Marvel and Disney have made big strides in media with all their enjoyable comic book creations. Though their movies are the largest hits, they’ve done great work with televised and streamed series. Since Avengers’ Agent Coulson moved to the small screen to spearhead Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel shows have made big waves. Since then, Netflix has created The Defenders series, Inhumans crashed and burned, and Cloak & Dagger delighted fans. With the recent cancellation of almost all Netflix Marvel shows, though, fans have buzzed with concern about their favorite superhero shows; after all, the Netflix heroes were some of the most popular. What’s the trajectory for the Marvel TV universe with those knocked out? Or is Disney really just going to move them to their new streaming services? Let’s hope the latter.
However, there have been problems with the Marvel shows before this. Perhaps some of them are what’s leading to this series downsizing: many people disliked Iron Fist and Inhumans was an absolute mess. Or maybe, Marvel is just downscaling the shows they have to focus on in lieu of Avengers: Endgame. While fans wait with bated breath about the future of their shows, it might be a good idea to look back and think about all their other flaws. Hopefully, with all this change, Disney and Marvel can correct them for future projects.
Here are 20 Things Wrong With Marvel Shows Everyone Chooses To Ignore.
Inconsistent Series Cancellations
With the booming success of Marvel films, many television series have sprung from it. However, unlike the films, if a series runs into any trouble, it gets cancelled or sidelined (with one glaring exception). For example, fans were ecstatic about the Agent Carter series, about the bold, fierce agent Steve Rogers met in Captain America. Despite its praise, it apparently didn’t get high enough ratings. After only two seasons, it was unceremoniously axed.
Conversely, a series that’s hit a lot of ridicule is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a spin-off series led by Avengers’ Agent Coulson, which is heading into its sixth season. Though the quality has come into question by critics and fans alike, its ratings have kept it afloat, and increasingly mediocre.
Lackluster Group Villains
Marvel shows tend to do their best in solo series, where a single character can shine or in character-based stories, giving each group member time to breathe. Because of this, their villain groups are decidedly lackluster; particularly between The Pride and The Hand, the villains are hardly as sinister or intimidating as they should be.
In the case of The Hand, they do well on their own, but when clumped together, they turn into slow-acting, head-butting, ineffective oligarchs. Alexandra was blindly obsessed with The Black Sky and the other leaders just stuck with her. When it comes to The Pride, they are watered down versions of their comic book wrong-doing. They turn into good people doing bad things for their important goals and it lessens the gravity of the Runaways’ teen rebellion.
The Epic End Of Inhumans
After a slew of hits, Marvel TV hit the brakes, hard, with Inhumans. The second the series was released it was getting attacked in reviews. The villain was hokey, the main characters were unlikable, and it had few redeeming features. After all, the plot threw fans right into the middle of a political civil war that they had no stakes in.
When this failure happened, fans and Marvel alike quickly swept it under the rug and tried to pretend it didn’t happen, but it did. Moreover, it’s definitive proof that Marvel is not perfect, and not just Iron Fist imperfect. They can create unsalvageable mistakes just like any other property. It’s a bummer, considering the Inhumans characters deserve so much better.
Focusing On Uninteresting Plot Threads
For all the great stories and characters Marvel has given to audiences, they give a bit too much screen time to things that fans aren’t interested in. By the end of the series, all anyone can think about is the overall product, but looking back, there was way too much that didn’t matter.
Even the most fascinating stories have flaws. For example, The Defenders spent a bit too much time on the poorly developed Danny Rand; Daredevil’s Foggy and Macy relationship is fairly bland, and so is Foggy’s family troubles. While these characters get worked on later, or are even great features of their show, they just aren’t that interesting compared to everything else. In trying to get everyone highly involved, Marvel sometimes focuses on boring plot threads.
Villains’ Inconsistent Threats
Because of the slow-burn nature to most villain interactions, some threats become very inconsistent. For example, Luke Cage’s Bushmaster threatens Cage’s life, then, only beats him in a fight, then, threatens his life more. He only actually tries to end him when his real goals might fall apart.
Others, like Maximus from Inhumans, partially follow through. He wanted to overthrow the king, his brother, and within the first episode alone, makes great strides. After that, though, his plans seem to slow down and become much, much slower, which results in him and the heroes dancing around for the rest of the season trying to solve their conflict. Some of these Marvel TV villains are some of the best live-action portrayals of fearsome foes, but that doesn’t mean they are logically effective all the time, though.
Friendliness With Crime Groups
When it comes to the Netflix Marvel series, in particular, there is a lot more focus on city crime (gangs, violence, murder) over giant holes in the sky. While that helps give these shows their unique, gritty feel, it does easily lead all of them into the gang trap. Basically, gang members and leaders become the greatest antagonists, but also, the hero ends up having to work with them. This is most egregious in Iron Fist and Luke Cage.
