MARVEL
TV
Spider-Man Pilot
A far cry from the mature drama of the Incredible Hulk pilot. The abbreviated origin blasphemously scraps Uncle Ben and his lesson on responsibility. The costume is pretty perfect and the wire work looks good, but the action is relegated to a few guys with sticks.
Premiere: Sep 14, 1977
The Incredible Hulk Pilot
A mature psychological drama that helped push the genre beyond the campy adaptations of the past. Tapping into the phenomenon of mother's finding the strength to lift a car off a child brilliantly grounds it in science. Powerful performances with a tragic score.
Premiere: Nov 4, 1977
Death in the Family: The Return of the Incredible Hulk
This establishes the classic wandering samaritan format of the show going forward. It is a steep decline in quality with some hilariously bad editing and a bland plot. That said, it is completely saved by the hilarious scene where Hulk fights a real bear in a river.
Premiere: Nov 27, 1977
The Incredible Hulk Season 1
On the run, David Banner wanders state to state cursed that everyone he meets will be targeted by a killer of some sort. Also, he turns into a green monster. It's formulaic but consistent, anchored by Bill Bixby's strong performance. It could use more Lou Ferrigno though.
Premiere: Mar 10, 1978
The Amazing Spider-Man Season 1
A slight improvement. They cleverly added a utility belt to mask the wire work and thankfully gave up on the green screen. Night of the Clones is the standout with its gun-toting take on Ben Reilly, but the plot again abruptly solves itself before It really gets to take off.
Premiere: Apr 5, 1978
(Japanese) Spider-Man The Complete Series
This is the best of the old superhero shows. He's an emissary of hell and friend of children with a flying car he only uses to enter his giant transforming mech. It's truly amazing and was even the inspiration for Super Sentai / Power Rangers, which I was the perfect age for.
Premiere: May 17, 1978
The Amazing Spider-Man Season 2
This was ruined by outdated pacing focusing on the minutia of busywork while rushing through climaxes. Chip Fields' is the only actor with any charisma. That said, the practical stunts scaling skyscrapers and the Hong Kong filmed finale were both very impressive.
Premiere: Sep 5, 1978
Doctor Strange
This was surprisingly ambitious. The limitations are helped by the psychedelic editing and score. Jessica Walter's Morgan Le Fay is the standout performance. It whitewashed Ancient One into an Obi-Wan to bank on Star Wars' popularity. It's ruined by terrible pacing.
Premiere: Sep 6, 1978
The Incredible Hulk Season 2
The expanded episode count thankfully brings some much needed variety in themes and stakes. It even manages to develop Jack McGee into a likeable foil you can't help but root for. To top it off they included an incredibly rare cameo of the legendary Jack Kirby.
Premiere: Sep 22, 1978
Captain America
They mostly just run out the clock with mundane chores like driving and walking to meetings and medical exams. Reb Brown could be waiting for the bus or witnessing a murder, you wouldn't be able to tell. It established Cap's interest in art and motorcycles at least.
Premiere: Jan 19, 1979
The Incredible Hulk Season 3
This was a welcomed return to the darker, more emotional tone of the pilot movie. It guest stars Brenda Benet, Bill Bixby's wife, as a psychic in a powerful episode where David is suicidal, which is even more heartbreaking with the context of their real life tragedy.
Premiere: Sep 21, 1979
Spider-Woman The Animated Series
You can tell executives just glanced at the name and their only thought was "Spider-Man + Wonder Woman = profit". The whole show is just knocking off the popular sci-fi of the time. Instead of Marvel villains we get The Bionic Midget and two separate Darth Vaders.
Premiere: Sep 22, 1979
Captain America II: Death Too Soon
Christopher Lee plays the terrorist Miguel who uses a rapid-aging bioweapon. This does result in an unintentionally hilarious climax, but getting there is a slog. The classic costume is pretty cool but the permanent bike helmet has him looking like an old Mego toy.
Premiere: Nov 23, 1979
The Incredible Hulk Season 4
This season is all over the place. It abandons realism to introduce more fun sci-fi elements. David's experiment goes wrong and he becomes a sexual predator, he fights an evil proto-Hulk played by the Swamp Thing actor and even encounters an Alien presence.
Premiere: Nov 7, 1980
Spider-Man The Animated Series
Spidey's second cartoon is a classic that has aged pretty well. The continuous background music is so dope they were sampled by Wu-Tang Clan's Masta Killa and Czarface. They steal other comics villains like Dr. Doom and Magneto which helps it to stand out.
Premiere: Sep 12, 1981
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends Season 1
I guess focus groups thought Spidey was too much of a loner so they added the X-Men's Iceman and newcomer Firestar. They abandon comic accuracy for kid friendly appeal and somehow pulled it off against all odds. This is easily the best comic book cartoon of the '80s.
Premiere: Sep 12, 1981
The Incredible Hulk Season 5
An abrupt cancellation brings the beloved series to an inadequate end. Only seven episodes got through and they are all pretty goofy. The penultimate has David Banner forced to work in a mine by a black man as revenge for slavery. In the finale he gets E. coli...
Premiere: Oct 2, 1981
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends Season 2
This is only three episodes, each telling a team members origin. It feels like an interlude as they prepared the next full season just to keep their "Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man" block intact. Firestar's episode acts as a backdoor pilot for a would be X-Men series.
Premiere: Sep 18, 1982
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends Season 3
They admirably try some new things instead of just recycling old villains. It introduces Iceman's sister Lightwave, Dracula enslaves Firestar, and Spider-Man falls in love with a girl from the future. The Stan Lee narration really helps completes the package.
