On January 15, 2021, WandaVision was released, making this the first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Disney + show. The Introduction of series in the MCU was so significant because the MCU had never done anything with streaming channels or much with television shows, so this was a first to them and a first to the fans. This began the journey of the MCU producing Disney + series along with the many movies they will continue to release. Because of this, fans are asking themselves which is better, shows or movies?
Films
With the 34 MCU films, fans have been selling out the theater’s seats in a matter of minutes when trying to attend opening day.
The films have averaged 80.88% on Rotten Tomatoes with the highest percentage going to Black Panther (2018) with 98% and the lowest, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantanium (2023) with 46%. (Numbers may change over time)
On IMDB the films have averaged 7.0/10 with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: End Game (2019) having the highest rating of 8.4/10 and The Marvel with the lowest rating of 5.5/10.
Asher Lee, a freshman jazz major at Las Vegas Academy (LVA) said, “Probably the first one [Spider-Man (2002)] is really good and Homecoming [Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)] is really awesome,” when asked what his favorite Marvel movies were.
Lee gave a suggestion to help improve the Marvel films. “I will probably for the first one [Spider-Man (2002)] make it like a little easier to follow. Because for the first one I was confused.” Lee said.
Series
Disney + was first created in 2019 and Marvel joined in 2021. To celebrate, the MCU released multiple shows including WandaVision, Loki (2021-23), and many more.
The MCU shows have averaged 83.25% on Rotten Tomatoes. X-Men’97 (2024) has the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating with 98% and Secret Invasion (2023) is rewarded the lowest with a score of 52%.
MCU shows have averaged a 7.0/10 on IMDb. Loki has the highest IMDb with a rating of 8.2/10 and the lowest was She-Hulk (2022) with a rating of 5.2/10.
Avery Speas, a freshman orchestra major at LVA, was asked about his least favorite MCU show. He said, “She Hulk is definitely the biggest one, for its atrocious writing, and its CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery).” When asked about his favorite shows, Speas said his was Loki.
When Speas was asked about improving the MCU shows, he said, “The biggest thing right now with Marvel is the writing isn’t that good, so they need to fix up on their writing, and then if they’re going to use CGI, they have to make sure they have enough budget for good looking CGI.”
Conclusion
MCU shows do have a better Rotten Tomato score than the movies, averaging a percentage of 83.25% while the movies averaged 80.85%. On the other hand, both shows and movies averaged 7.0/10 on IMDb. This means that we will have to wait and see if the shows will fully overcome the films, but this does come down to personal preference.
Speas and Lee both agreed that the movie format was better than the show formatting when it comes to the MCU.
Though this is just the beginning of Marvel, Disney + shows we are expecting more to come like What If season three releasing on Dec. 22, 2024, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on Jan. 29, 2025, and many more shows awaiting the fans. Do not be weary because we are still getting lots of films in upcoming years including Thunderbolts* coming out on May 2, 2025, and many others.