As one of the tentpole brands of Disney+, three Marvel shows appeared in data revealing the service's top 10 original series of the year.
Like Disney's other major franchise, Star Wars, the MCU has had a subdued 2024. No theatrical release from the franchise has made it to the big screens, with Deadpool & Wolverine being the only feature-length film coming from the super-powered brand this year.
On the streaming front, it has not been much different. Only two titles from the franchise have been released in the Hawkeye spin-off Echo and the animated X-Men '97 series.
Marvel's Biggest Disney+ Series of 2024
New data from Variety revealed the ten most watched original series on Disney+ in 2024, including three Marvel series among its ranks.
The ranking was calculated based on watch time on the platform from December 30, 2023 to May 10, 2024, with Percy Jackson and the Olympians being the biggest Disney+ original series during that period.
Below are the three most popular original Marvel series on Disney+ thus far in 2024:
Loki Season 2
Loki Season 2, which rounded out Marvel Studios' live-action 2023 streaming slate, made the 2024 list, coming in as the eighth most-watched Disney+ original series in 2024. The timey-wimey Multiversal adventure made up for 3.1% of total watch time among Disney+ projects this year.
Starring the likes of Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, Loki's inclusion on this list likely has to do with the fact that it was the best-reviewed MCU series of 2023, featuring major universe-altering stakes for the franchise, and followed up on the beloved original season of Loki from 2021.
[ Loki Season 2 Ending Explained ]
X-Men '97
Joining Loki on Variety's list was X-Men '97, which made up 6.8% of viewership of Disney+'s original series in 2024. The follow-up to the oft-celebrated X-Men: The Animated Series took audiences back in time to the turn of the century, following their favorite childhood heroes in this animated legacy sequel.
What is most impressive about X-Men's inclusion on this list is it ranks as the third most-watched series among the top ten and did so in significantly less time than some of the other titles (having only started its run on March 20).
[ X-Men '97 Season 2 Will Bring Back Two Key Players from Season 1 Crew (Exclusive) ]
Echo
Topping the list for Marvel original series in 2024 is the Alaqua Cox-led Echo streaming show. Debuting on January 9, as an all-at-once drop, Echo stands as the most-watched Marvel show of the year on Disney+, earning an astounding 11.8% of all Disney+ original series viewership.
This gargantuan mark makes it the second most watched Disney+ original of the year, trailing only Percy Jackson and the Olympians which raked in a whopping 23.3% of all viewership. Despite middling reviews and not much conversation amongst fans since Echo's release, it stands as Marvel's biggest win of the year and the franchise's only new live-action show in 2024.
[ Full Cast of Echo - Every Main Actor & Character In Marvel Show (Photos) ]
What Is Next for Marvel on Disney+?
When fans look back at Marvel Studios' 2024 on Disney+, it is going to be a fascinating year to study.
As far as fans know, there is only one other MCU series set to debut sometime this calendar year in the upcoming Agatha miniseries.
While the Kathryn Hahn-led WandaVision spin-off will surely roe fans back in who loved her introduction in Marvel Studios' first streaming show, it will be interesting to see if it has the sort of brand power to win over general audiences.
That being said, a large swath of the fans wondered if a show like Echo could be a major success for the streamer, and has become one of the most watched shows of the year on the platform. So, anything is possible.
Where Marvel may need to do some soul-searching is with its animated work outside X-Men '97. Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed a significant 2023 Marvel series failed to make this top ten.
What If...? Season 2 debuted on the platform in late December, setting it up to be in the perfect position to appear on a list such as this.
However, the animated anthology failed to do so, despite a unique release strategy from Disney that saw new episodes of the series debut one-a-day for a week over the holidays.
While one may think this could be a case of Disney+ audiences favoring live-action series like Loki and Echo in favor of animated fare like What If...?, other animated projects like The Bad Batch and X-Men '97 made the list.
With supposedly another season of What If...? in the works (read more about a potential What If...? Season 3 here), Marvel may have to do some reshuffling to ensure it can be the streaming success some of its other titles have been and continue to be.
Loki, Echo, and X-Men '97 are streaming now on Disney+.
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