Premiere: Sep 17, 1983
The Incredible Hulk Returns
After six years David Banner is back and this time it's a Marvel Team-Up with Thor in his live action debut, oddly interpreted as a genie lacking his comic powers. While the adaptation is bad it was still good fan service for it's time and a satisfying comeback overall.
Premiere: May 22, 1988
The Trial of the Incredible Hulk
Bill Bixby takes over directing, dialling it back to the mature tone of the early seasons while still managing to introduce a relatively comic accurate live action Daredevil. That said, the title is infuriatingly misleading. Even the shot of Hulk on the stand is from a dream.
Premiere: May 7, 1989
Pryde of the X-Men Animated Pilot
X-Men's first animated feature which was retooled into the iconic '90s animated series. Kitty Pryde joins just as Magneto attacks. In a hilarious coincidence, Wolverine is Australian, forshadowing Hugh Jackman. It was even adapted into the hit Konami Arcade game.
Premiere: Sep 16, 1989
The Death of the Incredible Hulk
It plays like a typical episode, albeit with touch more sex and violence, before the abrupt ignominious end. They built up five seasons and movies of anticipation with absolutely no pay off. To make things worse, they scrapped introducing She-Hulk for this.
Premiere: Feb 18, 1990
X-Men Season 1
This competes for the most iconic comic book cartoon. It perfectly adapts characters and arcs without pandering much to kids. Season one rushes to introduce most of the classic villains as the team works to free Beast from prison. It has the best theme song ever.
Premiere: Oct 31, 1992
X-Men Season 2
They fix the break neck pacing of the first season. It individually fleshes out the cast while Xavier and Magneto are lost powerless at the mercy of Mr. Sinister in the Savage Land. Rogue's origin as a Captain Marvel is great to see. Avengers cameos were a treat back then.
Premiere: Oct 23, 1993
X-Men Season 3
The Phoenix saga is adapted lovingly and thoroughly, understandably taking up most of the season. It doesn't even shy away from the Hellfire Club seduced dominatrix Dark Phoenix. It captures all the cosmic melodrama, with a few fun detours along the way. "JEAN!"
Premiere: Jul 29, 1994
X-Men Season 4
It begins with a time travel story that inspired the legendary Age Of Apocalypse comic event. They focus on tying up the loose ends. The highlights include Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, Proteus and the Phalanx saga. The quality plummets for the third act.
Premiere: Sep 9, 1994
Iron Man Season 1
It has that kid-friendly format where every character is in every episode. The 3D animation for armouring up is laughable. Two different episodes are just heroes watching origin stories on TV. The Mandarin is green to avoid stereotypes, but somehow is even more racist.
Premiere: Sep 24, 1994
Fantastic Four Season 1
This is particularly painful because it is pretty accurate to Stan and Jack's legendary run, it just has abysmal animation and embarrassing music. The voice cast are great and many are still what I hear while reading comics. It's got high highs, but the lows are a chasm.
Premiere: Sep 24, 1994
Spider-Man Season 1
It cold opens with the Lizard, skipping over the origin story and high school years. The animation is rough but the character designs and saturated colour just exude nostalgia. A superb voice cast lay on the melodrama thick while mostly nailing the characterization.
Premiere: Nov 19, 1994
Spider-Man Season 2
Peter slowly mutates into a monstrous Man-Spider as he's stalked by Morbius, Blade and Punisher in the shows best season. It surprisingly pulls-off body horror and edgy characters in a kid's cartoon. It even has a fun X-Men crossover that blew my mind as a child.
Premiere: Sep 9, 1995
Iron Man Season 2
They pull a 180 to match the tone of X-Men. Ditching Force Works to focus on Tony and War Machine was a good call, but demoting Spider-Woman to a Pepper Pots stand-in is a disservice. The Mandarin collecting his rings in stingers gives Infinity Saga vibes.
Premiere: Sep 23, 1995
Fantastic Four Season 2
This is the best season of all the '90s Marvel cartoons. The improvement is astronomical. The animation for that opening scene is absolutely stunning. The intro animating classic covers overfills my heart with joy. The Galactus and Silver Surfer episodes are perfection.
Premiere: Sep 23, 1995
Generation X Pilot
The first live action X-Men project. Matt Fewer is the only actor capable of channeling Jim Carrey's Riddler, but why did they want him to? It's incredibly corny and lighthearted before Fewer suddenly starts throwing slurs and threatening mind rape.
Premiere: Feb 20, 1996
Spider-Man Season 3
They don't shy away from some mature themes while finding clever ways to work around death in a kids cartoon. It's consistently heavy on drama, really capturing Peter's anxiety from the comics. It has some great team-ups with Dr. Strange, Daredevil and Iron Man.
Premiere: Apr 27, 1996
X-Men Season 5
Originally to end with season four's Apocalypse arc, Fox Kids extended the run by outsourcing the animation to save money. Thus, it devolved into just another generic kids cartoon. Only the Captain America and Mr. Sinister period piece episodes are worth watching.
Premiere: Sep 7, 1996
The Incredible Hulk Season 1
It balances the brooding tone of the classic TV series but with comic accurate action. The cast is simply incredible, with Ferrigno finally voicing Hulk, Neal McDonough as Banner, Luke Perry as Rick Jones and Matt Frewer as The Leader. The intro is epic.
