Marvel has struggled since the end of the Infinity Saga, but 2024 gave us hope for the company’s future. Unfortunately, there were also some major let-downs.
The 4 Best Marvel Moments of 2024—And 3 We’d Rather Erase from Memory!
(L-R) Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Teen (Joe Locke), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), and Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone) in Marvel Television’s AGATHA ALL ALONG, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 MARVEL.Best: Agatha All Along commits to its vision
One of the biggest reasons given for the so-called superhero fatigue these days has nothing to do with superheroes. It’s the fact that studios are churning out movies vaguely based on comics because they assume they will be an instant success. Worse, they’re now trying to appeal to everybody, which almost always results in bland stories that nobody feels passionately about. Agatha All Along has been the exact opposite of that model.
Although it was greenlit after the success of WandaVision (and the song that inspired the title), it’s clear that everybody working on Agatha All Along cared about the project and poured their hearts into it. From the actors to the writers, the wardrobe team to the set designers, this show was firing on all cylinders. That worked because they were willing to go all-in on the witchy theatre kid energy—a niche audience, but a devoted one.
There are too many great moments to mention, but we’ll highlight a few here. The performance of “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” was brilliant, with just the right combination of solemnity and humor. The Wiccan reveal managed to shock viewers, despite everyone knowing what was coming. “Death’s Hand in Mine” was a master class in structure. The contrast between Agatha’s perception of “Seekest Thou the Road” and Billy’s showed just how powerful Wanda’s spells really were.
This was a show that should have been the epitome of a sequelitis-fueled cash cow. Nearly every character is a side character, at best, in the comics. But they didn’t hedge their bets. Agatha All Along committed to its LGBTQ+ narratives with Billy and Agatha, dove deep into pop culture and real-world lore for its witchcraft, and portrayed the tangled, complex experience of grief across centuries of Agatha’s life. Marvel’s best move for the year was getting a passionate team with a clear vision and staying out of their way.
This last year was full of successes and failures for the overall Marvel brand. Hopefully, they’ll pay attention to what worked and what didn’t as they build new stories moving forward.
