12. Echo (Disney+/Hulu: 2024)
After a lackluster 2023 (save for Loki and GOTG 3), the MCU kicked off 2024 on a surprising high note with Echo. Despite its “Marvel Spotlight” banner, though, it’s still a Hawkeye spin-off and it features Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). But the show’s undisputed scene-stealer is lead star Alaqua Cox. She shoulders the series’ high-stakes, perfectly choreographed action with its emotional quotient perfectly, allowing Echo to be one of the MCU’s most grounded and diverse offerings yet. The show explores Maya Lopez’s ancestry as she returns home to Oklahoma only to realize she may be more powerful than anticipated, and its five episodes are a binge-worthy breeze. [Saloni Gajjar]