Walking in the gray spaces is a fascinating journey for any hero, however, it does complicate things when these Netflix Marvel heroes seem more likely to work with gangs than police. That kind of interaction is interesting and fun to watch, but not very heroic.
Pacing The Plots
Most of Marvel’s shows are fairly character driven, focusing more on the growth of the heroes over their villain of the season. While this makes for fantastic super-protagonists, it can leave the plot itself a bit uneven. For example, the Netflix Marvel shows are notorious for good starts, very uneven middles, and then a big finale.
This means fans are interested in Daredevil’s or Luke Cage’s plight, but it takes away that beloved Kingpin or Bushmaster goodness. It’s not just Netflix, though. Runaways and Cloak & Dagger are like this, too. There’s a reason the kids are so interesting and their villains (The Pride and Roxxon Oil are far less intimidating and more just obstacles). Better pacing would give equal intrigue to heroes and villains alike, but Marvel shows really struggle with this. Their movies do, too.
The Parents In Runaways
In the Runaways comics, The Pride are a truly sinister group of people, and when their children rebel, they don’t take it well. Between the authority they hold over their kids and their willingness to do unthinkable things to get them back makes them interesting. It’s that well-known parental protection with a dash of villainy.
However, in the Runaways show, The Pride has become a group of people trying to do good things, but doing a few bad things along the way. They don’t hold the same sinister deliberation that the comic’s Pride does, which makes them much weaker villains. While fans enjoy the Runaways, and even the complex relationships within both groups, The Pride does not hold up.
Hard-To-Follow Timelines
If fans thought organizing the movie timeline was hard, the television one is nigh impossible. Even for The Defenders, everything gets very murky after their first team-up, and it’s hard to believe that Daredevil season 3 happened after all three of the other seasons.
However, they make clear references to Luke Cage season 2 things, and Iron Fist season 2 couldn’t have happened before Luke Cage. And who knows about Jessica Jones. It’s all confusing and doesn’t quite add up. Cloak & Dagger, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and Runaways are all washes. Fans can just vaguely assume they happen all around the same current time, probably. Agent Carter is the only easy one: it’s the one set in the past.
Casually Glossing Over K’un-Lun
The Netflix Marvel series’ have been some of the largest hits for comic book fans. They get more time to explore characters, they are framed with more inner city realism, and they feel far more like people one could meet on the street. The only hero that breaks this pattern is Danny Rand, a.k.a Iron Fist. Unlike the others, where normal people are tested on or exposed to chemicals that makes them super-powered, he came from mysticism. His homeland is a hidden place with immense mystery and strength.
K’un-Lun is talked about a lot, but the series doesn’t take much advantage of Iron Fist’s unique mysticism aspects. Instead, it unceremoniously ends K’un-Lun while Danny’s gone and wipes it away like the whole culture is an ancient mystery, not a place that existed only years ago.
Too Little Crossovers
Marketed as the MCU for television, Netflix and its posse of Defenders were meant to intertwine just like The Avengers do. After each hero had their own introduction seasons, they did exactly that: team up as a foursome to defeat The Hand. Afterwards, though, they only seem to serve as one-off references. Other than a fantastic, short-lived team up of Iron Fist and Luke Cage, no one has run into one another. That is, except for the side characters (Misty, Coleen, Foggy), which is mildly frustrating. It’s like almost a crossover, but not of superheroes, just the people that circle them.
After the great chemistry between Luke and Jessica in her series, and Luke and Danny in Luke Cage season 2, it’s a crime how little the superheroes actually run into one another.
Sidelining More Interesting Love Interests
While it’s 100% about superheroes, relationships are really important to the Marvel shows. However, sometimes they seem to struggle noticing when there’s a good, fascinating dynamic happening, and they sideline it.
For example, fans are still not over the fantastic chemistry between Luke Cage and Jessica Jones that was ended in her first outing. And when The Defenders came, it was expected to hash out some of that, but no such luck. Similarly, Matt and Elektra play off well, but the shows really like offing her for some reason; Karen and Punisher are interesting, drawing out her darker side and the lighter sides of him, but that wasn’t explored; The Pride’s situations are interesting in Runaways; fans deserved more Peggy and Daniel; and AOS favorites Bobbi and Lance literally got sent away to never be seen again. Just saying, the relationships deserve better.
Anything Involving Space
When a show goes to space, it has to do it big. Unfortunately, the high budget of good space doesn’t bode well for television; especially one with enough effects and money going into superheroes and higher paid actors.
In season 5 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the crew ends up in the great outer space. Compared to the beautiful effects fans are used to in Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy, it could hardly compete. While it’s fascinating to take adventures into the grand unknown, a mix of space, time travel, and lower budget just left the whole experience lackluster. The only other show to try space was Inhumans, and we know how well that went.
