The MCU's Best TV Show Officially Debuted 5 Years Ago

In 2013, five years after the release of Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe expanded into the television realm with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was followed in the immediate years afterward by Agent Carter, Inhumans, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher, The Defenders, Runaways, and Cloak & Dagger. However, all those shows had one thing in common: they were made by the now-defunct Marvel Television division rather than Marvel Studios, i.e. the production company responsible for the MCU movies.

It wasn’t until the beginning of 2021 that Marvel Studios started releasing its own TV shows set within the superhero franchise. Following the launch of Disney+ a little over a year earlier, this new corner of the MCU opened up with WandaVision. From there, the streaming service delivered a steady output of shows both spotlighting established characters and brand-new ones, like Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Moon Knight.

Of these shows, there’s an overwhelming majority of fans who have heaped praise on Loki. Following the title trickster god’s death at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, Tom Hiddleston reprised the variant of him introduced in Avengers: Endgame for the series, chronicling the character going on a different kind of redemptive journey. Loki debuted on Disney+ five years ago today, and it still ranks as the best MCU TV show.

Loki Helped Redefine Superhero TV Shows

©Disney+/Marvel Studios /Courtesy Everett Collection

Loki pulled off a rare feat by taking a beloved character, duplicating him, and making that copy just as beloved, if not more so, for entirely different reasons. Watching this version of Loki evolve into a better person through his affiliation with the TVA was captivating to watch, culminating in him becoming the God of Stories. So these two seasons function as an effective origin story that could have been plucked straight from a comic book.

That being said, what made Loki stand out from other superhero TV shows is how it didn’t feel superhero-y. The fantastical elements were obviously still present, and the show did a tremendous job of adapting Marvel lore. However, Loki ultimately felt like a better fit within the sci-fi and crime genres through its exploration of the multiverse, the buddy cop dynamic between Loki and Owen Wilson’s Mobius, and Loki going on the run across various realities with Sylvie, among other things.

Loki was a game changer for superhero television in the sense that it reminded audiences that these kinds of shows don’t have to deliver the traditional beats of costumes, crime fighting, third act-style clashes with villains, etc. In the midst of all the spectacle and time travel craziness, Loki delivered a unique character study that stood out from others in this genre. Just because something is defined as a superhero show doesn’t mean it has to fully fit within that mold.

What Loki Did Better Than Other MCU Shows On Disney+

Loki in The End of Time in Loki season 2 finale

Though not the only great MCU TV show on Disney+ by any means, Loki is arguably the only one that hits the balance of being both an enjoyable series on its own, yet also being the most consequential to the wider mythology. For fans who enjoyed watching Hiddleston’s Loki in the MCU’s first three Phases, but weren’t interested in following along with the ongoing storyline in the next three Phases, Loki works just fine as a standalone offering. It ends on a relatively conclusive note.

At the same time, and one might say paradoxically (which is fitting for a show like this), Loki is also a key building block of The Multiverse Saga. The events of season 1 helped set up Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and season 2 led to Deadpool & Wolverine. In Quantumania’s case, Loki introduced the Kang variant known as He Who Remains before the main Kang the Conqueror was brought in, and then season 2 followed along with the Victor Timely variant.

Though Kang is no longer The Multiverse Saga’s main villain, Loki will still factor into the upcoming Marvel movie Avengers: Doomsday. Because he’s now maintaining the timelines, he’ll be drawn into the multiverse machinations that Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom is plotting. The point being, while some of these MCU shows led into movies, they still didn’t feel like absolutely necessary watches to enjoy said movies. Loki, on the other hand, is integral to what’s been building since the start of Phase Four, which makes it stand above the rest of this programming.