The Marvel Cinematic Universe has the impressive and enviable distinction of never having any of their 23 movies to date fall below the 60% threshold on Rotten Tomatoes, with every single one of the franchise’s comic book blockbusters being rated Fresh. The lowest score belongs to Thor: The Dark World, which is regarded by many fans as the saga’s weakest entry, but even then the God of Thunder’s disappointing first sequel still holds a decent 66%.
In fact, out of the fifteen films released since The Dark World, only Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain Marvel have even dipped below 83%, which is an incredible track record. Up until this week, the most critically acclaimed feature-length installment was Black Panther with 96%, but WandaVision has now swooped in to claim the crown of the highest-rated MCU project on the aggregation website.
With over 125 reviews and counting in the bag, the MCU’s first foray into episodic television has edged ahead of Black Panther to secure a 97% rating, even though some people have been left disappointed by the show fully embracing the outlandish concept and offering a complete diversion from the formula that made Kevin Feige’s shared universe so popular in the first place.
There were always going to be viewers left cold by WandaVision going all-in on the gimmick and offering up a skewed reality based on classic sitcoms from the past instead of the action-packed superhero adventures that the MCU had become famous for, but there seems to be a lot more folks impressed than disappointed in the big creative swings and unique premise being explored by showrunner Jac Schaeffer. And with seven weeks to go, there’s still plenty of time left for the first run of episodes to win over the naysayers.