Too Many Episodes In A Season
Marvel perfected the superhero story formula with the MCU movies. Many of the Marvel Netflix shows follow similar plot lines, with heroes struggling with what it means to be just that. It’s compelling and fascinating to watch different personalities tackle the topic in very different ways.
However, having episodes instead of full movies makes this a lot trickier. After all, the pacing of a film and a TV series are much different. Many times, it seems like Marvel concocts a hero story the same way the movies do. Then, this story is stretched out to fit the TV format. Because of this, a lot of the shows tend to drag out unevenly and don’t feel like like a cohesive journey. It took way too long for Netflix hero series to cut down their season from a weighty 13 episodes to a more manageable 10.
Don’t Handle Break-Ups Well
Marvel TV shows make great inter-relationship intrigue, but boy are they bad at the post-relationship. When a couple is no longer together, it seems their strategy is to either keep having them run into each other or completely ignore the fact they ever dated. Take Jessica and Luke. They never really acknowledge, nor do Luke and Misty, Claire and Matt, or Karen and Matt; Clair disappeared off the face of the earth after breaking up with Luke, and it goes on too long. In AOS, Ward is just whisked off to Hydra and is bad now.
It seems that either a couple is meant to be or they’re bad and that’s a wild situation. Who would ever want to date in these situations? With all their focus on character growth and relationships, this writing is a letdown.
Iron Fist Season 1
When Marvel shows were first kicking off, it seemed like they could do no wrong. Even Agent Carter, the first to be cancelled, was still a fan darling. However, things shifted when, after three successful heroes premiered on Netflix, they released Iron Fist.
Iron Fist had a lot going against it. Fans were hoping it would subvert comic book history and make Danny Rand foreign, but the season was clearly made for the sole purpose of setting up The Defenders. Coleen, a great character, was relegated to supportive girlfriend mode and they somehow didn’t bother to make Danny interesting. There was way too much going on. Iron Fist season 1 was the leak in the Marvel TV powerhouse boat. Despite season 2 being a great improvement, it couldn’t fix the sins of the past.
The Super Friends’ Patience
While this flaw isn’t quite as prevalent in superhero ensemble shows like Runaways and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s rampant in the Netflix shows. The non-super friends of the heroes are always way too patient with their antics, and no one can hold a candle to how much Karen and Foggy put up with Matt Murdock.
For example, in Daredevil season 3, Matt literally goes missing for months on end and they pay his bills while dutifully waiting for him. Even when it’s clear he’s alive, they just continue waiting. Similarly, Misty puts up with too much of Luke’s dumb ideas and anger, Colleen lets too much of Danny’s angst slide by, and Malcolm is the biggest pushover, accepting Jessica’s mistreatment. Though a few of these friends get their moments to tell their hero off, others do nothing.
Disappearing Characters
In shows with a lot of moving parts, it’s understandable that some characters just fade to the background. However, there’s a clear difference between fading and outright disappearance.
Between The Defenders series and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., too many characters are unceremoniously forgotten or deliberately ignored. For a long time, CEO and general troublemaker Ian Quinn disappeared from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D; in Luke Cage, one of his buddies just up and moves to Florida; Jessica Jones’ PI rival just lets go of the fact that he nearly got offed by her mom; and then there’s the holy grail: Elektra coming back for The Defenders special, just to be crushed under a building. When Matt wakes without her, there isn’t a mention of her and he doesn’t grieve. It’s uncomfortable, considering he was in love with her. #JusticeForElektra, folks.
The Disney Takeover
While the Marvel shows have a lot of odd flaws, the biggest obstacle in their way is Disney themselves; particularly when it comes to Marvel’s Netflix shows. They became a huge hit on the streaming platform, but now that Disney is creating their own, they’re cancelling all these beloved shows. Netflix was the only one targeted so far, but if their plans work, it wouldn’t be surprising if they move all the shows they can onto the site.
Unless Disney continues the shows and keeps the same actors, plots, and style, they have spurned a lot of fans with this move. After all, they offed several well-loved shows just for their own gain. Though they could be reborn, the Defenders might end with Jessica Jones season 3.
Completely Ignored By The MCU
One of the most fun parts of the MCU is their way to interconnect with one another and create a longer narrative, just like a comic book. While the Netflix series do that, and there have been a few other overlaps, the TV shows don’t get that same treatment. Instead, they are relegated into this non-existent otherworld.
It’s understandable that the big guys wouldn’t care too much about the television shows, and timing could make it uncomfortable, but it’s sad that Disney/Marvel don’t even try. The two companies could really bump up the ratings of their own shows by putting an Easter egg or two in the movies; it doesn’t even have to be dialogue, just a news headline or on-screen log. After all this time and all this hard work, the television shows deserve something more.
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Did we miss anything else wrong with Marvel TV shows? Let us know in the comments down below!
