r/marvelstudios • u/T0xicTrooper21 • 3h ago
Question Are any of the old Marvel Live-action shows worth watching?
Was scrolling through Disney+ the other day and saw all these old Marvel shows. Are any of them worth watching? I had my eye on the Iron Fist and the Cloak and Dagger shows. I also know the current Daredevil show is a continuation of the old one, so should I watch the old Daredevil show before I watch Born Again?
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u/Extra_Age2505 2h ago
Daredevil is a great show so that’s definitely worth watching. I also really like Jessica Jones so that’s something I’d recommend too. And I did like Iron Fist, The Punisher and Cloak & Dagger. If you’re interested in long-form television shows, Agents of SHIELD is pretty good and Agent Carter, while not as good as AoS, isn’t too bad
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u/_LollipopDaisy 2h ago
Agents of SHIELD is such a weird sleeper pick because it starts shaky then somehow becomes one of the most rewarding Marvel watches
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u/mikepictor 2h ago
- Daredevil - hell yes
- Jessica Jones - hell yes on Season 1, probably yes for all of it (it falls off a bit, but I still liked it)
- Luke Cage - Yes. Not as good as the first two, but I think it's worth it
- Iron Fist - A bit rougher, get some criticism, I thought it was ok
- Cloak and Dagger - I liked it personally, mixed opinions from the community
- Runaways - If you liked the comics, then yes. It's a bit confusing otherwise, and has a bit of a CW vibe, but I found it entertainig
edit: Inhumans - HELL NO. It's awful. It's bad bad bad bad. So bad. Don't do this to yourself
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u/leftofdanzig 28m ago
I think the first half of Luke Cage season 1 was perfect. It was soooo good. Then they killed off the best character and got super tropey in a bad way.
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u/Flettwin 2h ago
The 1st MCU show Agents Of SHIELD is fantastic.
• It starts as seemingly pretty basic action sci-fi, but it’s secretly building mysteries in the background that pay off massively later on.
• It’s absolutely stuffed with big and little connections to the MCU and the comics, with some phenomenal adaptations of C-List Marvel Characters like Mockingbird, Absorbing Man, Graviton, Lash and Patriot. (There’s more but some of them are major spoilers)
• The first season also runs parallel with Captain America: Winter Soldier at a certain point so there’s some seriously enjoyable crossover.
• There’s some fun cameo and guest star roles from MCU side characters, but nobody truly huge.
• There’s a season with Ghost Rider that’s legitimately one of the best seasons of television that Marvel have ever put to screen.
• There’s MCU connections that, if you’re paying attention, will legitimately change how you view some moments in the Avengers movies.
• The layers that get peeled back on the main characters and the dark shit they go through, will make you really miss them when the shows over.
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u/ldclark92 52m ago
I watched the entirety of Agents of Shield and watched them as they released. I remember well when the show was leading up to Age of Ultron. I also liked the show quite a bit.
However, I think you're overselling it quite a bit. It's a fun show that has great moments and not so great moments. The best part of it is the characters. The writing can be hit or miss.
And I'd actually challenge that the show changes anything about the way you view Avengers movies. The Age of Ultron lead up was cool and was the time when the show was most connected to the movies. I'll give you that. However, what I think the show most struggled with was they kept creating higher and higher stakes every season yet they often times didn't connect to the overall Avengers stories. Like the Agents are dealing with world ending level threats all on their own and zero Avenger level heroes are involved. It actually made it felt more disconnected in some ways imo.
Anyway, it's a fun show and worth a watch, but this comment just felt like a bit of an oversell for what it ultimately is in the MCU.
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u/Flettwin 4m ago
I respect your perspective, but I don’t really think I’m over-selling it.
The “if you’re paying attention” bit of my comment was important.The Winter Soldier and Age Of Ultron connections/crossovers are the obvious stuff. There’s more that are easy to miss.
The biggest/coolest under-the-radar example:
World Security Council member who orders the Nuke Strike on NYC in Avengers (2012), the one Fury argues with, is revealed to be a Hydra Head in AoS.
The missile Tony catches was literally Hydra trying to kill the Avengers within hours of them first forming.
Watching those scenes back knowing who he really is, legitimately adds a whole new layer to that movie.I agree there’s some wobbly writing in places (mainly in S6) but that’s true of Daredevil too and of all long-running shows.
