The MCU’s domination of Disney Plus is growing all the time. Although they’ve been unfortunately pushed back due to the impact of the strikes, Marvel has a whole slate of upcoming streaming series due over the course of 2024, including various brand-new properties like Wonder Man or movie spinoffs like Ironheart. Interestingly, while the studio’s movie slate is full of sequels — don’t forget, we’ll have had nine back to back, as of The Marvels — Marvel is less trigger-happy to give its TV shows a second season.
Maybe that’s because of the nature of many of these series being stepping stones to the films, but the studios seems much keener to keep creating new shows build around different characters than bringing back old ones. And yet that could change over the next few years as we’re starting to see a shift to sticking with reliable and returning series as Marvel weathers the ups and downs of the Multiverse Saga.
So which MCU Disney Plus delights are coming back, which ones are on the bubble, and which are consigned to the streaming afterlife? The answers may surprise you…
Loki season 2 — Releasing
Loki has the honor of being the very first live-action Marvel Studios series to get a second season, following on from the new batch of episodes of I Am Groot that debuted in early September. That’s not all that surprising given that the Tom Hiddleston vehicle remains the most highly viewed of the MCU’s Disney Plus shows to date. The six-part second run premieres on streaming from Oct. 5.
What If…? season 2 — Releasing
The fact that What If…? has been getting a second season has been an open secret for the longest time. Originally, Marvel voiced its intent to make a new season every single year, following the first’s release in fall 2021, but unexpected delays caused season 2 to skip 2022 with season 2 finally on course to hit streaming around Christmastime 2023. A third season also seems likely sometime in the future.
X-Men ’97 season 2 — Confirmed
X-Men ’97 is something of an outlier when it comes to Marvel’s upcoming streaming slate, as it’s a revival of a pre-existing, beloved property rather than an original IP taking place within the MCU. It’s been somewhat flying under the radar, then, but those who are quietly looking forward to this sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series can rest assured that a second season is already being developed.
Spider-Man: Sophomore Year — Confirmed
Wow, Marvel really hands out renewals to its animated shows like candy, huh? You’d be forgiven for forgetting Spider-Man: Freshman Year, an animated prequel to the Homecoming trilogy, was even a thing, as it’s been mostly radio silence on the project since its announcement at SDCC 2022. It is definitely still on the way, though, as is its already commissioned follow-up, Spider-Man: Sophomore Year.
Ms. Marvel season 2 — In discussion
Outside of Loki, the closest a live-action series has come to getting a second season renewal to date is Ms. Marvel, as directors Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah have given us a relatively encouraging update about its chances. Apparently, Marvel is holding off on giving more episodes the greenlight until The Marvels, which is partly a sequel to season 1, releases this November. Fingers crossed!
Moon Knight — Rumored
After Moon Knight season 1 ended on a huge season 2-baiting cliffhanger, we really assumed an official announcement on its continuation was imminent. And yet, over a year on, we’re still waiting with bated breath. On the upside, Oscar Isaac has teased several times that more is very much on the cards, though, so perhaps the hold-up is simply the former Star Wars star’s ever-busy career.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law — Rumored
If there was ever a Marvel show we didn’t much expect to get a second season it was She-Hulk, given its extremely divisive nature and the fact its star has no kind words to say to Disney boss Bob Iger amid the strikes. Nevertheless, word on the street has it that Marvel was developing another run of episodes for Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters prior to the strikes taking effect. So stay tuned on this one.
WandaVision — Miniseries
Other Marvel series, however, have little chance of returning, but that’s only because they were always envisioned as standalone miniseries from the off. A prime example is WandaVision, which was created as a bridge between Scarlet Witch’s arc in Avengers: Endgame and Doctor Strange 2. The good news is that its world will be further explored in Agatha: Darkhold Diaries (and possibly the rumored Vision Quest).
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — Miniseries
The same thing goes for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which served as a six-part origins story for Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson as he stepped up to become our new Captain America. The very day of its finale’s release, Marvel announced Captain America 4, now titled Brave New World, which will shift Sam’s storyline onto the big screen. Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier, meanwhile, returns in Thunderbolts.
Secret Invasion — Miniseries
There are two big reasons why we’re pretty sure Secret Invasion isn’t getting a season 2. For starters, it’s based on a finite story arc that the TV adaptation blasted through; it’s been described as a “six-hour movie” by director Ali Selim. And second, it’s among the least-viewed of the MCU’s Disney Plus offerings, not to mention its finale is the worst-reviewed Marvel production ever made.
Hawkeye — Presumed miniseries
Hawkeye, on the other hand, is a curious one to classify. With Kate Bishop being pegged as a major player for the MCU going forward, a second season with her in the lead feels highly plausible, but there’s not been so much as a whisper about more episodes since the first run wrapped up over 2021’s festive season. We’d be fine with that if a Young Avengers project had been announced instead but nope, it’s just crickets on that front too. Hawkeye was always the Avenger who drew the short straw, so I guess this treatment for his solo show only makes sense.
