last few months being nursed back to health by a convent of nuns led by Sister Margaret (Joanne Whalley). However, now back in his old homemade Daredevil suit, Matt soon learns that the FBI has formed an alliance with Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onfrio), in order to get information from him to bring down numerous crime organisations. As Matt tries to protect Hells Kitchen, Foggy (Elden Hanson) and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) from Fisk’s grasp, little does he know that Fisk, now calling himself “Kingpin”, has a new weapon, in the form of an insane FBI agent named Dex (Wilson Bethel)…
While a lot of the post Defenders seasons of the MCU’s Netflix streaming shows, were sidelined due to a lot of them falling victim to Marvel Studios’s decision to absorb Marvel Television into its own, while aslo making plans to change the franchise’s approach to television and streaming in time for Disney’s at the time, upcoming streaming service, at least the one that started it all for Netflix , Daredevil, got a satisfying conclusion.
Loosely adapting elements of one of the character’s most famous story arcs, Frank Miller’s Born Again, in which an injured Matt is nursed to health by a convent of nuns, the third season of the story of Stan Lee and Bill Everett’s Man without Fear, goes back to the standalone crime drama feel of the first season. Having far less fan-service from the other shows, this is a powerful conclusion to both Matt and Fisk’s arcs, as well as setting the latter up as the infamous Kingpin he was born to be, as well as a creepy origin story for another fan-favourite Daredevil antagonist, Bullseye, with Wilson Bethel being a perfect choice for this character.
Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson also come full circle in their roles of Karen and Foggy, making them two of the best non hero characters of the entire franchise, with their own backstories as well. While some of Matt’s angst does get a bit repetitive, and some of the fights go on for a bit too long, this is the first time the thirteen episode structure of these MCU Netflix shows, didn’t overstay its welcome.
Overall, even if, much later down the line in the history of this franchise, a lot of behind the scenes issues with other films and shows, would lead to a lot of this season’s events being undone, the third season of Daredevil, is where the MCU’s television stories, finally peaked.
Rating: 5/5
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Directed by: James Gunn
Written by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell
Music by: Tyler Bates
Rated: 12A
A few months after saving Xander and struggling with the responsibilities of looking after his new family of Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), a new baby Groot (Vin Diesel), and Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), Peter Quill/ Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), gets the surprise of his life, when Ego (Kurt Russell), a human avatar of a living planet, tells him that he is his long-lost father. While Peter starts bonding with Ego however, Gamora finds out that she needs to address issues with her demented sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan), Drax finds a kindred soul in Ego’s servant, Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Rocket, with the help of Yondu (Michael Rooker), must learn to trust his friends more, when he starts annoying them for no reason…
After bringing comic book fans one of the most unique, yet lovable superhero films in Guardians of the Galaxy, writer-director James Gunn returned to the world of his beloved a-holes, to give the third Phase of the ever expanding MCU, a nice break from interconnecting story-telling, with a powerful message on what defines a true family.
As with the last film, the production design of the new planets, such as the Sovereign’s Metropolis inspired golden world and inhabitants, Ego’s functions as a Living Planet, and so on, look amazing, showing off Gunn’s love for early sci-fi films, and the make-up effects on Yondu, Mantis, Taserface (Chris Sullivan), and numerous other alien characters, look fantastic as well.
The numerous sub-plots of Peter learning about his true father, Drax and Mantis bonding, Gamora and Nebula’s relationship as fellow Daughters of Thanos, getting more fleshed out and Rocket and Yondu bonding while getting involved in a Ravager mutiny, all flow together well, with the latter getting the most emotional moments of the film as Michael Rooker gives unexpected depth to Peter’s guardian.
While the new baby Groot could have been given his own arc as well, without giving anything away, Loki’s position as the only good MCU villain at that point, was finally overturned starting with this film, starting off a new trend of far more interesting antagonists with the likes of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Black Panther as well.
Overall, despite the character of Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) being completely pointless, and Groot not having much of a role in the plot apart from being cute, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a great sequel that kept fans ” Hooked on a Feeling” until their fateful meeting with the Avengers in Infinity War.