Premiere: Sep 8, 1996
Spider-Man Season 4
It mostly wraps up old plot threads while setting up the final season. They ntroduce Black Cat by tying her origins to Captain America, but it doesn't really work. It deals with mature themes like lost love, grief, lust and only affording rent in a bad part of town.
Premiere: Feb 1, 1997
Spider-Man Season 5
It goes out with a Big Bang as the emotionally devastating Mary Jane plot wraps up before Spidey is drafted in the Secret Wars with the Fantastic Four, Avengers and X-Men. It ends with a precursor to Spider-Verse and a great take on a Spider-Carnage What If...?.
Premiere: Sep 12, 1997
The Incredible Hulk Season 2
Due to poor ratings the network clearly mandated a lighter tone and poorly aged 90's fashion while cutting the budget. The quality understandably takes a nosedive, but at least they made She-Hulk a regular and gave us a relatively decent Joe Fixit episode.
Premiere: Sep 21, 1997
Silver Surfer Season 1
An epic space opera tragedy focused on philosophy, not action. The art style masterfully blends 3D animation for a strong sense of scale. It butchers some of my favourite characters, but its mostly in service of the Star Trek style monster-of-the-week format, so it works.
Premiere: Feb 7, 1998
Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD
This is terrible B-Movie schlock. David Hasselhoff's Nick Fury is bad in all the best ways. It has a pretty high budget for this sort of thing. They make sure to hit every cliché with a straight face. I can't even tell if they are in on the joke. I highly recommend watching it.
Premiere: May 26, 1998
Spider-Man Unlimited The Animated Series
It feels like they are chasing cartoon trends like Batman Beyond's cyber-punk setting and dark shadows. It's surprisingly set on a Counter-Earth ruled by the High Evolutionary sporting a bad redesign. It has an unfulfilled cliffhanger from an earned cancelation.
Premiere: Oct 2, 1999
X-Men: Evolution Season 1
The '90s animated series is a hard act to follow and nostalgia dying in the early 2000's really doesn't help. Class clown Nightcrawler and Rogue right out of The Craft are unrecognizable. The awkward animation truly suits the setting at least. That finale was atrocious.
Premiere: Nov 4, 2000
X-Men: Evolution Season 2
It is still struggling to find a voice in the sophomore year, but the late addition of goth Scarlet Witch helps improve the grade for the finale. Framing everything around the public school is dumb. So what, is the Xavier Institute just militarizing kids, not educating them?
Premiere: Sep 15, 2001
Mutant X Season 1
The intro states "concept created by Avi Arad". The concept? To bootleg the X-Men after the success of the film. It's a tasteless corporate scam, not a show. This hack is still at it to this day, swindling creatives into making fake Marvel movies like Madame Web.
Premiere: Oct 6, 2001
X-Men: Evolution Season 3
They have finally found their footing. The one-two punch of Rogue's overloading powers and the first appearance of X-23 really kicks things into high gear. Then the big graduation and the Apocalypse cliffhanger has me pretty intrigued going into the final season.
Premiere: Sep 14, 2002
Mutant X Season 2
For anyone complaining X-Men is too "woke", man does Avi Arad have the show for you! It's an all hot, straight, white team of eugenics "mutants" who fight ecoterrorists, often with the only message being to not question authority. It's terrible. You'll love it.
Premiere: Sep 30, 2002
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series
It offers a darker, more mature tone with a touch of blood and sexual tension. The CGI aged well thanks to the cell shading. Its packed with celebrity cameos including Michael Clarke Duncan's welcomed return as Kingpin, but it ends in a brutal unresolved cliffhanger.
Premiere: Jul 11, 2003
X-Men: Evolution Season 4
Each season certainly improved on the last. The lingering threat of Apocalypse added some much needed focus and stakes, though he lost all personality in the redesign. His choice of horsemen was fun, but they desperately needed the Archangel design treatment.
Premiere: Aug 30, 2003
Mutant X Season 3
In my quest to watch every Marvel movie and show, this has been the most painful. Each season has improved, but thats not saying much. Lawsuits from FOX forced them to differentiate the show from X-Men, so they unceremoniously killed off half the cast.
Premiere: Sep 29, 2003
Man-Thing
The Lawnmower Man director brings Man-Thing to live action. All the comic's charm is cut out just to stitch together bland horror tropes until the third act's admittedly impressive practical effects kick in. It stars Rachael Taylor who played Hellcat on Jessica Jones.
Premiere: Apr 21, 2005
Blade: The Series
Onyx's Sticky Fingaz as Blade was a strong choice. It's at it's best exploring his origins with Bokeem Woodbine's Steppin' Razor, but the Anne Rice style soft-core soap opera Vampires overpower the runtime. It has surprisingly good action and gore for early Spike TV.
Premiere: Jun 28, 2006
Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes
They pull off a sleek modern anime influenced redesign while staying true to the comics. The graffiti on The Thing is genius. Everyone looks amazing, except Human Torch who's more annoying than ever. It's a shame won't see their take on Galactus and Silver Surfer.
Premiere: Sep 2, 2006
Spectacular Spider-Man Season 1
They lean into the Saturday morning cartoon look without sacrificing the comic book action. I particularly love this take on Tombstone. Venom is a fresh mix of Ultimate and 616 universes. It's an impressive foundation setting a high bar for the series going forward.
Premiere: Mar 8, 2008
Wolverine and the X-Men The Animated Series
The art style mostly works, but is ill-suited for Wolverine in particular. It also suffers more than past series with the inability to have him use his claws in a kids cartoon. Jean's disappearance reversing the roles of Logan and Cyclops opens up a compelling dynamic.
