10 Best Episodes of Marvel TV That Prove the MCU Is Wrong to Give Up on Disney+

With Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home wrapping up the Infinity Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the franchise looked to do something different with the next phase. They brought things to the TV level, releasing several shows on Disney+. WandaVision was the first, with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, and more following suit. Some of these projects were met with widespread acclaim, while others received mixed reviews. A few had major implications for the overall MCU and a few were easy to forget. However, it was recently reported that the MCU was cutting back on these shows outside of Daredevil: Born Again and the upcoming VisionQuest. The Disney+ TV output is set to focus on animation, meaning these live-action series are mostly going by the wayside. While it’s an understandable pivot after a few shows struggled, there’s a lot of proof that these shows were great ideas.

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A good place to look for that proof is in some of the franchise’s individual episodes. These particular installments feature some of the MCU’s best scenes and show the impressive potential that many of these projects had.

10) She-Hulk: Attorney At Law– “Ribbit And Rip It”

Like Captain Marvel and The Marvels, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was the victim of review-bombing from angry men online. Due to that negative reception, far too many people overlooked this fun series. We deserved several seasons of this legal comedy following Jennifer Walters’ adventures as She-Hulk. While some will say “Ribbit and Rip It” was the best episode of the show because of Daredevil’s involvement, it goes beyond that. The penultimate installment found a way to expertly incorporate the serious style of Daredevil with this show’s goofy nature.

Watching Jen and Matt duke it out in court was a blast, which was then bested by them teaming up to stop a kidnapping. The two had electric chemistry and their surprising romance was welcome. The combination of legal drama, action, and romantic comedy is something that felt fresh in the MCU and showed the potential that this series had if it was allowed to last longer.

9) Agatha All Along – “Follow Me My Friend/To Glory At The End”

When Agatha All Along was announced, there were concerns. As great as the character was in WandaVision, many believed we didn’t need a show dedicated to the villain. In the end, Agatha All Along became one of the MCU’s greatest series ever. “Follow Me My Friend/To Glory At The End” is the penultimate installment, and it continued the trend of what made the show work in the first place. It allowed for great character development and moments over action, while letting Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, and Joe Locke take center stage.

Everything involving their characters clicks here, especially right at the end when Agatha and Rio share a kiss and Billy comes to realize that he unknowingly created the Witches’ Road with his magic. “Follow Me My Friend/To Glory At The End” gets to breathe on its own without having to tease other MCU projects and the result is a bold story that feels more like a finale than an episode that sets one up.

8) Wonder Man – “Doorman”

The decision to cancel Wonder Man was one of the MCU’s more baffling recent calls. Critics and audiences loved the show, with praise going to the performances of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley. As great as their work is, the show’s best episode doesn’t feature them together and is instead a flashback installment titled “Doorman”. This episode is designed to explain the Doorman Clause, which banned superpowered individuals from working in the movie and television industry. That throws a wrench into Simon’s dreams of being a successful actor.

“Doorman” was filmed in black-and-white, which helps it stand out visually. It also features a wacky story centering on DeMarr Davis and his ability to phase through matter, which he uses to save patrons at a nightclub, including Josh Gad playing a wild version of himself. The rise and fall of Davis is remarkable to watch, especially when Gad gets lost to another dimension while phasing. This is another case of an episode being so great because of how it stands out from the rest of the MCU.

7) Hawkeye – “Partners, Am I Right?”

Along the same lines as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, there’s just something fun about Hawkeye. It’s a perfect holiday binge thanks to the Christmas setting, and “Partners, Am I Right?” perfectly mixes the joyful with deep character moments. A highlight sees Kate Bishop opt to spend some quality time with Clint Barton for the holidays since he can’t be with his family. It’s endearing to see the two bond while wearing Christmas sweaters, before it gets serious when Kate figures out that he was Ronin and Clint shares a bit about his bond with Natasha, who he continues to mourn.

The final scene of the episode is even better, culminating in a rooftop fight involving Kate, Clint, Maya, and a masked assassin who is eventually revealed to be Yelena. The callback to Avengers: Endgame where Clint believed Kate fell to her death hit hard, while Kate not taking the shot at Yelena, mirroring how Clint started his relationship with Nat, was perfect. It set up our new Hawkeye and Black Widow so well.

6) Loki – “The Nexus Event”

You could make an entire list of great episodes just from the Loki series. Season 1 introduced us to Sylvie, a Loki variant who the Loki we’ve all come to know forms a close bond with. In “The Nexus Event”, the two are held captive at the TVA, which includes Loki coming to terms with his feelings for Sylvie and being stuck in a time loop with Sif (which made for a nice cameo).