Rating: 5/5
1. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldaña, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, William Hurt, Peter Dinklage, Pom Klementieff, Benicio del Toro, Benedict Wong, Gwyneth Paltrow, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Batalon, Winston Duke, Josh Brolin and Chris Pratt
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Rated: 12A
Shortly after the destruction of Asgard, the “Mad Titan” Thanos (Josh Brolin)L the true mastermind behind the numerous battles that the Avengers have had so far, boards the refugee ship, kills countless Asgardians including Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Heimdell (Idris Elba) and steals the Space Stone, with the intent of claiming all six Infinity Stones to wipe out half of humanity. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) survive this, with the former meeting up with the Guardians of the Galaxy (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and Pom Klementeiff), and leaving on his own quest to gain a new weapon, while the latter crashes back to Earth as Bruce Banner to warn Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and the rest of the Avengers about Thanos’s arrival. Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Spider-Man leave Earth to find Thanos, while Bruce, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Vision (Paul Bettany), Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie), stay behind to prepare for the deadliest battle of their lives…..
In 2008, director Jon Favreau shocked the comic book community in the post-credits scene of the well-received debut to Marvel Studios’s filmography Iron Man, in which after revealing his secret identity to the world as the Invincible Iron Man, Tony Stark encountered Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the director of SHIELD who told him that other heroes existed and “the Avenger Initiative”, which told the world that for the first time ever, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s characters from Marvel Comics would finally appear in films together at the same time.
Four years later, after making films that introduced The Hulk ,Thor and Captain America to this expanding franchise, the plan finally came full circle when Joss Whedon directed The Avengers in which these four characters, along with a bunch of other characters introduced throughout the films, came together to save the Earth from an alien invasion led by Thor’s evil brother Loki.
That film broke box office records and spearheaded the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has continued to grow and grow with every film from the intense Captain America films, the light-hearted space operas of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, and even bringing in new characters such as Doctor Strange, Black Panther and the studio even negotiated with Sony to bring Spider-Man in to fight alongside his fellow heroes for the first time in the already famous web-slinger’s film career.
However, there was one recurring sub-plot throughout some of the films that hinted at something worse than all the threats combined. Ever since his small cameos in The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron, fans had wondering what sort of impact that the Mad Titan, Thanos, created by Jim Starlin (who also invented Gamora and Drax) in 1973 in the Iron Man comics, would have on the franchise, since he didn’t do much throughout those films, and the franchise had had a bad problem in how they develop their villain characters, until 2017’s films.
Although this more recent ones such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s Ego, Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Vulture, and Black Panther’s Erik Killmonger, had drastically improved these problems, the long wait for the purple madman to finally make his move was worth it, as Avengers: Infinity War, the tenth anniversary film of Marvel Studios and the first film of a two-part saga that brought aan end to the Infinity Saga arc that started back in 2008 when Tony met Nick for the first time, is an epic, funny, yet devastating and heart-breaking film that’s a worthy celebration of the Studios’s achievements at that point in time.
Right from the first minute, in which the Marvel Studios logo is accompanied by bleak music and the desperate cries of the dying Asgardians instead of the usual epic fanfare, Avengers: Infinity War does not pull its punches in displaying the cruelty of Thanos and the lengths he is willing to go to achieve his dream of a balanced universe, and the consequences of his actions on the other characters, which is shown as after he kills Loki he tells Thor “No resurrections this time.”
This moment was effective in showing the strength at creating drama coming from the directing duo of the Russo brothers, who had given us Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, two of the franchise’s darkest films at that point, which is also on display with the character arc of Thanos himself.
Josh Brolin’s delivery in his lines and his amazing job, at portraying a motion capture alien is good enough, but any jokes about how Thanos just sits in a chair and does nothing at all, finally stopped here, as this sociopathic warlord was so brutal and so scary, yet so heart-breaking and complex, especially in the subplot of his relationship with Guardian’s member Gamora, that one could argue that Andy Serkis’s portrayal of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy , had finally been overtaken as the greatest CGI character of all time, even if he doesn’t want to date Death in this version.
It’s not all doom and gloom however, as despite being the darkest entry in the series so far, Avengers: Infinity War still manages to keep it’s skill in writing comedy, intact, with the funniest moments coming from Peter Quill getting jealous of Thor, the meta-comedy of Iron Man and Doctor Strange’s interactions, as both had portrayed Sherlock Holmes and have similar origin stories, and the long-awaited interaction between the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Rocket Racoon, getting the pay-off that all the fans have wanted.
If I had to nit-pick a few problems with this film, is that the Black Order characters, aside from Tom Vaughan-Law’s charismatic Ebony Maw, don’t get much screen-time to shine, and due to the massive cast, some characters such as Shuri (Letitia Wright), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the Collector (Benicio del Toro), get shoved to the side-lines.
Overall, Avengers: Infinity War had so much shocks, so much action and one of the darkest endings seen in a mainstream film for a long time, that it needs to be seen to be believed. It was well worth the wait for Thanos before the Endgame the following year.
Rating: 5/5