Premiere: Jan 23, 2009
Iron Man: Armored Adventures Season 1
Teenage Tony had me primed to hate this, but miraculously they made it work. They just gave all the annoying kid traits to Pepper Pots. Iron Man's rogues gallery has always been one of Marvel's weakest, so they just gave them all an extreme edgy makeover.
Premiere: Apr 24, 2009
Spectacular Spider-Man Season 2
The season focuses on betrayals and love triangles, with the action spliced to a Shakespeare school play. They nailed the rouges gallery with infighting plots making the world really feel lived in. That said, I hate this take on Green Goblin. The art style grows on you.
Premiere: Jun 2, 2009
Black Panther The Animated Series
A BET motion comic animating John Romita Jr's iconic art with an all-star cast of Djimon Hounsou, Kerry Washington, Alfre Woodard and Jill Scott. It is bold and unapologetic, with villains representing colonizer nations and Stan Lee playing a racist US Military General.
Premiere: Jan 16, 2010
Iron Man The Anime Series
Warren Ellis returns to Iron Man after Extremis but doesn't reach the heights. Though he brings an authenticity severely lacking from Wolverine, who appears for a Petrelli bros Heroes reunion. I'm mostly here for the impressive animation, so the 3D is disappointing.
Premiere: Oct 1, 2010
Wolverine The Anime Series
With his comic history in Japan you would think this would be an easy win. I expected super stylized ultra-violence but got paint-by-numbers anime tropes. Is there a law that anime protagonists must be young and lanky? Because this tall slim mullet look just ain't it.
Premiere: Jan 7, 2011
X-Men The Anime Series
This is exactly what I envisioned hearing the term X-Men anime. Classic character designs stylized in sleek action scenes in forced perspective. It suffers from melodramatic pacing, but I find that is typical of anime. I would love a classic Marvel Vs Capcom series.
Premiere: Apr 1, 2011
Blade The Anime Series
Written by Battle Royal's Kenta Fukasaku. This is the first of these that I truly love. It plays out like a video game with special moves and boss fights ending each episode. Think Blade vs. Castlevania. The multicultural Vampire designs are exactly what the property needs.
Premiere: Jul 1, 2011
Iron Man: Armored Adventures Season 2
We take a needed break from The Mandarin but he's replaced by a painful Justin Hammer. A ufologist snuck in interdimensional orbs and reptilian alien overlords with human hybrids. The finale is nearly identical The Avengers which came out at the same time.
Premiere: Jul 13, 2011
Ultimate Spider-Man Season 1
Spider-Man is recruited by SHIELD and saddled with a team, including kid versions of Luke Cage and Iron Fist. I get wanting it to have a unique voice but the 4th wall breaking goes way too far. The Looney Tunes tone is fun but comes at the cost of any suspense.
Premiere: Apr 1, 2012
Ultimate Spider-Man Season 2
Either I havee built up a tolerance or the show's incessant 4th wall breaking is less annoying now, at least until Deadpool shows up. Blade's Howling Commandos was a great idea and I wish they spun-off this DnA style Guardians Of The Galaxy instead!
Premiere: Jan 21, 2013
Iron Man: Rise of Technovore
Guest stars Black Widow, Hawkeye and Norman Reedus' Punisher steal the show. The animation is great as expected, but it all falls apart in the third act thanks to the Anime trope I hate where the hero suddenly wins on a whim after losing the entire runtime.
Premiere: Apr 24, 2013
Avengers Assemble Season 1
They abandon Ultimate Spider-Man's zany tone for something closer to Earth's Mightiest Heroes, even referencing it in a flashback. It changes aspect ratios, attempting an IMAX blockbuster look. It has great reoccurring villains like Dr. Doom, Hyperion and Dracula.
Premiere: May 26, 2013
Hulk and the Agents of SMASH Season 1
It follows Ultimate Spider-Man's format, with Hulk teaming with She-Hulk, Red Hulk, A-Bomb and Skaar, gives them military vehicles and break the 4th wall at every opportunity. It skews very young outside of an appreciated 2001: A Space Odyssey reference.
Premiere: Aug 11, 2013
Agents of SHIELD Season 1
This is pretty impressive when removed from the fan expectations coming out of Avengers. Fitz-Simmons steal the show. Walks the tightrope of being an X Files style procedural, tying into three MCU films and introducing Deathlok. Nick Fury and Sif even show up.
Premiere: Sep 24, 2013
Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United
This really should have just been an episode of Avengers Assemble. It uses a process called 2-D Wrap to convert animation to 3D. It works great for monsters and robots outside of a few pixelated close ups, but Tony's face looks right out of an Xbox 360 video game.
Premiere: Dec 3, 2013
Ultimate Spider-Man: Web-Warriors Season 3
It's kept fresh by expanding the team into an Avengers Academy and mixed up animation styles for alternate Spider-Men years before the Spider-Verse film. The finale is a fun Contest Of Champions crossover with Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the Agents of SMASH.
Premiere: Jun 7, 2013
Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher Anime
The last instalment's standouts take the spotlight. Its a shame Norman Reedus didn't return as Punisher. The Avengers are just unnecessary cameos. As always, the animation is the main draw. Lets just say they put in overtime animating Black Widow.
Premiere: Mar 25, 2014
Iron Man & Captain America: Heroes United
The upped resolution helps but without motion capture the animation just feels wonky. Taskmaster looks great in his Udon design but is poorly utilized. This is clearly aimed to bring in younger audiences who only watch 3D animation so it's all action with no stakes.
