Sorry, Daredevil: Born Again, But This Is Still the MCU’s Best Disney+ Show

Daredevil: Born Again represents another successful Disney+ show for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it still doesn’t dethrone the franchise’s best series to date. Season 1 of the revival of Netflix’s Daredevil series sees Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Charlie Cox) continue his lawyer duties in Hell’s Kitchen while pondering his identity as a masked vigilante. The election of Daredevil’s nemesis Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) as New York City’s mayor spells trouble, as the fearsome mob boss enacts a series of violent measures against the city’s people, masquerading as a cure for crime. Daredevil: Born Again‘s first nine episodes serve as a solid continuation of the Netflix series with only minor blemishes, delivering brutal fight scenes and unpredictable drama in Season 1.

Despite Daredevil: Born Again‘s triumphs, 2021’s WandaVision remains the MCU’s greatest Disney+ show. The first Marvel series to arrive on the streaming service, WandaVision follows Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) journey through grief after losing Vision (Paul Bettany) during the Avengers’ war against Thanos (Josh Brolin). After creating a false reality in the town of Westview, where she resurrects Vision and starts a family, Wanda reckons with her traumatic past en route to fulfilling her destiny by becoming the all-powerful Scarlet Witch. WandaVision is truly riveting from start to finish, as its nine episodes contain intriguing mysteries, excellent character development, and top-notch acting performances. To this day, not a single MCU Disney+ series can rival WandaVision‘s elite stature.

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WandaVision Is an MCU Show Like No Other

Created by Jac Schaeffer, WandaVision follows a unique episodic structure, basing each of the first seven episodes on a different era of sitcom television. Starting with the black-and-white style of the 1950s, the show also imitates ’80s and ’90s TV. This method of storytelling injects WandaVision with an expertly-crafted sense of flair. The series delves into Wanda’s history of loss with pleasant notes of humor and exceptional attention to detail. An engrossing examination of the stages of grief, WandaVision thoroughly develops its main character — which serves as a satisfying payoff to the character’s limited arc as a supporting player prior to the Disney+ series. Before WandaVision, Olsen’s magic-wielding anti-hero had been largely deprived of agency throughout her MCU story, often villainized for struggling to control her powers. In WandaVision, Wanda wrongfully imprisons the citizens in Westview, but reconciles with the agony that took her down this dark path. The series’ conclusion with Wanda’s transformation into the Scarlet Witch signifies the character’s rebirth and self-rule after years of being used.

Wanda’s arc in WandaVision functions as the show’s beating heart, but the introductions of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) are also significant highlights, as are the returns of Vision, Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), and Jimmy Woo (Randall Park). Olsen’s lead performance in WandaVision is arguably a career-best, and Hahn is so magnetic that Marvel gave Agatha a solo series. Four years after WandaVision aired, the series feels like a once-in-a-generation piece of storytelling. WandaVision takes time to reveal all of its secrets, as the intensifying mystery leads to a satisfying final pair of episodes.

Not Even Daredevil: Born Again Can Dethrone WandaVision as the MCU’s Best Disney+ Show

Since WandaVision marked the beginning of the MCU’s TV endeavors on Disney+, no other subsequent series has managed to surpass its quality. Schaeffer’s 2024 WandaVision spinoff Agatha All Along came the closest thanks to its similarly unconventional narrative structure and near-perfect execution. Outside of the two, there exists a significant gap separating them from the remainder of the MCU’s TV library. What makes WandaVision virtually unconquerable in the realm of MCU TV revolves around its impeccable quality, as well as the timing of its release.

A far cry from the traditional hero-vs-villain formula, WandaVision tells a remarkably human tale that resonates with all audiences. Moreover, WandaVision was an iconic moment in MCU history following the franchise’s year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show boosted the fervor surrounding the MCU for the first time since the awe-inspiring event that was 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. That brilliance has not worn off a but over the last four years, as WandaVision remains a captivating, highly re-watchable show that represents the peak of MCU television.

All episodes of Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 are available to stream on Disney+.