Superhero Live-Action TV - Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics TV Shows

Split from a combined DC/Marvel page due to length. The first half will cover all of the shows that are in continuity (ostensibly, anyway) with the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe that was started with Iron Man, while other TV shows based on other Marvel properties will be covered below. Most of the episode reviews are done back when the episodes themselves first came out, so if some of the older reviews do feel a little iffy, well, I apologize. Whoops!


Marvel Cinematic Universe Shows:

Disney Plus Shows:

Released after the success of Avengers: Endgame, these are shows based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, utilizing actors and characters from the movies that perhaps might not have gotten the screentime they deserved in the live-action movie series. 

Chronological watching guide: [Avengers Endgame], WandaVision S1, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1, Loki S1, Hawkeye S1, What If S1, Moon Knight S1, Ms. Marvel S1, She-Hulk S1, Secret Invasion S1, Loki S2, What If S2

WandaVision
The superheroes Scarlet Witch and Vision, or rather, their civilian identities, wake up in an idyllic world based on a 50's romantic sitcom after the events of Infinity War/Endgame. As they figure out what's going on and whether reality has always been like that, hijinks both funny and terrifying occur.

(For maximum enjoyment of the MCU, it is highly recommended to watch WandaVision's first season before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness).

Season One: [2021]
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Captain America's two former partners, Sam Wilson (Falcon) and Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), find themselves in a world without their partner and best friend. As they try their best to make their way in a post-Endgame world, they find themselves dealing with certain conflicts that call for Captain America. Complicating matters is that the government has given Captain America's shield to someone new, while Bucky and Sam have to wrestle with problems both present and past.

Season One: [2021]
Loki
An alternate-universe 'variant' of Loki created during the time shenanigans of Avengers: Endgame finds out that in the grand scheme of things, he is very small. The god of mischief ends up finding that extremely powerful beings are in charge of keeping the timeline 'as it should be', and Loki tries to untangle the mysteries surrounding the Time Variance Authority as they chase down... Loki?

[Season two of Loki is released after Hawkeye, What If S1, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Secret Invasion. It's recommended to watch at least Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in-between the seasons.]

Season One: [2021]

Season One: [2023]
Hawkeye
One of the founding members of the Avenges, Hawkeye, wants to enjoy a holiday with his family after all the world-saving business is over, but finds himself drawn into a huge web of conspiracies involving his biggest fan -- the young archer Kate Bishop. 

Season One: [2021]


What if?
Made and voiced by the MCU cast themselves, What If? explores Uatu the Watcher as he watches the multiverse and its alternate realities, looking at how things would go in these alternate universes where events in the MCU don't play out as they normally do. 

Season One: [2021]
  • Half-Season Review:
  • Episode 1: What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?
  • Episode 2: What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?
  • Episode 3: What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?
  • Episode 4: What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?
  • Episode 5: What If... Zombies?!
  • Episode 6: What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?
  • Episode 7: What If... Thor Were an Only Child?
  • Episode 8: What If... Ultron Won?
  • Episode 9: What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?
Season Two: [2023]

    Moon Knight
    The socially awkward Steve Grant is a mild-mannered museum gift shop employee who just wants to get through his daily life and try and live a little. However, his constant blackouts and mysterious circumstances in his life leads to a realization... that he's not alone in his mind,  and that he's embroiled in a web of intrigue involving cults, alter-egos and the mystic gods of ancient Egypt.

    Season One: [2022]

    Ms. Marvel
    Kamala Khan is just trying to find her way in life, struggling to balance her creative mind, her fangirling of superheroes (particularly Captain Marvel) and her extremely traditional family. Then during AvengerCon, turns out that her heritage grants her actual superpowers that might be more than what she bargained for. 

    (For maximum enjoyment of the MCU, it is highly recommended to watch Ms. Marvel's first season before The Marvels).