Premiere: Jul 29, 2014
Agents of SHIELD Season 2
They scrapped the Monster of the Week format for a full season of spy thriller A-plot. It keeps up the breakneck pacing for the full antiquated 22 episode run. Kyle MacLachlan plays Skye's mysterious father, bringing a small taste of that unhinged Twin Peaks energy.
Premiere: Sep 23, 2014
Avengers Assemble Season 2
They ruined their Infinity Saga by revolving it around a robot gifted to Tony Stark by his father and committed the sin of turning Thanos into a clichéd villain that grows into a giant. They couldn't even use the Soul Stone I guess. The Squadron Supreme were fun at least.
Premiere: Sep 28, 2014
Hulk and the Agents of SMASH Season 2
This just doesn't work. The generic art doesn't fit the goofy tone, the humour is mostly just annoying and She-Hulk and Skaar are completely wasted. That said, Red Hulk's dynamic with Abomination is interesting and the Obnoxio spoof of Stephen King's IT was incredible.
Premiere: Oct 12, 2014
Agent Carter Season 1
An incredibly fun '40s period piece with a strong and authentic cast, following Peggy Carter after WWII. It recaptures the pulpy tone of Captain America: The First Avenger. It has sharp writing, impressive yet subtle visual FX and an iconic lead thanks to Hayley Atwell.
Premiere: Jan 6, 2015
Daredevil Season 1
They mastered the dark and brooding tone without sacrificing realism. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are astounding and the action is brutally visceral. On location shooting in NYC brings an authenticity. The Kingpin love story is brilliant, giving the villain dimensionality.
Premiere: Apr 10, 2015
Guardians of the Galaxy Shorts Season 1
A rare occasion where the shorts are actually essential viewing before the show. They give each member a brief origin, mostly inspired by Bendis' awful run. It's all fun character stuff, aside from a terrible retcon that really diminishes Gamora's agency.
Premiere: Aug 1, 2015
Guardians of the Galaxy Season 1
It spins out of the film, mixing the MCU aesthetic with comics lore mostly from Bendis' terrible run. While the generic house art style and annoyingly juvenile Star-Lord hold it back, Rocket Raccoon's Jewish mother right out of Seinfeld is a thing of beauty.
Premiere: Aug 1, 2015
Agents of SHIELD Season 3
An eclectic mix of Hickman's Secret Warriors, the Inhumans relaunch and Kirby's 2001: A Space Odyssey, that rewrites Hydra history and culminates in a satisfying end to the Grant Ward story arc. A big improvement in fight choreography and practical FX.
Premiere: Sep 29, 2015
Jessica Jones Season 1
A contemporary noir where the hardboiled gumshoe is the feme fatale on the trail of her own abuser. The lightening in a bottle casting of Daredevil's pro and antagonist strikes again. Krysten Ritter and David Tennant's performances elevate a cat and mouse plot.
Premiere: Nov 20, 2015
Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!
A harmless kids Christmas special. Super Hero Squad's Reptil crossing over with Avengers Assemble and Guardians Of The Galaxy is fun, even if it is to stop Loki from stealing Santa's powers and to teach the heartless billionaire Iron Man the meaning of Christmas.
Premiere: Dec 11, 2015
Agent Carter Season 2
They take the action to Hollywood for a soft focused followup. James D'Arcy's Jarvis is expanded to a much greater range, becoming the heart of the show. Unfortunately, the love triangle, sci-fi elements and proto-Madame Masque antagonist underwhelm.
Premiere: Jan 19, 2016
Ultimate Spider-Man Vs. The Sinister Six Season 4
We got a clone saga were they can't say clone, a Spider-Verse return that even Joe Fixit Noir couldn't fix and a terrible Kaiju Doc Ock series finale. They pretty much ditched the 4th wall breaking at least and Mary Jane with the Carnage symbiote was pretty cool.
Premiere: Feb 21, 2016
Daredevil Season 2
Jon Bernthal's Punisher is electrifying, rivaling Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin.
Elodie Yung is great but they overcomplicated Elektra and her costume looks right out of Mortal Kombat. The action in the back half takes a nosedive thanks to CW-esque Hand Ninja fights.
Premiere: Mar 18, 2016
Agents of SHIELD: Slingshot
Six shorts starring Yoyo of the Secret Warriors set during the time jump. While it's always nice to get more character development, I continue to be underwhelmed by the general concept of shorts. It's just too insubstantial and likely only watched by completionists.
Premiere: Dec 13, 2016
Agents of SHIELD Season 4
It debuts Ghost Rider and the Darkhold in the first half before we finally get an LMD in the form of AIDA. The time jump is messy and the halves don't mesh well, but they really manage to mine the drama out of the sci-fi and impressively recycle all of their VFX.
Premiere: Sep 20, 2016
Luke Cage Season 1
Its lopsided like Daredevil Season 2, with an incredible first half, largely thanks to Mahershala Ali's Cottonmouth, before losing it in the back. The Wu-Tang needle drops are dope. Mike Colter is good, but why is Luke an ex-cop? Simone Missick is the perfect Missy Knight.
Premiere: Sep 30, 2016
Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell
Hulk teams with Dr. Strange and Warwolf's Howling Commandos to stop Nightmare. Its an improvement over Frost Fight! and more inline with Avengers Assemble tonally. Dr. Strange's redesign is bland, but anything is better than the original Tim Burton look.
