What is this? I am actually posting something other than the weekly trailer round-up? Yeah, I can barely believe it myself. I’ve thought about doing this post for a long time, but now it just felt like I should go for it – I am going to rank all the Marvel TV shows! To start with, I want to say that this list is 100% subjective and I won’t be surprised whatsoever if your own ranking varies in any shape or form. Secondly, I know that it’s not actually “all Marvel TV shows” as I will deliberately leave some out that I either haven’t watched at all, pretend they don’t exist or lost sight of too much to really put them in here namely Agent Carter and Inhumans as well as all animated shows. Let’s get started!
10. Iron Fist
(watched 1 out of 2 seasons)
I didn’t really think about having to explain my ranking and in hindsight I probably should have prepared this better, but I just find Danny Rand to be an extremely annoying character and didn’t enjoy his story very much so far. Nevermind the optics of the show, which are side-eye worthy at best. Colleen was the only redeeming character and the real hero on that show for me. All of that is probably why I still haven’t gotten around to watching more.
9. Luke Cage
(watched 1 out of 2 seasons)
While I thoroughly enjoyed Luke’s introduction in Jessica Jones, the show didn’t measure up to what I had hoped it would be about. I wasn’t too happy about his new love interest, even if they were super cute together, and ultimately the episodes were too slow for me. I literally fell asleep multiple times during the first third of the show and didn’t miss any crucial information whatsoever … that’s not exactly a good sign.
8. Agents of SHIELD
(watched 3 out of 5 seasons)
I used to be head over heels into this show, but it is one of the most inconsistent ones I know. Maybe it is due to their tall season orders or them splitting the seasons into parts, but it got more whacky with time and at some point I just checked out. I am happy for everyone who continues to enjoy the show, but for me there just came a time to step away from it. (FitzSimmons forever though!)
7. The Defenders
(watched 1 out of 1 season)
I loved some of the things they did in terms of visuals for this, giving each character their own colour and playing with that throughout the episodes was a real highlight. However, it doesn’t change the fact that the team met far too late for my own taste. Their banter is what I tuned in for and they wasted valuable episodes keeping them apart.
6. Jessica Jones
(watched 2 out of 2 seasons)
I am still mesmerized at the glory that was the first season of Jessica Jones. David Tennant delivered an amazing villain, there was copious amounts of tension and then it just fizzled out a little in the second season. I don’t think it was a bad one, but with such a strong focus on Trish, I didn’t connect with the story as much. Jessica is still badass though and I am gladly going to tune into whatever comes next.
5. The Gifted
(watched 2 out of 2 seasons – at least what’s out so far)
My beloved mutants! I wish I could put them higher on this list as this is the only show with mutants and they are my favourites, but it wouldn’t feel right. The Gifted has a wide array of characters, as it should, but I would be lying if I said I cared for all of them equally. Some episodes just had such a strong focus on people I don’t want to watch all that much, whereas the ones I could follow for hours were a bit neglected. It’s too bad when that happens as I get easily bored, but I figure maybe other people love exactly those characters? But generally, I adore the whole humans vs. mutants struggle, as I believe it can be applied to many real life societal issues.
4. Daredevil
(watched 3 out of 3 seasons)
Netflix did well with making this their first original Marvel show. They cast it perfectly and gave me Karen Page, whom I adore more than most people like to believe. (me= Elektra who?)While sometimes the blood and gore just bore me and I don’t even watch the intricately choreographed fight scenes, I like the interactions of the characters and the moral issues discussed. S2 is probably still my favourite for this show, but they are doing great overall!
3. The Punisher
(watched 1 out of 1 season)
The inner Frank and Karen fangirl in me just needed this show so much! Am I a fan of all the killing and dying as well? No, that’s just not me. But I am so freaking good at ignoring that and focusing on the parts I really like and I got a lot of them here. Also, Ben Barnes is always a nice treat to look at. You have to give me that!
2. Runaways
(watched 1 out of 1 season)
Just because these shows are higher up on the list, doesn’t mean they are flawless, just that I personally clicked a whole lot more with them. All these adults from the previous shows getting their powers and snark on is great to watch, but seeing teenagers realise that their parents are evil and being confronted by the tough reality of that situation and what to do next is so much better. Also, there is a freaking pet dinosaur in this show. How can you not be totally into that?
1. Cloak & Dagger
(watched 1 out of 1 season)
I was so ready to hate this show because Freeform did it and I am very distrusting of what they do, but I actually 100% love it. The first season was a great set up for the characters and called out privilege and police brutality. Overall it felt very current with great new faces as the leads. I understand that some people want the main characters to be together more and I know I criticised the same thing during the Defenders, but here it sort of felt different and necessary that they weren’t always together to really show the parallels in their lives. I cannot wait for the new season!
So, that’s it! Do you agree/disagree with me on some of them? Let’s discuss in the comments and let me know if you want me to do this for DC shows as well!