Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Hellstrom

  • Ranking Marvel TV: The Best and Worst Shows In MCU Canon Limbo

    Ranking Marvel TV: The Best and Worst Shows In MCU Canon Limbo

    Long before Marvel Studios started creating series set in the MCU for Disney+, there was Marvel Television. Marvel Television is now under the Marvel Studios banner, and the effects of that have been pretty clear. The Disney+ series, such as WandaVision and Loki, have been wholeheartedly welcomed into the greater MCU family. It only emphasizes how the previous Marvel TV’s connection to the universe is definitely unclear.

    Marvel Studios had consistently steered clear of establishing television series outside of Disney+ originals as canon, the recent news that a “new” but “continued” Daredevil series is in the works at the streaming service. The often bitter debate about which or whether Marvel TV shows are canon is likely only about to get more heated. The easy answer is to enjoy the shows you like (if you like any), consider them headcanon if you want (or ignore them completely), and move on with your life until Marvel Studios ever wants to make it more clear.

    But since many will still wake up every day and choose violence on Twitter instead, here are the Marvel TV shows ranked from best to worst. Marvel Studios can make any of these canon at any time (yes, I can hear those of you already yelling that some are), but will they? This list does not include the few shows originally made as part of the old Fox X-Men universe, nor the animated M.O.D.O.K. or Hit Monkey series.

    1. Daredevil

    Marvel’s ‘Daredevil’ (2015)

    It is no surprise that Netflix’s Daredevil tops this list. The #SaveDaredevil crowd is celebrating the announcement of a Disney+ series for Matt Murdock. It certainly seems like canon territory for the original series, but it really is yet to be seen how the upcoming show might actually adapt the previous one so as to be formally part of the MCU.

    But the fact that Daredevil is the first “revival” of old Marvel TV on Disney+ is a testament to the quality of the series. While never entirely consistent across its three seasons, the show features exciting action, violence that generally surpasses that in the MCU, solid performances by Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, and a gritty emotional layer that films struggle to achieve.

    2. Jessica Jones

    Jessica Jones was made with the type of quality that Daredevil brought to the table. Krysten Ritter’s Jones was one of the first leading women in Marvel TV (Agent Carter premiered months before) and would have been one of the first in the MCU as well by years. She was not forced, and her struggles and traumas related to David Tennant’s chilling antagonist hit a tone that many were afraid to explore—especially at the time. The series also had plenty of upbeat notes with Jones’ personality, and the street-level detective work was a fresh addition to the Netflix Defendersverse.

    3. Luke Cage

    Luke Cage may not go down in history for nailing all of its storytelling elements, but the action-packed and star-studded show is a solid watch. But the series truly excels at putting the spotlight on Black experience and culture through both its subject matter and in the way the show was made, especially with music. One thing that Marvel TV was able to accomplish before the greater MCU was pushing boundaries of representation and actually developing a character within that perspective.

    4. Agent Carter

    Marvel’s ‘Agent Carter’

    Yes, Agent Carter was canceled after two seasons on ABC due to low viewership. And the show was not particularly phenomenal. But where it did succeed is that it made sense as a piece of the MCU puzzle. It has been by creators more recently that the show was made specifically to be canon to the MCU, while others like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may not have necessarily had that same attention. But the series kept Captain America: The First Avenger’s 1940s story going. It was fine. It had its charm and it stayed consistent. It never tried to do too much, which is a major problem with some other series on this list.

    5. Runaways

    As noted above, Runaways definitely felt like it was trying to do too much at times. The Hulu show came at a time when MCU fans started to get a bit tired of keeping up with shows that were beginning to feel less and less relevant to the film universe. But Runaways also felt like it was exploring a corner of the comics that Marvel TV and the MCU had not touched, and the focus on younger heroes certainly gave it a fresh perspective. Like other shows on this list, it pushed representation boundaries—particularly with LGBTQ+. The whole series might not be the most enjoyable experience, but the first season or so isn’t too bad.

    6. Defenders

    Something about the story and writing in Defenders really felt like a flop, but plenty enjoy Marvel TV’s first crossover event. It definitely came across as the Avengers of television, but it was nowhere near as cool. In any event, now that Daredevil is eyeing Disney+, that just begs the inevitable question of whether the Defendersverse as a whole is headed there with it.

    7. The Punisher

    I’m sure many would argue that The Punisher should be higher on the list. Marvel TV got arguably its darkest and most violent here, and it brought a very popular character to the screen. Plenty were not fully satisfied with the portrayal of Frank Castle, but some really appreciated the character development the show afforded him. But the show overall felt like a drudge through a relatively one-note anger fest with lots of guns. While maybe the point of the show, it could still be much better.