Premiere: Oct 21, 2016
Legion Season 1
Noah Hawley's astral odyssey is a psychological horror masterpiece. He was clearly fishing from David Lynch's spot in the unified field, releasing only months before Twin Peaks: The Return. Aubrey Plaza is transcendental. It's in the top three comic shows of all time.
Premiere: Feb 8, 2017
Rocket & Groot The Animated Series
A wonderful blend of classic animation techniques with modern CG that is perfectly suited for capturing the whimsical style of the Skottie Young comic. Its masterfully paced, pulling off almost as much plot as a 22 minute cartoon in a brisk two minute short.
Premiere: Mar 10, 2017
Guardians of the Galaxy Season 2
They take inspiration from the superb DnA run this time, focusing on Adam Warlock with a suitable new catch. It's clear this was the only research done for the recent video game, lifting the changes to Star-Lord, Warlock and Mantis, and the inclusion of Fin Fang Foom.
Premiere: Mar 11, 2017
Iron Fist Season 1
A rare Marvel miscast. It presents Danny Rand as boring, unlikable and lacking form. It's so bland the violence feels jarring. Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing too good for this show. Wu-Tang's RZA directs the best episode, bringing some much needed Shaolin style.
Premiere: Mar 17, 2017
Ant-Man The Animated Series
This is the proper use of these animated shorts. Let indy auteurs experiment with unconventional characters and animation styles and fund it using international tax breaks. It's got an unhinged hypnotic quality to it, like Speed Racer with a touch of Ren and Stimpy.
Premiere: Jun 10, 2017
Avengers Assemble: Secret Wars Season 4
A strong "final" season focusing on the New Avengers, culminating in a nine-part Secret Wars mash up. The alt-right hipster Beyonder redesign is hilariously terrible. He looks fresh off a podcast scrutinizing Brie Larson. This is the antithesis of the Jheri Curls.
Premiere: Jun 17, 2017
Spider-Man Season 1
It takes after Big Hero 6, focusing on a Silicon Valley-like school and its headmaster, but making Doc Ock a classmate is a step too far. It's generic but improves over Ultimate Spider-Man. Spider Island was fun, but the Man-Spiders look right outta Dead Space.
Premiere: Jun 28, 2017
Defenders The Complete Series
Its less than the sum of its parts, feeling more like an obligation. The shortened run needed faster pacing. Even Luke Cage's patented Wu-Tang needle drop can't save the bland action. It further butchers Elektra. You know its rough when the lighting is the best part.
Premiere: Aug 18, 2017
Inhumans The Complete Series
Everyone involved was scammed. The fans, the cast, Marvel Studios, IMAX, and even Hawaii. They took the tax credit and IMAX funding, hired Scott Buck, the showrunner of Iron Fist, and left the rest to the MCU's rep. Anson Mount's Black Bolt could have been great.
Premiere: Sep 1, 2017
The Gifted Season 1
Being created by Matt Nix, I was hoping for a tone and pacing more in line with Burn Notice, but it's just more of the same from the Fox X-Men series. The Sentinels are just toy size now to fit a TV budget. Jamie Chung is great as Blink and should be the lead.
Premiere: Oct 2, 2017
The Punisher Season 1
This is tough because Jon Bernthal's performance is so incredible that it can transcend shortcomings around him. Unfortunately, this show grinds to a halt while he isn't on screen. Targeting pick-up truck drivers with Punisher bumper stickers was ill-conceived.
Premiere: Nov 17, 2017
Big Hero 6: The Series Season 1
I'm glad the story progressed but the movie deserved a sequel. A lot is lost in the transition to traditional animation. It's about what you would expect from a Disney channel cartoon. The expanded runtime made me realize I really only care about Baymax and Hiro.
Premiere: Nov 20, 2017
Runaways Season 1
It nails the edgy teen melodrama tone with the instagram filter aesthetic and authentic cast. It has impressive FX, especially the Jurassic Park mix on Old Lace. An older Molly and the Scientology-like cult work, but the science based Staff of One does not.
Premiere: Nov 21, 2017
Agents of SHIELD Season 5
They finally gave Yoyo something to do, amped up the gore and again made the most of the sci-fi, but also made a mess of Graviton and filled it with Power Rangers level fights with Mortal Kombat ninjas. It's saved by De Caestecker's heartbreaking performance.
Premiere: Dec 1, 2017
Jessica Jones Season 2
With Killgrave out of the picture high stakes are replaced with a focus on character studies examining childhood trauma and how the cast adapted to cope. The abrupt ending is frustrating, but all the character development long the way is well worth it.
Premiere: Mar 8, 2018
Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! Season 3
It's mostly filler and rehashed ideas, like the redundant Carnage-Thanos and yet another Asgard war. Black Vortex had fun trying different art styles at least. Overall the series was carried by Rocket Racoon and dragged down by the characterization of Star-Lord.
Premiere: Mar 18, 2018
Legion Season 2
Less structure allows them to expand on the chaos of dream logic. Utilizing mediums like interpretive dance and traditional animation to portray psychic battles is brilliant, showing a confidence in the source material that Fox X-Men was desperately lacking.
Premiere: Apr 3, 2018
Big Hero 6: The Shorts Season 1
It’s an excuse to dress up Baymax in different costumes while bouncing him off the individual cast members. Mochi the cat is the highlight. They are mostly cute which is about all you can ask from these. Kids must love shorts because every cartoon seems to get them.