But like you say the characters are fantastic and as a result the show never stops being entertaining and worth continuing.
And it definitely ends on a high. (One that has some nice lil MCU connections)Honestly in general I consider the AoS writing some of the best in Marvel TV, especially when it comes to character arcs and reveals.
S4 & S5 especially are phenomenal, they genuinely feel like volumes of a Marvel Comic in a way the MCU doesn’t always capture.
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u/indianajoes Phil Coulson 2h ago
Daredevil and Agents of Shield are at the top for me. I put them above any of the Disney+ shows. I'd put Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Agent Carter, Punisher on the next level, Defenders below that and Iron Fist below that. Never seen Inhumans but I've heard bad things. I will get around to watching Cloak and Dagger and Runaways some day.
Definitely watch Daredevil before the new show. It continues from it and the new one won't mean as much if you skip the old one
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u/East_Vacation_9146 2h ago
Yeah, daredevil is a banger, jessica jones is a banger, the 1st half of luke cage is a banger, iron fist and defenders fell a bit short of the mark.
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u/MACGamer1 2h ago
The netflix defenders saga are all pretty good, you cant go wrong with any of them really. Daredevil and Jessica Jones are the best of the bunch in my opinion, but theyre all pretty great.
Agent Carter is alot of fun its much more light hearted but its still really good. Very underrated
Agents of shield is a show that gets better every season. Its a series thst really doesnt stop once it gets going. I LOVE this show so much
Cloak and dagger are really good too, theyre slower much more introspective, Ty and Tandy have good hearts despite being broken teens. Its very surprising how realistic the two feel, especially Tandy, she'll make bad decisions and you understand WHY even when you don't want her to.
I havent seen Runaways nor Helstrom yet, but do plan on it once I finish Jessica Jones season 3, punisher season 2, Agents of Shield season 5 and Cloak and Dagger Season 2. Im slowly making my way through all the series. And theyre all surprisingly really really good.
Inhumans is frustrating imo...i wish it did end up being a movie rather than wasting a show on it. Had it been a movie it would have gotten better writing and more people involved Black Bolt and Maximus are the highlights in my opinion...but the show needed more of a polish. Especially as someone who loves the Inhumans in AOS. Just frustrating to see how wasted the main inhuman royals were on the show....
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u/NateShaw92 2h ago
Daredevil, first season of jesssica jones are a must. They are great.
Honestly Luke Cage is alright as is defenders
Iron Fist and JJ after season 1 has problems but if you liked the rest go for it.
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u/SuitEducational492 2h ago
Netflix shows — of course, to understand what’s going on in the upcoming season 3 of Daredevil, where all the Defenders will be present. Well, you can watch the special episode instead of The Punisher. Other shows are up to you, since they’re kind of non‑canonical for the MCU.
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u/StrongStyleDragon Shuri 2h ago
Netflix era DEFINITELY. Daredevil, Luke Cage & Jessica Jones are the best ones. Never seen them before this year. Making my way through Luke cage now. It’s really good. It’s connected in its own little universe even though they do mention MCU events they have their own watching order however I’m watching them all one by one and ignoring it. Heard good things about the Defenders show.
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u/STALKERVTANKE 1h ago edited 1h ago
Yes, I watched almost all of them. Luck cage is the most boring one, but it's ok, inhumans was ok too, but a little more fun. Cloak & Dagger has awesome soundtracks, visual and interesting story, maybe most comfortable and good to watch for me. AoS is the best over all, it was surprisingly good find. The rest just good, but without something special (good or bad)
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u/Metal_King706 1h ago
Biggest problem with Iron Fist is it’s a martial arts based show and the lead actor is bad at fight choreography and doesn’t wear a mask. So they had to cut the fights in a mostly unsatisfying way to cover for that. Daredevil had already set an awesome standard for what the Netflix Marvel fights could be, so Iron Fist was a massive letdown in that regard. The show has some good stuff in it, I watched both seasons, just be aware you’re not getting high level kung fu from the main guy. There are some others in the show that can carry that weight a little.
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u/Academic_Composer904 Loki (Thor 2) 1h ago
For me, the must watches are:
-Daredevil
-Jessica Jones: S1
-Agents of Shield.