    Season One: [2022]

    She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
    Jennifer Walters, an attorney at law focusing on superhuman-related events, ends up transforming to the sensational She-Hulk after an emergency transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk. Now she has to balance her life, responsibilities, and the fact that she's now a mean, green powerhouse.

    Season One: [2022]
    Secret Invasion [2023]
    Nick Fury returns after being alerted to a Skrull rebel force invading Earth. Working with some old allies, he tries to dismantle it while grappling with the fact that the events of the Infinity Stone War has severely shaken him.
    Echo [2024]
    After the events of Hawkeye and Daredevil, Maya "Echo" Lopez deals with her adopted father, the Kingpin of Crime, and her Native American roots.

    Werewolf By Night [2022]
    A made-for-Disney+ movie released in October 2022, starring the monsters of Marvel Comics lore and a throwback to Universal Horror movies of yore. Re-released in colour in 2023. 

    Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special [2022]
    A December 2022 special, starring the Guardians of the Galaxy members Drax and Mantis as they get up to some Christmas hijinks. 
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    Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Netflix/Defenders Saga

    Originally intended to be in continuity with the media juggernaut that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these are a series of TV shows released in Netflix, featuring several "street" level superheroes, and taking a definitively darker tone compared to the live action movies. The Netflix saga ultimately culminates in the crossover team-up, Defenders.

    Chronological watching guide: Daredevil S1, Daredevil S2, Jessica Jones S1, Luke Cage S1, Iron Fist S1, The Defenders S1, Punisher S1, Jessica Jones S2, Luke Cage S2, Iron Fist S2, Daredevil S3, Punisher S2, Jessica Jones S3.

    Daredevil

    https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/domlxzexoaid3lb.jpgThe first Netflix TV show produced by Marvel, Daredevil had a far grittier and darker tone than Marvel's movies and previous TV show attempts, Daredevil is a very well-received show that stars the Man Without Fear, with very great themes and storytelling all throughout the very focused season, and features my all time live-action villains ever in the absolutely perfect portrayal of the Kingpin. It doesn't really have much surprises, but it does what it does exceedingly well, and the acting and storytelling really raised Daredevil up from being what I considered the sillier concept for a superhero ever into one of my favourite superheroes. 

    Season One: [2015]

    Season Two: [2016]

    Season Three: [2018]

    The events of this season takes place after The Defenders.

    Jessica Jones
    Unlike most superhero shows, Jessica Jones is a visceral thriller as Jessica, a retired superhero, has to face off against a literal monster of a human being from her past, the enigmatic Killgrave who has the power to make anyone obey his commands. The series has a very personal and gripping tone as Jessica has to race to uncover Killgrave's plans for her and the city.

    Season One: [2015]
    Season Two: [2018]
    The events of this season takes place after The Defenders.
    Season Three: [2019]
    The events of this season takes place after The Defenders, and acts as the chronologically final part of the Netflix Marvel TV shows. 

    Luke Cage
    Debuting in the aforementioned Jessica Jones, Luke Cage (a.k.a. Power Man), finds himself a disenchanted man returning to the streets of Harlem. However, power plays between several mobsters involves the good people living around Luke Cage, spurring the reluctant bulletproof man into action. In the way, we learn more about Luke Cage's past as he struggles to embrace the fact that, like it or not, he has became something more than just another dude in Harlem. A very much decent series that perhaps doesn't do anything super special, but is pretty decent nonetheless.

    Season One: [2016]
    Season Two: [2018]
    The events of this season takes place after The Defenders. 

    Iron Fist
    https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ironfist2018_6.jpgThe fifth installment in Netflix's Marvel series, Iron Fist follows the final, fourth member of Marvel's Defenders --  Danny Rand, sole survivor of a plane crash who ascended into the next bearer of the Iron Fist in the mystical land of K'un Lun, returning back to the mortal world for some soul-searching. While not outright terrible, a combination of poor pacing, asinine dialogue, some unspectacular fight scenes, an over-reliance of repeating tropes already followed in previous Netflix series as well as using too much of the 'Tell Don't Show' style of storytelling made Iron Fist sadly a slightly less spectacular series than its predecessors, easily the weakest Marvel entry, although thankfully Danny is redeemed by the sequel, Defenders.

