In the Beginning, There Was WandaVision
Wandavision was released way back in 2021. It marked the beginning of a new era — or experiment — in the MCU: long-form television series directly connected to the movies. This slate came out swinging, and I think Marvel knew what they had on their hands. Wandavision released confidently and holds a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. It had an interesting premise, a stellar cast, and — most importantly — it gave the spotlight to a character who hadn’t starred in her own movie yet. Remember that one. With Wandavision out and generating buzz, Marvel and Disney must have been thrilled about the dozens of other shows they had lined up for the future.
Similar to Wandavision, Loki premiered in 2021 to both critical and fan acclaim. It was a smart sci-fi series that introduced new characters and concepts to the MCU, wrapped in beautifully designed sets and stylish cinematography.
More, MORE, MORE!!!
Around this time — also during the COVID-19 pandemic — Bob Chapek took over as CEO of The Walt Disney Company from his predecessor, Bob Iger. Chapek was on record with a strategy focused on increased content production for Disney+, the home of these MCU shows. He oversaw the integration of Hulu and announced an ambitious slate of superhero series to flood the Disney+ homepage. This was still a fledgling streaming service, and it desperately needed original content following the success of its flagship show, The Mandalorian. The plan seemed simple enough: give the people more of what they like. Marvel movies had been famously successful — so why wouldn’t interconnected streaming series work just as well?
Without breaking down the Disney+ release timeline brick by brick, I’ll lay out a pattern that should’ve been troubling for Marvel, Disney, and its board. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) dropped to less than half the viewership numbers of WandaVision. The rest of the slate revealed a telling trend. While Marvel continued to cast talented — and sometimes A-list — stars like Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke for Moon Knight, Disney+ increasingly felt like a “void” for characters not quite strong enough to carry their own movie. Characters like Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Werewolf by Night, Agatha Harkness, Echo, and Ironheart were suddenly carrying the weight of the MCU’s future. In hindsight, it’s easy to see why this risk didn’t pay off the same way the movies did. Introducing B- or C-list characters to general audiences is a much tougher sell.
“It’s All Connected!” — or Isolating the General Audience
Shows like Moon Knight, Hawkeye, and Loki Season 2 were highlights of the past few years — but even they had their problems. And many of the other releases simply didn’t resonate with fans, let alone the general public. This, I believe, is the heart of the issue.
Marvel movies drew in audiences across all demographics. Families, kids, adults, seniors — they’d all go to theaters together to see these characters on the big screen. But when you need to pull them in from the comfort of their couch, the Marvel Studios logo alone might not be enough to convince grandpa to watch Echo or Secret Invasion. I could write an entire article on how terrible the writing, CGI, and character waste was in Secret Invasion — but I won’t.
The problem, in part, is Disney+.
For years, I knew Disney+ as the streamer that had The Mandalorian, which released once every two years or so — and then my parents would forget they had a subscription and only use it to put on kids’ shows for their grandkids. Aside from that, the MCU shows would release, the ComicBookMovie.com community would watch, analyze, and review them… but after WandaVision, none of them felt like "water cooler shows" that got the public talking week after week.
For a multitude of reasons, Disney+ never reached the level of cultural penetration that Netflix did — where most American households had a subscription and regularly used it. This is part of why Daredevil and Jessica Jones on Netflix seemed to capture a much broader audience. They were fresh, mature, and accessible. Now Daredevil is back and rated TV-MA — but it sticks out like a sore thumb on Disney+, especially if you ignore Hulu’s content. It’s being served up next to children’s cartoons. And even with Disney’s push, I’ve read that Daredevil: Born Again didn’t hit the viewership numbers they’d hoped for. The show itself also fell short in terms of quality.
Marvel’s Disney+ problem can be summed up as a strategy of “Quantity over Quality” (something they’re reportedly trying to course-correct) and making these shows mandatory viewing in order to understand new theatrical releases. Brie Larson is an Oscar-winning actress — maybe it wasn’t the best idea to saddle her sequel with two characters introduced in streaming shows that half the audience hadn’t seen (The Marvels, 2023).
What's Next?
My personal concern is that while Kevin Feige and Marvel have acknowledged some of these missteps, they still seem obligated to finish what they started. Ironheart just released to tepid reception. Daredevil: Born Again was a chopped-up mess but is already promised a second season. Agatha All Along, Echo, and She-Hulk have left new characters and plot threads dangling — with a real possibility that they’ll never be revisited, or only show up again in another forgettable outing from some side character.
With Wonder Man set to release next — featuring fan-favorite wasted Ben Kingsley character “Trevor” (sigh) — Marvel can only do so much to fix what’s already been filmed and invested in. Here’s hoping Bob Iger steers the ship back toward a cinematic direction focused on event movies and sparingly used TV shows. There’s only so much goodwill left before even the most loyal fans start to admit: Kevin Feige may be responsible for this mixed bag of the past two MCU phases.