A report was done by Torrentfreak which found that Wandavision was the most pirated show of 2021. It was followed by another Marvel Cinematic Universe show Loki, and The Witcher taking third place.
Wandavision is the first of the Marvel Cinematic Universe tv series to be aired on Disney+ with far stronger connections to the movies within the franchise. It was also one of the first new pieces of media to show what happened to the character of the MCU after the events of Avengers Endgame. It is likely for this reason that the show was so heavily pirated.
It is notable that all five MCU Dinsey+ series released this year made it into the top 10:
- Wandavision
- Loki
- The Witcher
- The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
- Hawkeye
- What If…
- Foundation
- Rick and Morty
- Arcane
- Wheel of Time
There was also heavy speculation by fans of what could be introduced into the MCU from Wandavision. Wanda aka The Scarlet Witch’s comic book backstory as the villainous Magento’s daughter led to many believing that the show could introduce the first signs of the X-Men to the universe. Others thought that the series might lead to the reveal of Mephisto, the Marvel comics equivalent of the devil.
Torrentfreak states that their rankings are “estimated based on sample data from several sources, including I Know and statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers”
However, they further updated their article stating that:
“Our calculations are based on single episodes which means that season packs are underrepresented which disadvantages series that are released in one go. Based on rough calculations, Netflix’s Casa de Papel could have taken the 5th spot. Squid Game would have made it into the top 10 as well. We will do our best to reflect this correctly in future lists.”
Regardless, it is clear that the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise remains strong even with Disney potentially losing money due to piracy. We’re likely to continue seeing more Disney+ shows for the franchise in the near future.
For more on the MCU, check out our review of the latest movie in the franchise, Spiderman No Way Home.