(-Defenders- it’s not as good as Daredevil, but is basically Daredevil S2.5. It’s short, makes DDS3 make sense, and is entertaining enough.)
Shows that are good, watch if you really enjoy the character:
-Jessica Jones S2&3
-Luke Cage
-Punisher
-Agent Carter
Shows that are just bad I wouldn’t waste my time on them:
-Iron Fist
–Inhumans
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u/MainEventI3 Winter Soldier 1h ago edited 1h ago
Daredevil and Punisher (I've only seen S1 so far) are great. Really liked Jessica Jones too.
Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Defenders are just ok. Rosario Dawson and Jessica Henwick are the main reasons why I got through those shows.
Agents of SHIELD is great, it starts out as a bit of a companion piece to the Marvel movies with little tie-ins here and there but there's a moment near the end of the 1st season where it really gets going. Amazed how it gets better every season, just a really likeable bunch of characters and a lot of cool sci-fi elements.
I've watched maybe 2 or 3 episodes of Cloak & Dagger but couldn't get into it. Runaways is good but only if you're into young adult drama / romance type stories.
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u/Anarkizttt 1h ago
Definitely watch the OG Daredevil! It’s some of the best television out there period. And definitely some of the best marvel content and has been re-soft-canonized due to Born Again. Which means the entire Defenders Saga is soft canon too (basically everything in them happened until something newer contradicts it) so that’s Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Punisher, Iron Fist and The Defenders.
Cloak and Dagger is a FANTASTIC show, they do a good job at reworking their origin for a modern audience (we don’t need the super heroin origin story) and the New Orleans setting is super fun.
Agents of SHIELD is also phenomenal but its canonicity is debatable (I say it’s canon, but people argue against that due to the later seasons getting weird with it, basically they kept trying to be canon but the movies started working with them less and less and less until they gave up)
The Gifted was pretty fun but it’s been years since I’ve seen it so I could be misremembering its quality, but it’s non MCU-canon, its the same deal as AoS but for the Fox X-Men universe, it’s “canon” but The Gifted wasn’t allowed to touch any of the movie characters and it’s set in the doomed to be erased timeline that led to the future of Days of Future Past.
The Runaways isn’t currently on Disney+ but I highly recommend that show too, it’s a lot of fun. So much so that I started reading the old Runaways comics!
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u/leftofdanzig 31m ago
Iron Fist was absolute hot garbage. Probably the worst Marvel tv show (forget just within Netflix). The character was a completely unlikable smug ass who had to show off constantly while still talking down to people. I genuinely regret watching it to prep for Defenders because Danny Rand has basically no bearing on the plot.
Skip it and read the Wikipedia synopsis. Cloak and dagger on the other hand is at least somewhat enjoyable. I wouldn’t rate it as great but it’s definitely watchable.
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u/InevitableWeight314 2h ago
The original Daredevil is amazing, generally regarded as one of the best superhero shows ever made, and an all-round great television show.
Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Defenders, Cloak and Dagger, Inhumans are all pretty bad
Jessica Jones, Punisher, Agents of Shield are pretty good I think, but I haven’t watched them.
So… watch Daredevil basically
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u/BasedAustralhungary 2h ago
Luke Cage very bad? What? I can understand disliking Iron Fist or being somewhat disappointed to Defenders but I wouldn't say that the later was bad, nor I'd say Luke Cage is... for me is very solid and cool. I like to see a more gritty story.
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u/BasedAustralhungary 2h ago
I think that the Defenders saga is very good —including Iron Fist, which may be corny but I enjoyed It a lot—, I'd watch It for the sake of following the plot line that goes through the MCU directly. This is also clear because in almost all the shows there are direct references to the events of the movies (somehow, specially in Luke Cage and Jessica Jones)
Not mandatory, but worth watching indeed. I'm waiting to see for some news about the canon of series such as Agents of SHIELD and Cloak and Dagger, but we'll have to see. The issue with Agents of SHIELD is that they'd have to recton the Inhumans or work over the disaster, and also explain the issues around the Darkhold.
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u/Atrium41 2h ago
I honestly didn't hate Iron Fist. Maybe a lil corny at times, but I kinda hope we see Finn Jones again.