The Year of Marvel Television

The+Year+of+Marvel+Television

Brendan Winkel, Staff Writer

*Minor spoiler warning for WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and What-If*

Marvel over the past few years has gotten more and more movies, characters, villains, fans, and most recently, television series. In fact, the Canon MCU has only had one other real television show before this years’ pumping out of them. Surprisingly, this show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is not well-known. It might actually be a surprise to most to hear that there have been many different non-MCU marvel tv shows before this years’, such as Jessica Jones, Iron-Fist, and Daredevil.

Most of these aren’t considered “canon” in the official MCU though, with the first installment of a tv show in the MCU being WandaVision, which is, funnily enough, a tv show in its own right. We can all know this as when you look at the Disney+ Page for Marvel, it shows up right next to its movie counterparts. WandaVision was much more popular than, say, The Defenders, or the Punisher. 

Sure, there have been three movies in 2021, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals, but there have been about 5 shows in 2021, with Hawkeye still currently streaming. The others, in order of release, are WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki Season 1, What-If Season 1, and now Hawkeye. That makes two more tv show-related content produced from marvel than movies in the MCU this year, which is quite surprising.

It also appears that many people seem to really enjoy the tv miniseries. WandaVision has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 93% Audience approval rating, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 92% Audience approval rating, Loki has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95% Audience approval rating, and What-If has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 88% audience approval rating. Hawkeye, which is not yet currently finished (which means these numbers could be inaccurate), has a current 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89% Audience approval rating as of right now, writing this.

To put this in perspective, The Curse of the Black Pearl has a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 92% Audience approval rating, The Rise of Skywalker has a 52% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 72% Audience approval rating, and Avatar has an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes with an 86% audience approval rating. Being some intensely popular movies around today, it is surprising to see that a six to nine episode series could outweigh such a project. Not only that, but every show outweighs those ratings.

Congratulations Marvel, you’ve managed to surpass expectations yet again.

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