From DAREDEVIL To IRON FIST - Every Marvel TV Show On Netflix Ranked From Worst To Best
With Iron Fist now streaming on Netflix, we're taking a closer look at the ten seasons of the Marvel shows which have aired on the platform and ranking them from worst to best. Hit the jump to take a look!
It was quite some time ago that Marvel and Netflix announced plans to bring Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist to the online streaming service before bringing them together for The Defenders and things have changed quite a bit since then. For starters, they haven't ended up being as integral to the MCU as we thought and many of them - including that team-up - have disappointed.
Despite that, many of these heroes have now received multiple seasons with additional ones already in various stages of development and it's clear that the street-level characters will remain an integral part of Netflix for the foreseeable future even if fans are seemingly beginning to sour on some of them. Regardless of what comes next, though, how do all of these TV shows stack up against each other?
That's what we're taking a look at here as we rank them from worst to best. While we're sure you have some thoughts of your own, we're also pretty confident you'll be surprised by this list so be sure to click on the "View List" button below to check them out and then head to the comments section...
10. Jessica Jones Season 2
What happened to this show? After a stellar first season pitting Jessica Jones against the Purple Man, there wasn't a big bad in sight during season two. Instead, we spent thirteen episodes following Jessica attempting to repair her relationship with her absent mother, a woman we learned was a psychopath and incredibly strong. Honestly, the entire thing was just cringe-worthy from beginning to end.
David Tenant was brought back for a forced and unsatisfying cameo, while Trish's character arc saw her become obsessed with gaining superpowers and was both tedious and perhaps the most convoluted and boring origin story we've seen in these shows. The potential of the first season was ultimately wasted and this felt like a very mediocre drama which just happened to feature a superhero lead.
9. Iron Fist Season 1
Iron Fist didn't get off to a terrible start but by the time we reached the midway point, it was clear that showrunner Scott Buck had no idea what to do with the character. He never donned a costume, we only got hints about his origin story (sometimes showing and not just telling is a better idea), and the fact he could only use the Iron Fist after a nap and a snack was notable in terms of sheer stupidity.
The action was strong but the rushed production schedule and lack of training for its leads meant they often felt staged and nowhere near as satisfying as they should have been. Iron Fist also dropped the ball when it came to expanding the mythology of The Hand and that final scene in the last episode was such an unbelievable and lazy cop out that it was hard to do anything other than roll our eyes.
8. The Defenders
When Marvel announced plans to build up to The Defenders, it's fair to say that we all expected an Avengers-style event series which would have made great use of these characters. Well, that didn't happen. Over the course of eight episodes, Marvel managed to screw up the villainous version of Elektra (which was far too rushed), dropped the ball on The Hand, and delivered little excitement.
It took too long for them to come together and when they finally did, it wasn't anywhere near as satisfying as it should have been. While the show did some good by moving us toward an adaptation of "Born Again" and setting the stage for Misty Knight to get her robotic arm, this was an unsatisfying series which made it clear that it's probably best these heroes don't work together again in future.
7. Iron Fist Season 2
While this shorter season was a definite improvement over what had come before, it was still a letdown and dropped the ball in a lot of ways. Danny Rand still didn't don his costume and taking his power away for a good two-thirds of the season was just as dumb as him only being able to use the Iron Fist every now and again. On the plus side, the finale set the stage for an exciting third season!
Whether or not fans want that at this stage is hard to say but Marvel appears to have a complete lack of understanding when it comes to this character and as good as Finn Jones is, Danny is rapidly becoming the least interesting character in his own show. Even without Scott Buck screwing everything up, Iron Fist season two didn't meet expectations but the action was better so that's...something.
6. Luke Cage Season 1
When Luke Cage debuted on Netflix, the idea of a bulletproof black man was very timely and it's easy to see why Harlem's hero was so quickly embraced. The first half of the season managed to live up to expectations but the second Cottonmouth was killed, things spiralled out of control and we got a couple of boring episodes with a comatose Luke and the reveal of a big bad who was downright awful.
Diamondback felt totally out of place and while some fans appreciated the comic book style battle in the finale, it mostly came across as cheesy and lame. Despite the fact that the season was by no means terrible, it was hard to forgive that dreadful second half and even Mike Colter has acknowledged its failings. Luke never became a Hero for Hire but his story arc was actually satisfying for the most part.
5. Daredevil Season 2
Daredevil's second season did a lot right, including the introduction of both Elektra and The Punisher. It's just a shame that it all went to sh*t during the second half! All of a sudden, the Man Without Fear's battle against The Hand went rapidly downhill, Elektra's death was far too rushed and failed to do the comic books justice, and the conspiracy surrounding Frank Castle was baffling and just not needed.
Throw in Karen Page becoming one of the most tedious characters on television and Matt and Foggy's relationship falling apart and season two was definitely a disappointment. Thankfully, there were enough strong moment to make this a solid enough second outing for the hero and there were some scenes here which were nothing short of iconic, hence why it's not placing a whole lot lower here.
4. The Punisher Season 1
There's no denying that Jon Bernthal is an amazing Punisher and his solo series was definitely a lot of fun. It's just unfortunate that after a strong start, he pretty much gave up being The Punisher and it took until nearly the finale for the iconic skull to come back out. The conspiracy surrounding the death of his family continued to feel unnecessary and forced but his solo series at least made it make sense.
The action here was solid and Jigsaw's origin story was handled well, while Bernthal continued to deliver a layered and interesting take on a character who is often portrayed in a one-dimensional way. Enough was done here to make a second season a must and that will hopefully embrace the comic books in a bigger way because Marvel made some big mistakes here which need to be addressed.
3. Luke Cage Season 2
Luke Cage season two definitely had its faults but Power Man's battle against Bushmaster (one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's best villains by a long shot) was compelling from start to finish and while the hero still feels a tad underpowered, there was a lot of love about his journey this year, including an expected twist ending which drastically changes his status quo in this world moving into season three.
One of Luke Cage's biggest surprises was the fact it managed to redeem Iron Fist in a single episode, while the supporting cast did a lot of great work. Taking Claire Temple off the table proved to be a smart decision too because while she was once necessary to these shows, her character ran its course long ago and we didn't need thirteen episodes of her doling out advice to Harlem's bulletproof hero.
2. Jessica Jones Season 1
Jessica Jones may have been a little too grounded in reality (it wouldn't have hurt to make the P.I. at least a little more powerful) but this gritty crime drama proved to be an unexpected hit which did Brian Michael Bendis' version of the character justice while also delivering some big surprises. David Tenant's Kilgrave was an absolute blast and the show didn't shy away from touching on his twisted personality.
There were some great twists along the way and while not everything worked (Trish was once again a problem), Jessica Jones was a great watch throughout all thirteen episodes. It is, of course, a shame that season two dropped the ball in such a significant way but there is still time to turn things around, especially now that a third batch of episodes is in the works. I guess we'll have to wait and see, though.
1. Daredevil Season 1
Amazingly, it's never got better than this. Daredevil season one didn't spend enough time in court with Matt Murdock and made a huge mistake by killing off Ben Urich but those were very minor complaints in an otherwise stellar run of episodes. Was it a shame we had to wait until the finale for the costume? Sure, but the black suit was lifted from the comics and was actually missed when it finally went.
The only bad part about this season was the finale; what was previously a grounded and gritty adventure was mishandled by Steven S. DeKnight when he injected some comic book imagery into proceedings and gave Daredevil's battle with Wilson Fisk a cheesy feel. That could be forgiven, though, especially when there was so much to love and season three will hopefully be just as good.