Marvel Studios: Legends

Marvel Studios: Legends is an American television docuseries created for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics characters and objects that appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Produced by Marvel Studios, each episode showcases an individual character or object with footage from past MCU films and Disney+ series, highlighting their prominent moments from the MCU.

The series was first announced in December 2020. Marvel Studios: Legends premiered on January 8, 2021, with subsequent episodes releasing shortly before a Disney+ series or special's premiere or a film's initial release. It received positive responses for being helpful to casual viewers of the franchise, but criticism for being a clip show with no new footage or documentary elements. The 26-episode first season covers projects in Phase Four of the MCU, while a second covers projects in Phase Five. Beginning with the second season, the episodes were also made available on Marvel Entertainment's YouTube channel, with the season one episodes eventually being added to YouTube as well.

Premise
The series examines individual heroes, villains, moments, and objects from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and how they connect, in anticipation of the upcoming stories that will feature them in the Disney+ series, films, and Special Presentations in Phase Four and Phase Five.

Background
Marvel Studios: Legends was announced in December 2020 as a new series that would revisit characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ahead of their appearances in new feature films and Disney+ series as part of Phase Four of the MCU. The series features short episodes made up of footage from past MCU films that featured the highlighted character, moment, or object. Two episodes were initially announced, with one for Wanda Maximoff and one for Vision ahead of their roles in WandaVision. Upon its announcement, many commentators believed the series would be a clip show and a good way to remind viewers of a character's history and allow casual viewers a quick way to catch-up without watching hours of past MCU content. Chaim Gartenberg at The Verge also likened the series to the one-page recaps Marvel Comics uses to similarly catch readers up for ongoing stories. Collider Matt Goldberg felt Marvel Studios: Legends did not cost Disney or Marvel Studios "anything more than some editor's work and a bit of music" to produce given each episode's length and content.

Subsequent Legends episodes were released for Falcon, Winter Soldier, Zemo, and Sharon Carter; Loki and the object the Tesseract;  Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow; Peggy Carter, the Avengers Initiative, and the Ravagers group; the Ten Rings; Clint Barton / Hawkeye; Dr. Stephen Strange, Wong, and Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch; Thor, Jane Foster, and Valkyrie; Bruce Banner; T'Challa, Shuri, and the Dora Milaje; and the Guardians of the Galaxy members Mantis and Drax, which concluded the first season.

The second season of Legends began in February 2023, and includes episodes for Scott Lang / Ant-Man, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, and Hope van Dyne / Wasp; the remaining Guardians of the Galaxy members Peter Quill, Gamora, Nebula, Rocket, Kraglin, and Groot; Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Talos and the Skrulls, Everett K. Ross, and James Rhodes / War Machine; "Variants" and the TVA; Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan; and the Guardians of the Multiverse.

Episodes
Each episode consists entirely of archival footage from previous MCU films and television series.

Release
Marvel Studios: Legends released its first two episodes on January 8, 2021, on Disney+. Additional episodes were released before a character's appearance in a Disney+ series, special, or film. The Clint Barton episode debuted as part of Disney+'s "Disney+ Day" event. The "Mantis" and "Drax" episodes were removed from Disney+ shortly after their release on November 23, 2022. It is believed the removal was because of the inclusion of a deleted scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in the "Mantis" episode, where the character was revealed as Peter Quill's sister; this was assumed to be a plot point that would be featured in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Both episodes were later restored.

Episodes for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were released on February 10, 2023, on Disney+, beginning the second season of Legends. Those episodes were eventually made available for free on Marvel Entertainment's YouTube channel on February 16, with subsequent season two episodes available on YouTube after their premiere on Disney+. The "Wanda Maximoff" episode was made available on Marvel Entertainment's YouTube channel on August 9, with the remaining season one episodes set to be made available on the channel in the following weeks.

Reception
Matt Goldberg at Collider described Legends as "elaborate fan videos that offer cross-promotion" for Marvel, which he did not think was bad but he did wish that the series "offered up something new", such as actors "talking about their characters or offering a fresh teaser for" what was being promoted. He concluded that Legends was "content to be a highly produced recap video". Charlie Ridgely, writing for ComicBook.com, called Legends "incredibly handy" given there had not been any new MCU content in 2020. While conceding viewers already familiar with the highlighted character's stories might not see the need for the episodes since they were "quite literally just a recap of what happened in the movies", he felt it was still "a great refresher" for viewers interested in the new Marvel Disney+ content who "maybe aren't as into the greater MCU... allow[ing] everyone to be on a similar page". Variety Caroline Framke felt Marvel was anticipating confusion from casual MCU viewers during their new Disney+ series, and called Legends "pretty helpful" heading into WandaVision. Some viewers were disappointed in the series, expecting a more in-depth documentary with creatives providing interviews rather than a clip show.

Related documentaries
In February 2021, fellow Marvel Studios docuseries Marvel Studios: Assembled was announced. Some commentators called Assembled a companion series to Legends since Assembled presents behind-the-scenes material after an MCU film or series. In June 2022, the documentary short A Fan's Guide to Ms. Marvel was released on Disney+ in preparation for the character's debut in the series Ms. Marvel. It featured an exclusive look at the production of the series and interviews from the filmmaking team and star Iman Vellani. Additionally, the first episode of Echo employs flashbacks to help explain Maya Lopez's backstory as well as including her appearances on Hawkeye.