    8. Cloak & Dagger

    Cloak & Dagger has some meaningful moments filled with heart amongst a pretty forgettable series overall. Where it shined, it did well, but at the end of the day, it felt like another victim of ABC mediocrity, albeit on Freeform.

    9. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

    Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

    I will start by saying that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a dedicated fanbase that loves the show. I am very happy for them, enjoying stuff is fun. But listen, as someone who has watched the show due to the fact that it was the first Marvel TV show that half-promised it was in the MCU, it is so bad.

    Of course, some moments across the bloated 7 seasons are naturally better than others. But watching this show was work. It fell prey to the ABC network television level of “meh” before the writing and story made it so nonsensical and ridiculous to the point where it is extremely difficult to understand how someone would like it. Considering where the series took itself, the likelihood of the show itself being canon to the MCU is so incredibly low. But if it is, I like the MCU less.

    But there is no strong reason to think that none of the AoS characters or actors will make actual MCU debuts. The fanbase is odd but strong, so the MCU would naturally get some boost of morale if someone like Chloe Bennet’s Quake got a firm reboot somewhere.

    10. Iron Fist

    Iron Fist basically failed before it even tried to fail. But at no point did the series feel like it was trying to succeed. Jessica Henwick’s Colleen Wing managed to feel like a positive at the end of the day, but overall this show is known as one of the worst across the board. Still, it exists within Netflix’s Defendersverse, so it has some staying power.

    11. Inhumans

    Marvel’s ‘Inhumans’

    Inhumans is Marvel’s most infamous failure. From premiering the first bad episodes in IMAX theaters to releasing the rest of the horrible episodes on television was just absolutely unredeemable. But Anson Mount’s Black Bolt made a multiversal cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so the series is getting some renewed attention it does not need.

    12. Helstrom

    Honestly, does anyone know about this show? Apparently, the Hulu show suffered from a severe lack of marketing as well as not being good. It definitely debuted in that awkward space of late 2020 when Marvel Studios was gearing up to premiere its Disney+ slate. Marvel Studios took over Marvel Television while Helstrom was filming, meaning it was the last cry of Marvel TV that was too late to stop.

    Only time will tell how Marvel Studios intends to use (or not) these shows, and Daredevil‘s “continued” series will be quite the eye opener as to how these properties could be formally integrated into the MCU.

  • HELSTROM REVIEW: Marvel TV’s Swansong Is a Dud

    HELSTROM REVIEW: Marvel TV’s Swansong Is a Dud

    All things considered, Marvel TV lasting this long is pretty impressive. In their decade-long stint, the division has produced a slew of content, that ranged from spy shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter, a surrealist fever dream like Legion, and gritty crime dramas like Daredevil and Jessica Jones. With a wide spectrum of subject matter, one can also expect a wide spectrum of results. Some of these shows ended up being duds while some became critical darlings. But when all was said and done, Marvel TV, for the most part, had something special going on for them. 

    Sometime last year, it was announced that Disney was dissolving the Marvel Television division as we knew it in favor of producing and streamlining new serialized content under the division’s more successful cousin, Marvel Studios aka the group that makes the movies. This sudden end for the was nothing short of bittersweet as there were a few projects still in development. This year saw the end of the series that started it all, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with its seventh season and will also mark the final goodbye of Marvel Television with Helstrom, a show based on one of Marvel Comics’ premiere horror characters. 

    Alas, Marvel TV’s swansong is sadly, a dud, not a complete one but its flaws are more evident than its strengths.

    There are great horror properties that aren’t necessarily scary but are well-written just as there are really scary ones that are contrived and awfully written. Helstrom falls in the middle of that category. It’s neither scary nor well-written. It’s a show that brands itself as a horror outing, showcasing possessions, exorcisms, and demons in its marketing material but in actuality, Helstrom itself seems scared of its own supernatural trappings as it refrains from actually giving us the scares. The trailer makes it out to be this action-packed screamfest but those moments are actually few and far in between. In an era where horror is having a resurgence on TV (Netflix’s Haunting of Hill House and Hulu’s new show Monsterland actually give some nice scares), it’s disheartening to see this show miss that mark when the comic and world it’s based is chock full of neat stuff. 

     

    Alain Uy (Chris Yen) and Sydney Lemmon (Ana Helstrom) Credit: Bettina Strauss/Hulu

    I’m a firm believer that comic books can be reinterpreted for the better in their live-action depictions just so as long as it retains the spirit of the source material and in all fairness, Helstrom stays somewhat faithful to the beats of the character’s origins. However, it’s missing one key component of the comic. In the comics, Hellstrom stories were always fun romps against the supernatural. Yes, they dabble into some dark occult stuff but it never loses its flair for making things exciting. The show is far removed from that. Its tone is dreary and takes its own world way too seriously. Visually, it’s lifeless as its colors are muted all throughout. Most importantly, the show is devoid of any excitement and fun. 

