All 5 Upcoming Marvel Shows, Ranked By Hype

2 hours ago 15

Published Aug 2, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT

Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.

It’s getting harder and harder for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to build hype for its projects. Back in the MCU’s heyday — the salad days of the mid-to-late 2010s — the mere existence of a new MCU movie was enough to build hype. The Marvel brand alone could turn a middling, forgettable movie like Captain Marvel or Ant-Man and the Wasp or Thor: The Dark World into a smashing success.

But since Endgame, the quality has gotten wildly inconsistent, and the move into streaming was a major contributing factor, because it stretched the studio thin. There are still some great movies and TV shows coming out of the MCU, but there are just as many that are certifiably terrible. WandaVision and Loki and Ms. Marvel were all gems, but Secret Invasion is one of the worst TV shows I’ve ever seen. When Disney+ flooded the market with Marvel shows, it oversaturated the brand, so audiences are getting more selective with their MCU viewing.

Just the fact that Marvel is releasing a new project isn’t cutting it anymore. Just because Marvel has made a TV show about Vision, it doesn’t mean anyone will be excited about it. Even when the MCU does have a show that people actually like and want to see more of, like Wonder Man, they cancel it and do something no one asked for instead. I’m way more hyped for some upcoming Marvel shows, like Daredevil: Born Again season 3, than others, like VisionQuest.

5 VisionQuest

Paul Bettany as White Vision in WandaVision, setting up the show Vision Quest

The trilogy of shows that began with WandaVision and continued into Agatha All Along is set to conclude with the release of VisionQuest on October 14. While WandaVision and Agatha All Along were both much better than they had any right to be, the key creative behind those shows — the incomparable Jac Schaeffer — isn’t involved in this one, so I have no faith that it’ll be anywhere near as good.

On top of that, a Vision solo series just sounds like a terrible idea. On his own, Vision is a painfully uninteresting character. The only thing that made him interesting in the Avengers movies and WandaVision was his proximity to Wanda. The only reason to have any shred of hype for this show is James Spader’s long-anticipated return as Ultron. But, knowing Marvel, they’ll probably fumble it.

4 Marvel Zombies Season 2

Yelena, Ms. Marvel and Blade Knight looking worried at something in Marvel Zombies

When Marvel Zombies dropped on Disney+ last year, it proved to be a pleasant surprise. I’d enjoyed the original What If...? episode, but it didn’t seem like it needed its own four-episode series. But I was glad to be proven wrong, because that show turned out to be a ton of fun. We got to spend more time with Kamala Khan, which is never a bad thing, and we got to explore the full extent of the zombie apocalypse teased in that initial What If...? outing.

Marvel Zombies felt like a mashup of an Avengers movie and an ...of the Dead movie. It had all the gnarly post-apocalyptic thrills of a George A. Romero B-movie, but it also had the superpowered spectacle of an Infinity War or a Civil War. But, even though I enjoyed it, it still feels like they’re pushing their luck with a second season. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong when Marvel Zombies season 2 premieres. It doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s currently in production.

3 Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Seasons 2-3

Spider-Man swinging through the city on his web in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman Season 1 Ep 10

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man turned out to be an unexpected gem when it premiered last year. It got off to a bit of a bumpy start, as it struggled to settle into its own universe with some painfully awkward dialogue, but by the end of the season, it had emerged as one of the best superhero cartoons in recent memory. Switching from the Tom Holland timeline to a different strand of the multiverse allowed the writers to explore a darker Spider-Man story.

In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker’s mentor and father figure isn’t Uncle Ben, or even Tony Stark — it’s Norman Osborn. Norman doesn’t tell Peter that with great power comes great responsibility; he tells him, “With great power comes great respect.” This sent Peter down a much darker path, and gave us one of the most original Spidey stories in years.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is set to return for season 2 in late 2026, and it’s already renewed for season 3 after that, so this version of Spidey is going to stick around for a while. The season 1 finale had a few tantalizing teases, and I can’t wait to see where season 2 takes them.

2 Daredevil: Born Again Season 3

Daredevil: Born Again is one of the very few streaming shows that actually manages to get a new season out around the same time every year. It has a traditional production cycle, just like all TV shows used to have, and for the past two Marches, we’ve been able to count on Disney+ delivering a few weeks’ worth of thrilling adventures with the Man Without Fear. In keeping with that schedule, Born Again’s third season will be ready for release in March 2027. This is what it used to be like!

The next season of Daredevil: Born Again is shaping up to be a full-blown Defenders reunion. After slowly but surely reintroducing Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, season 3 is bringing in Iron Fist and even Elektra to complete the lineup. The Netflix Marvel universe’s merger with the mainline MCU is almost complete.

Born Again season 2 was one of the best Marvel projects to come along in a while. The season finale made a radical change to the status quo, with Matt revealing his identity to the world and Fisk massacring half of New York, so season 3 is the most exciting one yet.

1 X-Men '97 Seasons 3-4

Marvel Studios’ reboot of X-Men: The Animated Series is arguably the most successful TV reboot of the streaming age. Not only does X-Men ’97 live up to its iconic predecessor; it might be even greater. It recaptures the original show’s intoxicating blend of superhero spectacle, soapy melodrama, and searing social commentary. It has all the comic book action you could ask for, but it also takes the time to explore the human beings going through all that violence and conflict. It digs into their interpersonal relationships and their ever-evolving team dynamic.

What made the original series work so well was that, underneath all the spectacle, it dealt with universally relatable themes and emotions, and X-Men ’97 is doing just that. X-Men ’97 is renewed for seasons 3 and 4 — expected to release in 2027 and 2028, respectively — and getting hyped for more X-Men ’97 is just about the safest bet in the MCU right now. While the rest of the franchise can be wildly hit-and-miss, X-Men ’97 hasn’t hit a single false note in two flawless seasons, and it still feels like it’s just getting started.

Mercifully, the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be slowing down on its streaming output. VisionQuest feels like the kind of forgettable filler that came with the slush pile of Moon Knight and She-Hulk and Secret Invasion and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but every other Marvel show in the pipeline is genuinely exciting. We’ve got three great ongoing animated series that are all here to stay, and a Daredevil reboot that finally feels like a worthy successor to the Netflix series.