Premiere: May 31, 2018
Cloak and Dagger Season 1
A gritty teen drama achieving a tone closer to Marvel Netflix than Agents of SHIELD. Compelling changes incorporate New Orleans culture and invert character stereotypes. They nailed the casting and the slow pacing pays off, building to a literal climax.
Premiere: Jun 7, 2018
Spider-Man Season 2
It's clear they de-aged DocOck to make Superior Spider-Man less problematic. A lesson learned from Bendis' infamous Ultimate Spider-Man/Wolverine body swap. It makes the change more digestible and saved what would have been a pretty bland season.
Premiere: Jun 18, 2018
Luke Cage Season 2
This is Marvel Netflix at its best. Bush Master shakes things up with his Jamaican swagger, upping the action. Alfre Woodard's Black Mariah outdoes Cottonmouth. Performances by Hip-Hop legends Ghostface Killah, KRS-One and Rakim are astonishing.
Premiere: Jun 22, 2018
Marvel Rising: Initiation
The third soft reboot to this continuity makes room for Spider-Gwen, with shorts targeting girls with a fun, youthful tone. Her origin is cleverly reworked to organically connect to Ms. Marvel and Chloe Bennet's Quake. The characterization is on point.
Premiere: Aug 13, 2018
Iron Fist Season 2
Does everything to address the criticisms short of recasting. It's got the mask, K'un-Lun, a focus on Coleen Wing & a shortened run time. A marked improvement but still a far cry from the rest of Marvel Netflix. They should have just done Heroes For Hire.
Premiere: Sep 7, 2018
Baymax Dreams Season 1
A few shorts glimpsing Baymax's virtual dreams while in sleep mode, rendered in 3D using the Unity game engine. The conceit doesn't really work though, as we all know the authentic Big Hero 6 is the 3D film. That said, it does have very mild Reboot vibes at least.
Premiere: Sep 15, 2018
Avengers: Black Panther's Quest
Black Panther rightfully gets a spin-off after the success of his movie and its easily the best season. They make great use of Baron Zemo and Atlantis, but it's odd they use the comics Killmonger and Man-Ape M'Baku when the MCU versions are far superior.
Premiere: Sep 23, 2018
The Gifted Season 2
The focus on the Strucker family and the inflexible tone completely kill the experience. Even the Fox X-Men films had small moments of levity. It wasted some great casting in Polaris, Blink and The Stepford Cuckoos. It's still a step up from the DC CW shows.
Premiere: Sep 25, 2018
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors
Cloe Bennet's Quake puts together an animated Secret Warriors. This new girl power tone feels fresh, even though the pop music needle drops make me shudder. They did a really great job in capturing Ms. America Chavez and Squirrel Girl's unique voices.
Premiere: Sep 30, 2018
Daredevil Season 3
With Defenders out of the way Daredevil is back in black & back to basics. Recaptures the greatness of the 1st by refocusing on Kingpin & introducing a bold new take on Bullseye. Culminates in a satisfying series finale, passing the baton to the MCU.
Premiere: Oct 19, 2018
Big Hero 6: The Shorts Season 2
The fan fiction chibi art style is way too generic. It feels like the animation equivalent of doodling while on the phone. Each episode is mostly just them being terrible at performing simple tasks, but the last two are packed with decent service industry gags.
Premiere: Nov 6, 2018
Runaways Season 2
A clunky season mostly retreading old ground. Splitting time with Pride has become a real drag. It's already getting formulaic, with each parent getting one-on-one time and forced excuses to sideline Old Lace. That said, the talented young cast remain engaging.
Premiere: Dec 21, 2018
The Punisher Season 2
Strays too far adapting Frank for general audiences. Unforgivably has him date & spare criminals. Jigsaw's makeup is laughably subtle, undermining the entire character. An aimless plot, but it hits more than misses thanks entirely to Bernthal's performance.
Premiere: Jan 18, 2019
Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron
Its a slight step up in quality over the last special. What this series does right is authentic portrayals of its heroes and Riri Williams here is no different. That said, the team is getting way too crowded. Patriot and Inferno are nothing but set dressing at this point.
Premiere: Apr 3, 2019
Cloak and Dagger Season 2
It walks back on some progress, which is frustrating with the slow pace and cancelation. The cast are the highlight, including the grounded take on D'Spayre used to embody the shows themes. Overall, I'd say they've earned a Secret Wars or Daredevil cameo.
Premiere: Apr 4, 2019
Big Hero 6: The Series Season 2
The developed rogues gallery helped a lot, but I'd be happy to never see Noodle Burger Boy again. There's also a lot more of your typical super hero drama. Throw in a little Robocop reference here and a giant mech there and you now have a cartoon.
Premiere: May 6, 2019
Baymax & Mochi The Animated Shorts
The 3D watercolour art style is exactly what this property needed. It feels like production art for the movie. They avoid rendering humans to reduce costs, but you can tell it would work great. A strong art direction can make even the most modest project worthwhile.
Premiere: May 6, 2019
Agents of SHIELD Season 6
It should have ended at five seasons. They just don't have the costume budget for space adventures. It's like they realized last minute they needed a villain and grabbed a random wig and jumpsuit and threw it on the first audition they saw. Only Fitz/Simmons works.
Premiere: May 10, 2019
Jessica Jones Season 3
Built on the poor foundation of the previous finale. The cast, performances & cinematography are all great, but the characterization of Trish Walker, who takes centre stage, frustratingly drags it all down. Luckily Ritter carries the show to the finale.