The episode becomes great when Loki and Sylvie face the Time-Keepers and prove that they aren’t real, changing everything we thought we knew about the narrative. The cliffhanger sees Loki get pruned before a mid-credits scene has him wake up in another dimension where he’s greeted by other Loki variants. “The Nexus Event” is a stellar episode on its own, yet it’s truly something special because of how it reshapes and improves the entire plot of the series.

5) Loki– “Journey Into Mystery”

Loki was on a roll heading towards its Season 1 finale, as “The Nexus Event” was followed by “Journey Into Mystery”, which was another excellent episode. We got to see that Loki was in the Void, a dimension at the end of time holding everything the TVA ever pruned. It’s a blast to see Loki interact with the different versions of himself, including Kid Loki, Alligator Loki, President Loki, and Classic Loki, among others. Meanwhile, Mobius officially sides with Loki and Sylvie when he helps the latter escape from the massive creature known as Alioth.

Those friendships are so important for the rest of the series, so seeing the team come together here is crucial. The best moment of the episode goes to Classic Loki, who steps up and uses all his power to create a life-sized Asgard illusion that distracts Alioth so Sylvie and Loki can move on beyond the Void. It’s an epic sequence to cap an incredible episode.

4) WandaVision – “Previously On”

“Previously On” was the episode that everyone had been waiting for since WandaVision began. It was the time when we finally got answers to the many questions the show had posed. Now revealed as the villain, Agatha interrogates Wanda and takes her back through important memories of her life. It’s here that we learn why so much of WandaVision was structured like classic television and where we found out how the Hex came to be.

This episode includes the show’s most memorable line, as Vision tells Wanda, “What is grief, if not love persevering?” It’s a line that still receives praise to this day. Elizabeth Olsen delivered some of her greatest work ever in this 45 minutes of television, while the episode was nominated for two Emmy Awards. The end reveal that she’s officially the Scarlet Witch, along with the tease for a new version of Vision, made for must-see television.

3) Agatha All Along –“Death’s Hand In Mine”

Agatha All Along was a very good show that became great with its seventh episode, “Death’s Hand in Mine”. Focusing on the fourth trial of the Witches’ Road, this one puts Lilia Calderu front and center, and along with the test, we also navigate parts of her life told out of sequence. It makes for a masterfully crafted non-linear story that ends when Lilia sacrifices herself to save the others. Patti LuPone gives one of the best performances in the MCU in this beautiful send-off to her character.

The Lilia Calderu story would be enough to make “Death’s Hand in Mine” a spectacular episode, yet there’s still much more to love about it. The biggest moment outside of the sacrifice was that Lilia’s trial leads to the reveal that Rio Vidal is the personification of Death and that Agatha Harkness knew the entire time. It’s brilliantly done and sets up the final two episodes so well.

2) WandaVision – “On A Very Special Episode…”

The first three episodes of WandaVision felt like a love letter to the history of TV, while the fourth installment showed us what was going on outside of the Hex. Episode 5, “On a Very Special Episode…”, combined those elements for something special. Wanda and her family were now in a sitcom styled after the ’80s and ’90s. More questions arose as Agnes broke character and asked if she should redo the scene, causing Vision to be even more unsure about what was going on.

When S.W.O.R.D. sent a drone into the Hex, Wanda destroyed it and carried it back out to them. The way she threatened everyone was a great preview of her villainous role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as Wanda was terrifying. The real kicker came at the end, as Wanda and Vision get into an argument, only for Wanda to roll credits. The shock of Wanda’s dead brother Pietro showing up, only to be played by Evan Peters instead of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, had people coming up with all sorts of theories for the next week.

1) Loki– “Glorious Purpose”

Two seasons of Loki had built up to “Glorious Purpose”, and it delivered in spades. Loki learned to control his time-slipping and literally spent centuries learning everything he could about the Throughput Multiplier to try to successfully approach the Loom. Even with that, he still couldn’t get it right, so he went back to when Sylvie killed He Who Remains, returning us to the Season 1 finale. The conversation between Loki and He Who Remains was one of the franchise’s most captivating.

Eventually, Loki comes to understand what he must do and makes the ultimate sacrifice. When Loki destroys the Loom, magically rejuvenates dying timelines, and chooses to hold them together for eternity is one of the MCU’s greatest moments. From the score to the visuals, it was perfect. The scene completed Loki’s incredible redemption arc (an even better one than his first that culminated in Avengers: Infinity War) and cemented Loki as the MCU’s best show.

10 Best First Episodes of Marvel TV Shows

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