After an eighteen month drought between Spider-Man: Far From Home and WandaVision, one that felt like a lifetime for fans who had to watch the complete Phase Four slate be delayed repeatedly, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is back with a vengeance throughout the entirety of 2021.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres on Friday, Loki returns to our screens as the star of his own series in June, the animated What If…? will arrive later on in the summer, and both Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel will make their respective debuts before the year is out. In cinemas, meanwhile, we’ve got Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home to look forward to as the world’s biggest and most popular franchise delivers a banner twelve months.
WandaVision dominated the cultural conversation for the eight weeks it was rolling out its first season, and while it might not generate quite the same level of intense scrutiny, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is poised to do the same. However, new data from analytics outfit TV Time has Loki tracking higher than the aforementioned duo in terms of audience anticipation.
According to them, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was tracking 38% ahead of WandaVision, but the Asgardian God of Mischief’s impending return is now pacing 67% in front of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes’ spinoff. That’s hardly a surprise, either, when Tom Hiddleston’s trickster has been a firm fan favorite for the last decade, and viewers are getting more hyped by the day to see him take center stage. After all, the last time the actor played a lead role in a miniseries, he won a Golden Globe for The Night Manager, so we can at least be guaranteed a stellar performance.