    Season One: [2017]
    Season Two: [2018]
    This season takes place after The Defenders.

    The Defenders [2017]

    The culmination of the first two seasons of Daredevil, and the first seasons of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Marvel's Defenders gathers the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. The smartass detective. The righteous ex-con. The kid with a glowing fist. Four of New York City's greatest and unlikeliest heroes have to band together in the culmination to five seasons of Netflix Marvel Comics shows to combat the looming threat of the Hand, which threatens to tear apart their city. It's perhaps somewhat burdened by rather haphazard pacing, but it's still an entertaining run due to the very fun cast they have gathered. 

    The Punisher
    http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_punisher_0.jpgDespite a slow pace, Marvel/Netflix's take on perhaps one of the more polarizing superheroes of all time is an unexpectedly thoughtful storyline that puts far more emphasis in characterization and develops the man behind the skull suit that is Lieutenant Frank Castle. After appearing in the second season of Daredevil, the Punisher finally got his own show where he teams up with David "Micro" Lieberman, who informs him that the criminals that the Punisher killed to avenge his family was merely the tip of the iceberg of a far-reaching conspiracy.

    Season One: [2017]
    Season Two: [2019]
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    Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

    The MCU's very first TV show, Agents of SHIELD is created in response to massive fan outpour for more love given to Agent Phil Coulson, who had been a recurring character throughout a majority of the MCU's earliest movies, and killed off in the Avengers for drama. This expanded to bring Agent Coulson back as a high-ranking agent, as well as exploring the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. While initially more unfocused than anything, Agents of SHIELD has became a way to introduce multiple concepts like the Inhumans (seasons 2-3), an ongoing SHIELD/Hydra war, Life-Model Decoys, and even featured several prominent Marvel comic superheroes like Ghost Rider. 

    File:AOS5 Space Poster.jpgThis site began reviewing Agents of SHIELD around halfway through the second season. Currently there are no plans to review the first season of Agents of SHIELD, or the first five episodes of season 2. 

      Agents of SHIELD, Season 2: [2014-2015]

      Agents of SHIELD, Season 3: [2015-2016]

      Dealing with the result of the Inhuman civil war at the end of the second season, Coulson, Skye and the rest of SHIELD has to deal with more extradimensional threats involving a portal to a different planet containing an immensely powerful being, as well as a mysterious serial killer that goes around killing Inhumans. An extremely solid season that juggles its many characters very well, not making the same mistake of introducing too many characters like season two. 

      Agents of SHIELD, Season 4: [2016-2017]

      Following the events of the third season, SHIELD is once more in the public eye, with new members and new threats -- both human and Inhuman, and some that are neither. Unlike the previous seasons, season four followed three story arcs, which, while related to each other in an over-arching plot, splits the storyline into three... mini-seasons, if you will, marked by different opening credits. Episodes 1-8 deals with the mysterious, enigmatic supernatural hero, the Ghost Rider, and a mysterious tome of eldritch power, the Darkhold. Episodes 9-15 deal with the resurgence of the Watchdogs and the rise of the threat of the L.M.D. (life-model decoys) as a certain supporting cast member starts having designs of their own. Episodes 16-20 ('Agents of Hydra') deals with the alternate reality world, the Framework, in which what is real and what is not in the characters' mind are flipped around, as well as resolving the storylines that ran through the entire season. 

      Agents of SHIELD, Season 5: [2017-2018]

      Written as the finale for the series when its future was uncertain, season five of Agents of SHIELD stars the cast and titular agents of SHIELD blasted into a possible future in which the Earth is destroyed and what remains of humanity is living in a broken-down space station at the mercy of alien overlords. Our heroes have to navigate time itself and figure out how to stop this seeming stable time loop from occurring, while also dealing with the potential permanent demise of team leader Phil Coulson. 

