Credit: Marvel StudiosAs 2023 winds down, it’s officially time to see how each Marvel Studios release stacks up following a turbulent year for the entertainment giant. And surprisingly, it seems like one animated underdog has reined supreme, despite just debuting on Disney+ last week.
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Ever since the MCU’s critically acclaimed Infinity Saga came to an end in 2019 with Avengers: Endgame, it’s safe to say that the franchise has lost a bit of its luster. While Phases Four and Five have been a mixed bag with audiences, Disney+ originals like Moon Knight, WandaVision, and Ms. Marvel have performed well on the streaming platform. Meanwhile, some theatrical releases, including the Tom Holland-fronted Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and James Gunn’s more recent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), have raked in big bucks for Disney and Marvel, suggesting that “superhero fatigue” is, perhaps, not as widespread as it may seem.
Still, there’s no denying that the Disney+ She-Hulk show, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), and Nia DaCosta’s box office flop, The Marvels, spell trouble for the franchise moving forward. Plus, with its next Thanos-level threat, Kang the Conqueror, presumably being out of the picture following actor Jonathan Majors’ firing, the Multiverse Saga is riddled with uncertainty. With its movie slate now a big question mark, it seems like Marvel’s best bet might be in the TV landscape given the success of not one, but two shows that arrived on Disney+ over the past year: Season 2 of Loki and the second season of Marvel Studios’ What If…?
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The latest season of Loki is widely regarded as one of the best MCU projects of the year, if not of all time. Starring Tom Hiddleston as the titular God of Mischief (now the God of Stories), the new batch of episodes saw him joining forces with Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), O.B. (Ke Huy Quan), and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) to save the TVA from inevitable disaster. Although the first season was already a hit, Season 2, which completed its six-episode run on Disney+ in November, scored an impressive 82% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it an 81%. But believe it or not, What If…? has officially dethroned Loki as the best-reviewed MCU project of 2023.
According to Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, What If…? Season 2 is even better than Loki, with an 87% approval rating. At the time of writing, it remains neck and neck with Loki‘s audience score, which also sits at 81%. Critics, who were given early access to the entire season on December 21, are apparently enamored with What If…? Season 2’s animation style, dimension-bending storylines, and fan-favorite heroes, despite the new season having just arrived on Disney+ on December 22 with the episode “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
The overwhelming amount of praise for What If…? Season 2 isn’t exactly surprising, considering its first season, which premiered on Disney+ in August 2021, has an average Tomatometer score of 90% and an average audience rating of 87%. However, when compared to earlier releases throughout 2023, it’s still a remarkable milestone for Marvel Studios. For reference, the Disney+ Secret Invasion show sits at a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while The Marvels scored just 46%.
So far, the sophomore season of What If…? has featured beloved characters from branched timelines, including Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), and Peggy Carter/Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), in colorful Multiversal scenarios, all overseen by the elusive Watcher (Jeffrey Wright). And there’s likely plenty more surprises in store as it inches closer to its finale. Disney’s never-before-seen release schedule for the show — in which a new episode drops daily over nine consecutive days — seems to be working well for the streamer, and there’s a good chance we could see a similar release strategy utilized down the line.
With plenty of exciting TV projects on the horizon, including Echo, Spider-Man: Freshman Year, and Eyes of Wakanda, it’ll be interesting to see if Marvel and Disney can keep up the momentum coming off the success of What If…? Season 2. Regardless, one thing’s for sure: animation seems to be the future of the MCU. Given that former Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso has previously hyped up the brand’s expansion to animation by creating an “animation branch and mini studio” back in 2021, hopefully, the company will continue to explore this medium in favor of just live-action shows.
Marvel Studios’ What If…? Season 2 is currently airing exclusively on Disney+.
Do you hope to see more animated MCU films and TV shows come out of Marvel Studios in the coming years? Let us know in the comments below!