The MCU TV Dilemma: Quality vs. Quantity

Don't get me wrong, I love how they expand the universe—but couldn't they be so much more?

When Marvel announced that they would be releasing a wave of TV shows that directly tied into their Cinematic Universe, I was over the moon. When WandaVision dropped in 2021, I was absolutely blown away. It was fresh, experimental, and it genuinely felt like it had the massive production budget of a full-fledged Marvel movie.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier wasn't bad either; it maintained a similar blockbuster style, and it was great to see the buddy-cop relationship build between the two characters. Loki, however, was by far the best of the early bunch. Not only did it bring back a fan-favourite character (always a win), but it actually did the heavy lifting of explaining how the MCU was going to handle the Multiverse moving forward.

The Start of the Decline

Then we come to what I see as the start of the decline for Marvel's television offerings.

The episodes of What If...? were an interesting concept, but honestly, it felt like I was five years old watching an early morning cartoon. I appreciate how it provided animated examples of the multiverse theory and gave us glimpses of potential alternate realities, but it ultimately felt like a series of loose explainer videos wrapped in a thin narrative just to get audiences comfortable with the concept. The problem was, Loki had already achieved that.

On the cinematic front, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came along and completely knocked my socks off. I know it's a movie, not a TV show, but it gave me renewed hope for Phase 4—well, right up until I watched Eternals, which just was not up to the standard I expect from Marvel.

Hoping for a rebound, I pinned my expectations on Hawkeye. Unfortunately, I walked away a little disappointed. I understand its primary purpose was to introduce Kate Bishop as his younger successor, but the entire series could have easily been boiled down to half its runtime and achieved the exact same result.

The Backlog and Growing Concerns

With such a mixed bag of recent releases, I'm actually a bit apprehensive about diving into Moon Knight. I haven't watched it yet because Mrs. Jim is rather pregnant at the moment, so other priorities have taken over—namely, turning my old office into a nursery!

Even when I do find the time, I'm on the fence about pushing play. I know it will "further the plot" of the broader MCU and introduce another unique character to the board, but I don't want to risk getting any more burned out on the franchise than I already am.

The cinematic rumors aren't helping either. From what I’ve heard, Morbius was an absolute trainwreck (though I’m not sure it could possibly be as painful as the two hours of The Batman I managed to endure before completely giving up). I'm crossed-fingered that this isn't the start of a permanent downward trend for the theatrical side of things, especially on the heels of Eternals.

Looking to the Future

Hopefully, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness can pull it out of the bag the way Spider-Man: No Way Home did and set the film slate firmly back on course.

But Marvel seriously needs to fix their TV game. It’s starting to feel like they jumped into the streaming wars simply because everyone else was doing it, and the overall quality is suffering as a result. The shows only seem to truly shine when members of the core Avengers are driving the plot, and even then, Hawkeye and The Falcon and the Winter Soldierweren't exactly mind-blowing.

Let's hope things take a turn for the better with She-Hulk. I really want to go back to genuinely enjoying the entire interconnected slate, rather than just cherry-picking the odd film here and there out of fear of missing a spectacular moment.

What do you reckon? Is it just me who feels this way, or does Marvel need to start putting real effort back into their writing rooms rather than just coasting on past glories? Let me know what you think in the comments below!