    The problem is that Helstrom doesn’t really get to be what it needs to be and it might be because of Marvel TV itself. Anytime a comic they’re adapting has some semblance of the supernatural and unearthly, it gets diluted to gritty realism. The first season of Iron Fist and the Defenders suffered greatly from the company’s inability to give these elements so intrinsic to the source material any justice and Helstrom suffers as well. Their depictions of the supernatural feel cheap and lackluster. A supposedly scary entity gets undercut by poor design choices. The titular character Daimon Helstrom is such a bombastic character in the comics with all kinds of powers but in the show, it gets relegated to him slightly manipulating fire. I can’t imagine what that Ghost Rider show would’ve looked like if they went through with it. 

     

    Tom Austen (Daimon Helstrom) Credit: Bettina Strauss/Hulu

     

    Just like the Netflix shows, there’s also a good amount of wheel-spinning in this show. I don’t know what it is with Marvel TV shows in general but somehow, they’ve proven time and time again their inability to tell well-paced stories.  For example, early in the season, the Helstroms come up with a plan to chase down a possessed man carrying an ancient evil relic. It’s when the show finally kicks in; where the urgency of the matter is of the utmost priority. But what happens in the actual episode? The Helstroms get bottled in a room the entire time, rendering the momentum of the subplot inert. Even more baffling is the next episode when they talk about the chase happening off-screen instead of actually showing it.

    And there’s a lot of telling and not showing in Helstrom. In the comics, Daimon Hellstrom’s father is a demon and is a huge part of that entire world. Likewise in the show, they make it seem like the dad is a huge deal. They talk about him a lot, allude to the horrible stuff he’s done, set him up as this major force in the plot but it ends up being weightless for the entire half of the season because we don’t get to see what he’s capable of doing. By the end of my viewing, I was surprised at how little had progressed with the plot and how few the payoffs were in a span of several hours. 

    Thematically, the show has some interesting stuff to say. Just like Daredevil before it, the show tackles themes of abuse, family, religion, and faith. The Helstrom family is a really screwed up one and the show does a neat job of having the three family members deal with trauma and abuse distinctly from one another. In addition to those themes, Helstrom brings up some interesting questions about morality and necessary evils, in ways that the other Marvel TV shows haven’t explored much. The show features The Blood, a clandestine organization that puts possessed people in comas as a way to end the futile cycle of exorcisms which I thought was a nice layer of depth. 

     

    Elizabeth Marvel (Victoria Helstrom) Credit: Katie Yu/Hulu

     

    For whatever reason, the Marvel brand has been mostly wiped clean from the show that even the iconic page flip intro is nowhere to be found which made fans question just how invested the company is in this show. So it is a bit ironic that the number one saving grace on the show is the star that happens to have Marvel as her last name, Elizabeth Marvel. Anytime Elizabeth Marvel shows up on the screen, the show gets exponentially better. Marvel brings so much weight and darkness to the character of Victoria Helstrom, a woman perpetually at war with literal demons in her head. Marvel straddles the line between sinister and tender so brilliantly; when she’s possessed, it’s genuinely unsettling; when you see her be a mom to Ana and Daimon, it’s heartwarming. 

    The rest of the ensemble does a bang-up job keeping an otherwise bland show watchable. Tom Austen brings a nice delicate swagger to the titular role of Daimon Helstrom though I wish the writers gave this version of the character some of the idiosyncrasies and quirks of Hellstrom in the comics just so Austen has more to do. He clearly has the chops to give a more intense and pronounced performance but the writing, unfortunately, doesn’t give room for it. Sydney Lemmon plays a fantastic foil to Austen as Daimon’s sister, Ana. Between the two siblings, Ana has the more interesting character arc and Lemmon’s icy yet tortured performance helps elevate it. Robert Wisdom, who I absolutely adored in The Wire, is Caretaker, who in the comics is like the Nick Fury of this supernatural pocket of the Marvel Universe. Wisdom plays the character with a gravitas and dignity that commands every scene he’s in.

    Even with a talented ensemble cast, Helstrom is bogged down by the same things that plagued several of their shows. It’s a mishmash of neat ideas here and there but ultimately doesn’t come together in a compelling way. It isn’t outright bad like Inhumans nor is it must-watch television like Daredevil. You won’t be missing out on much if you skip this one.