Premiere: Jun 14, 2019
Legion Season 3
This is the best live action X-Men project to date. Just when you think you have wrapped your mind around it, they add in time travel to throw you off-kilter. It's like an Ayahuasca fuelled out of body experience. Navid Negahban's Shadow King is an all-timer villain.
Premiere: Jun 24, 2019
Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands
Dove Cameron's Spider-Gwen is good but she didn't need three of these specials. I'm really here for our only taste of Milana Vayntrub's Squirrel Girl after the New Warriors show was scrapped. At least we finally get a fun villain thanks to Screaming Mimi.
Premiere: Aug 28, 2019
Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri
It's crazy to me that the penultimate instalment is just more filler adding another new character. Did they quietly drop Chloe Bennet's Quake? Why is Ironheart already missing? It would be great if all these fun powerful girls were given something worthwhile to do.
Premiere: Oct 6, 2019
Runaways Season 3
It's the Nico Minoru show now and it works. Elizabeth Hurley's Morgan Le Fay brings some needed campy comics charm, along with Agents of SHEILD's tacky Darkhold and Cloak and Dagger's Dark(force) Dimension. The phone plot was a little too on the nose though.
Premiere: Dec 13, 2019
Marvel Rising: Playing With Fire
It goes out with a whimper. They put together a fun team of young heroes voiced by a great cast, but without any purpose or plan going forward. Inferno was never more than a corporate mandate. Why would they feel the need to invent their own villains?
Premiere: Dec 18, 2019
Spider-Man: Maximum Venom Season 3
It has much better pacing thanks to a shortened season that is split into two-parters. There is some decent horror imagery like the Veno-Monolith and Resident Evil Green Goblin, but the stakes aren't felt because the heroes are never pushed to desperation.
Premiere: Apr 19, 2020
Agents of SHIELD Season 7
I can't believe they wasted the last three seasons on the Chronicom. They had no business time/space traveling and it shows. Repetitive resurrections leave no stakes. This should have been a grounded spy thriller against Hydra and AIM. They saved the worst for last.
Premiere: May 27, 2020
Baymax Dreams Season 2
The animation is better but I don’t know why they used Fred of all characters. His Shaggy PG pothead thing is annoying. The last short was an interactive cloud streaming tech demo. The glitch effect is similar to Wreck-It Ralph which sent me down a rabbit hole.
Premiere: Aug 8, 2020
Big Hero 6: The Series Season 3
Big Hero 6 went from acclaimed box office juggernaut to generic Saturday morning cartoon, then to an endless series of shorts. It's reminiscent of the terrible '90s Disney direct-to-video sequel pipeline. The musical back up stories are pretty painful too.
Premiere: Sep 21, 2020
Helstrom Season 1
They shaved off the edges to fit in with general audiences resulting in a dull, soulless product. Son Of Satan is nearing Iron Fist levels of bland. Satana is actually pretty compelling and there's some decent gore FX here and there, but not nearly enough to save it.
Premiere: Oct 16, 2020
MODOK Season 1
The Marvel character Patton Oswalt was born to play. It pushes far beyond the Robot Chicken influences with clean stop motion animation and a well utilized cast cherry picked from some of TV's best sitcoms. Has clever writing with some great comic deep cuts.
Premiere: May 21, 2021
Hit-Monkey Season 1
This was James Gunn's original pitch to Marvel before they recommended Guardians Of The Galaxy. You can feel his sensibilities in the property, but it goes a little too far with the exploitative Monkey death. A more traditional anime style would have fit perfectly.
Premiere: Nov 17, 2021
Baymax! Season 1
Finally, a worthy follow-up to the movie. The 3D animation is essential. The shorts are longer and the finale ties them together for a more substantial package. I wasn't expecting Baymax to help with a girl's first period, but its tactful and likely a good approach.
Premiere: Jun 29, 2022
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Season 1
Its adorable and wonderfully woke. They even protest gentrification. The animation achieves small screen Spider-Verse. It's fresh with all the flavour of the melting pot and strong musical segments baked in. Guest stars include Method Man and Westley Snipes.
Premiere: Feb 10, 2023
Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Red
We are having a Lego heavy holiday so I figured I'd try these out. I was surprised to see it was a stealth Christmas movie. The plot is fun and totally something a kid would dream up. I was sold by the Wolverine swimsuit pin-up reference and Red Shift cameo.
Premiere: Oct 27, 2023
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Season 2
This was the perfect cartoon and Disney killed it. They banned the completed trans sports episode "The Gatekeeper", so I fear the cancelation was political. In a just world this would have run ten seasons and fuelled the nostalgia of kinder and smarter generations.
Premiere: Feb 2, 2024
Hit-Monkey Season 2
This show has really grown on me. There is some great character work buried under all the dead bodies. I usually wince at eco-terrorism plots from giant corporations, but I'll give them a pass. Between Sudeikis and Leslie Jones the constant profanity gets grating.
Premiere: Jul 15, 2024
Lego Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition
This has none of the charm of Code Red. Usually there is something to help get adults through this stuff. It's even devoid of cameos and easter eggs. I figured seeing Terrax and Demolition Man would be fun but I couldn't imagine a worse way to portray them.
Premiere: Oct 18, 2024
Lego Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition
Why are there only two episodes? Hawkeye begrudgingly teams with cat themed heroes to stop a toxoplasma gondii invasion. It's got some charm but the climax with The Sphinx was a let down. Luckily, that bizarre Christmas themed stinger helped softened the blow.
Premiere: Nov 14, 2025
