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While the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
has only recently branched out into official TV shows, Marvel has been making projects for the small screen for years, and many finales have left huge impressions on audiences. Marvel has built a career and reputation as being a juggernaut in TV and film. Since 2008, Marvel began to take control of its IP, recover characters that were sold to other studios, and start building a massively ambitious shared world.
And as a result, the superhero genre exploded in popularity, even more than it had in the decade before. With that, superhero content came to both the big and small screens, with shows focusing on longer format, serialized stories. This was the perfect breeding ground to create intense, emotional, and gripping stories that all resolved in incredible season finales, with many shows and seasons standing out.
10
Agatha All Along
To kick things off, one of Marvel’s most recent projects deserves a spot in the running, Agatha All Along. While the show didn’t resonate with everyone, it’s incredible to see what Marvel Studios was able to make out of a side character who, thanks to Kathryn Hahn’s stellar performance, became a fan favorite. Despite not being the focus of WandaVision, Agatha Harkness charmed her way to getting a spin-off series.
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But more than that, this show could have gone in a lot of directions, creating winding paths that lead off from the core MCU. And yet, the show’s ending was one of the most incredible twists from Marvel to date, and it wrapped the narrative up neatly in a way that aligned with the comics, despite taking a lot of other creative liberties. Agatha All Along’s season finale was fun, imaginative, and it pushed the MCU further in a deeply satisfying way.
9
Agent Carter Season 1
Going back much further in the timeline, Agent Carter started life as a spin-off from Captain America, with the show focusing on Steve Rogers’ dance partner, Peggy Carter. With the timeline being askew, the show had more creative liberties than shows that would eventually be incorporated to the MCU, but despite this, the series did a lot of groundwork to tie back into the MCU, such as setting up SHIELD, and giving Tony Stark’s father, Howard Stark, a prominent role.
And while the show had two spectacular seasons, the season 1 finale stands out in particular. After setting up a tense story of espionage and betrayal, “Valediction” delivers a wonderful conclusion that feels so close to the MCU, it wouldn’t make sense to exclude it. With Howard’s failed efforts to make a super soldier serum, interference from HYDRA, and Arnim Zola making an appearance, this finale was phenomenal.
8
Agents of SHIELD
Another show that has its roots in the MCU, Agents of SHIELD, ran for seven seasons. However, over that time, the show ended up pulling further and further away from the MCU, due to a lack of communication between the TV show executives and the MCU’s. However, with more freedom to explore whatever stories they choose, Agents of SHIELD did a lot of incredible things, occasionally beating out the MCU.
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But the ultimate send-off for the series came at the end of the seventh season. With so much time for these characters to be established and explored, the series finale was the perfect moment to show how far each character had come. And it did that spectacularly, with Daisy Johnson, Fitz and Simmons, Phil Coulson, and so many more being so much more focused and heroic by the show’s end. And the flash forward establishing where the heroes went after the series was also a nice touch.
7
X-Men ’97 Season 1
With the MCU now dipping its toes into the world of animation, the series X-Men ’97 was a great way to get started as it picks up where the original animated cartoon from the 1990s left off. The entire of season 1 is a spectacular trip that sees unexpected twists and turns delivered in thoroughly satisfying ways. However, the finale is on another level in terms of ambition and the opportunities it sets up going forward.
Due to being in their premiere season, X-Men ’97 needed to prove its value from the beginning. And the season 1 ending has an important part to play in ensuring the show has a future. Fortunately, the stakes are higher than ever before, with both Bastion and Magneto causing trouble, and the X-Men team divided. This finale has tension, drama, and intrigue all wrapped into one, creating a high demand for season 2.
6
Legion Season 3
A lesser-known Marvel series that spins off from the X-Men, Legion is one of the most creative and ambitious shows in the Marvel pantheon. David Haller, played by Dan Stevens, is an exceptionally powerful mutant with a troubled past. Due to a complex upbringing, David struggles to make sense of reality, and his powers further complicate things as the world around him appears to bend and reshape to his will.
