MCU Phase 4 on Disney+ from GOOD to GREAT | Marvel Studios': The Multiverse Saga

With 2022 coming to a close, the MCU has also closed out it's Phase 4 with The Guardians Of The Galaxy: Holiday Special.

So let's rank the MCU Disney+ content from good to great.

Before we start let's list out the shows for memory, we had WandaVision which kicked off Phase 4 in 2021 followed by Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Loki: Season 1, What If...?: Season 1, Hawkeye, Moonknight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law and two Marvel Special Presentations - Werewolf By Night and The Guardians Of The Galaxy: Holiday Special.

Let's start ranking:

8. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

She-Hulk is last on my list as the show was not what I expected. I had lots of fun with the episodes but I wanted more court stuff, I wanted to see more of Jen being a lawyer and was excited to see something different. Tatiana Maslany is perfectly cast so it's a huge miss according to me. We got different but not what I expected. It was a comedy show and I really liked it for that, but just imagine a show where it was as funny but also showed how good a lawyer Jen was. Every other arc was fine and I loved the ending of episode 8 where I thought they were finally going to take the story seriously. Though silly I really wanted the finale fight to go down but I enjoyed the fourth wall break and meeting K.E.V.I.N.. Jen's conversation with K.E.V.I.N. with hints to the MCU was too good but it broke the magic of the MCU. It was empowering to give Jen the chance to write her own story. The introduction of Skaar anyways at the end after Jen told K.E.V.I.N to earse it, I hope was a hint to something bigger at play.

A positive; apart from some really funny bits was the fact that the creators were able to predict and exactly depict the type of responses fans would have.

My favourite episodes were episode 4 with Wong and Madissyn, epsiode 8 a.k.a the Daredevil episode and episode 1 a.k.a the Hulk episode.

7. Ms. Marvel

A charming show with a very likeable performance from Iman Vellani but the reason it is so low on the list is the Clandestines. The Clandestines are the worst MCU villains period. Their powers were underwhelming and as characters too they had nothing special. The saving grace is Iman's performance, her friends and family. Family was definetly a main theme and I loved how Kamala got parts of her costume from her friends and family.

Many people felt that the time travel bit messed up the rules of time travel that Endgame setup but I think it is a part of a bigger puzzle given that the bangle was shown to be taken by Aisha from a blue arm (most likely Kree) and a likely Ten Rings temple. We may get some answers in The Marvels and I won't be surprised if it's tied to Kang.

I was happy to hear about Mutations, means X-Men are close but I'm not sure how I feel about an Inhuman being a Mutant. I hope they say that the mutation of an Inhuman is different from that of a Mutant but I would not mind if she was a Mutant provided we get something exciting out of it.

The connections to Southern Asia made me have a soft spot for this show and I'm excited to see Ms. Marvel team up with Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau in The Marvels.

6. What If...?: Season 1

With a promising first episode and some really great What If...? scenarios the show was good but since it's yet to have any impact on the main MCU I'm not sure that just the last two episodes being epic can place this elseworlds type show higher on my list. That being said I'd love for Infinity Ultron or Guardians of The Mutliverse to break into the MCU and/or be a part of Avengers: Secret Wars.

5. Hawkeye

An MCU show set during Christmas was a good starting point for Hawkeye. Hailey Stienfield as Kate Bishop is an interesting addition to the MCU. How can there be an Hawkeye story without a Black Widow, Florence Pugh's Yelena stole the show and her chemistry with Kate was really great. The show served as the starting point of actors reprising their Marvel roles with the Kingpin and that turned out to be the show's downfall. Although mostly good the treatment of Kingpin and a good but not great finale leaves this MCU outing much lower than others.

6. Werewolf By Night

I was not even looking forward to this. The first trailer made me curious. I instantly liked it the first time I watched it. There are countable MCU references but it didn't ruin the old-school horror style special. Only complaint is the titular character's transformation and look as the Werewolf was underwhelming. Elsa Bloodstone was the star and Man-Thing an interesting character introduced in a very interesting time as he is supposed to guard the Nexus of all realities which is where all multiverses intersect.

4. Falcon And The Winter Soldier

The second MCU Disney+ show had a lot to live upto. Steve's legacy, WandaVision's success and much more. The show is very grounded. It has some good action scenes and feels very real. Bucky's ending is not satisfactory after all the build up and the overall story feels loose due to last minute pandemic induced changes. Otherwise I think this show had got a lot of things right.

3. Moonknight

This MCU show has the best superhero costume design ever.. The biggest strength of this show is Oscar Isaac's acting and equally important is Ethan Hawke's performance. The show was our first look at the supernatural MCU. The show delves into Egyptian culture but not totally and cheaped out on showing the actual Enead. The show adapts some amazing comic ideas but introduces it too late for us to actually doubt whether all that's happened is in Marc/Steven's head. Episode 5 was really good with the origin story and that meant that the finale had to be exceptional to end this show on a high note. The finale was good but not exceptional but the post credit stinger left us wanting more of this troubled hero.

4. The Guardians of The Galaxy: Holiday Special

Serving as the return of the Guardians after 3 years, the holiday special brought the spirit of Christmas. It was good to see the Guardians again. The story choosing to focus on Mantis and Drax going to earth to get Peter a present was a cool throwback to all those Christmas movies we love. and Dave Bautista bring their fun element. The special has minute story and character progressions setting us up for the sure to be emotional Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3.

2. Loki: Season 1

The show comes awfully close to beating WandaVision. The world building for the TVA and crazy concepts introduced in this show are enough to keep you interested. After more than a year it's the only MCU show that has truly stuck the landing and went all out in its finale and it's ironic considering that the whole finale is Loki and Sylvie talking to He Who Remains. We knew the show was important because it introduces a Kang variant but after the roadmap being laid out, Loki is probably the most important MCU show setting up the next Avengers film with Loki and Sylvie being characters who will for sure be a major part of the story. The show is also the first to get a second season and I hope it's good or even better than season 1.

1. WandaVision

This was a phenomenon. This is the project that got us back into the MCU after the pandemic delays and it was not playing around. The mystery and unique style giving tribute to the various era's of television made for a really fun experience. I was worried that the reasoning behind Wanda creating a sitcom reality wouldn't be convincing but they made it work. Though borrowing from a major comic run the show felt fresh and is the most fun I've had specualting with the community on what was actually happening. The finale is not great and as I mentioned Loki is the only show that has a good finale. I was happy to see Wanda in Multiverse Of Madness but the offscreen change in motivation made all the good work that WandaVision did to make audiences sympatize with this character go in vain. Hope they are able to pull of the Children's Crusade story arc and have Wanda return in a majestic way.

So that was my ranking of the 10 MCU Disney+ projects of Phase 4. Let me know your rankings in the comments and I'll see you in the next video. Love you 3000!