      Agents of SHIELD, Season 6: [2019]

      The sixth season of Agents of SHIELD, the show has taken a relatively long sabbatical in order to make way for Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame, as well as a slew of other Marvel TV projects. Unlike previous seasons of the show, it's a much shorter one.

      Agents of SHIELD, Season 7: [2020]

      The seventh season of Agents of SHIELD, and the final one in the long-running series. This one acts as sort of a follow up to season 6, taking the Agents of SHIELD through time itself as they attempt to keep the timeline and history itself stable. 
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      Agent Carter
      Spun off Captain America: the First Avenger, Agent Carter stars the titular Agent Carter during the post-WWII era as she has to combat being unappreciated thanks to her gender, while trying to uncover a mysterious organization with sinister plans. A very... okay show, I guess? It's not bad, but it's not spectacular either. Agent Carter runs two seasons, with the first season dealing with the terrorist organization Leviathan and the second season dealing with the mysterious magical tome called the Darkforce. It's tragically cancelled after two seasons, with no plans for renewal.

      Season One: [2015] -- episodes 2-8 reviewed together
      Season Two: [2016]
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      Marvel's Inhumans [2017]

      http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inhumans.jpgThe saga that tells the story of the enigmatic royal family of the Inhuman colony living in the moon, Marvel's Inhumans is... perhaps the single biggest flop of a superhero TV show that I've ever seen. Technically a spin-off of Agents of SHIELD, although the nobody-in-the-comics Inhumans in Agents of SHIELD have a far more interesting storyline and personality compared to the actual 'main characters' featured here. If you're skipping anything in the MCU, this is the one. Originally meant to be a movie, ended up shunted over to a TV show, eventually cancelled after its first season.
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      Marvel's Runaways
      http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/runaways_4.jpgA superhero TV series that stars a group of six children, each with a differing set of superpowers, the group of teens are thrust into something far bigger than their high school life and parental problems when they discover that their parents are part of a sinister cult of evil.

      Season One: [2017]
      Season Two: [2018]
       Season Three [2019]:
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      Marvel's Cloak and Dagger
      Cloak & Dagger season 1 poster.jpgAnother superhero TV series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Cloak and Dagger explores a pair of troubled teens who gains powers and find out that fate has inexplicably tied them together -- not only in the form of a long-running conspiracy that led to fateful events that caused their respective familial tragedies, but also in their emotion-related superpowers.

      Season One: [2018]
      Season Two: [2019]
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      Other MCU-related TV shows:



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      Sony X-Men TV Shows

      http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/legion_2017.jpg

      Legion

      A TV-series based on the X-Men franchise, produced by Fox. Not set in any specific continuity (because Fox's continuity management is pretty crappy to begin with anyway) Legion starts on the specifically the enigmatic character known as Legion. As David Haller struggles with separating what is real and what is his imagination, what are products of his powerful mutant abilities and what are the products of his schizophrenia, things get... really weird. Despite its psychedelic nature, Legion is highly recommended for you to check out, an underrated standout among the large amount of superhero output on screens both small and big.

      Season 1: [2017]
      Season 2: [2018]
      Season 3: [2019]
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        The Gifted

        https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_gifted_s2.jpgThe second TV series based on the X-Men franchise, the Gifted takes place in a time where the X-Men has gone missing, leading to a government that oppresses and rounds up mutants. The Gifted follows the adventures of the Strucker family, who discovers that their two children are mutants, as well as the Mutant Underground comprised of several familiar faces (Polaris, Blink, Thunderbird and Eclipse). The first season deals mostly with the establishing of the characters, while the second season deals with the rise of the Inner Circle, the side-changing of several main characters, and a mutant uprising. With Fox's acquisition by Disney/Marvel, the show was cancelled after the second season's conclusion.

        Season 1: [2017-2018]
        Season 2: Dawn of the Mutant Age [2018-2019]
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        Other Marvel TV Shows:

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