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The series took David on an epic journey of discovery over three seasons, until the final season sees David reunite with his father, Charles Xavier. This reunion completes one of the most intense and dramatic arcs in Marvel TV, and it also leads to a pretty impressive team-up which helps to forever change things for everyone involved. Unfortunately, since the show went so far under the radar, this spectacular ending went underappreciated by most.
5
Jessica Jones Season 1
The Netflix Marvel shows delivered something really special that was in complete contrast with the bright and whimsical MCU. While both are now more aligned than ever, with some prominent characters returning and more expected to join the fray, going back to where these shows began, and the dark and compelling narratives that they told, Jessica Jones needs to be mentioned.
Firstly, Jessica Jones presented one of the most terrifying villains in any Marvel project to date with David Tennant’s Kilgrave. Despite Jones being a superhuman woman with super strength, Kilgrave’s ability to get inside people’s heads made him a particular threat, but his disposition to do so without any remorse, guilt, or shame, made him a monster. The season 1 finale sees this terrifying relationship between Jessica and her captor, Kilgrave, finally resolved, when Jessica manages to break free of his control, and put an end to his reign of terror.
4
WandaVision
Wanda Maximoff is one of the most powerful figures in the MCU, but her story is also filled with tragedy and heartbreak. As a child, she lost her parents in a tragic bombing. Then, when her powers were uncovered, she was imprisoned and trapped with only her brother to keep her company. When she was eventually freed, and sided with the heroes, her brother was killed, and following that, she was forced to kill the one person she allowed herself to get close to, Vision, before he was resurrected, and immediately brutally killed in front of her by Thanos.
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With all that pain, Wanda broke. This led to her living in Westview, surrounded by people she took control of subconsciously to build herself a new world and life. But Wanda’s dream bubble burst before long, leading to one of the most incredible battles on the small screen. The season finale of WandaVision also set several stories in motion, including Agatha Harkness’, White Visions, and the events that would take place in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
3
Daredevil Season 1
Daredevil is another series that began its life on Netflix, only to be canceled after an incredible three-season run when Marvel Studios decided to retake control of their TV division. While some of the Netflix shows had run their course, and others never really got off the ground, Daredevil was the outlier that continued to deliver an incredible and compelling narrative arc.
But, that all began with season 1. The show established characters like Matt Murdock and Kingpin in the world of Hell’s Kitchen in a way that was gritty, tense, and powerful. And in the season 1 finale, things begin to come to a head. Daredevil confronts the Kingpin, and it appears as though he manages to get the situation under control. But this episode goes a long way to prove how widespread corruption is, and the power that Fisk has over the city and its people.
2
Daredevil: Born Again Season 1
Thankfully, the story didn’t end after three seasons, and the MCU saw the value that Daredevil brought to the table, especially when played by Charlie Cox, and paired up with the unbeatable Vincent D’Onofrio. Daredevil: Born Again brings the gang back together, and follows events that take place in New York several years after the season 3 finale. And more impressively, it reignited the spark of excitement that the original show captured.
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Born Again’s season 1 finale sees Wilson Fisk embrace his identity as the Kingpin, coordinating a task force of brutal corrupt cops in plain sight. And in retaliation, Matt Murdock positions himself to lead an army of his own, including masked vigilantes and straight-laced cops, to fight back against the hostile takeover. A lot happens in the finale, but the way it sets up an even bigger story for the next season is unparalleled.
1
Loki Season 2
Finally, Loki was a runaway star of the Multiverse Saga whose redemption arc took them to brand-new places and established them as one of the greatest heroes of the MCU. After his initial run as a villain in The Avengers, a variant Loki was brought to the Time Variance Authority to be pruned from the timeline. However, Loki discovers what lies behind the TVA, and works alongside some new friends to resolve it.
The season 2 finale is a beautiful full circle moment, with Loki’s character realizing his great and glorious purpose, and taking control of the timeline. Throughout the episode, Loki learns to travel through time, change the course of events, and eventually, save the entire multiverse from disappearing. It’s extremely satisfying, and the character is endeared to the audience forever, further proving what Marvel is capable of when it delivers great TV.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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