Television

Superhero Shows

Aubrey Plaza And Dan Stevens' Acclaimed X-Men Show Isn't Talked About Enough

By Jeremy Smith

June 29, 2026 7:00 pm EST

FX

There has been legitimate debate over the last few years as to whether moviegoers are checked out on the superhero genre, what with commercial disappointments and outright bombs like "Eternals," "The Marvels," and "Thunderbolts*" piling up. Now that the big-budgeted "Supergirl" has proven to be DOA at the box office (with an opening weekend on par with 2024's much ridiculed flop "Joker: Folie à Deux"), the debate is over. Maybe audiences will still turn out in droves for "Avengers: Doomsday" this December, but that doesn't feel like the guarantee that it did a year ago.

Chalk this up to oversaturation, fatigue, and sameiness. Even when the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken stylistic risks, as it did with Chloé Zhao's "Eternals," the template still feels familiar. The MCU's Disney+ shows have tried to mix things up, but they, too, have all felt like supplemental material for the feature films — i.e. homework. Only this year's "Wonder Man" managed to be truly weird and fun.

Prior to "Wonder Man," there was only one Marvel-connected show that had the chutzpah to go absolutely wild. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't tied to the MCU. Noah Hawley's "Legion" was a live-action "X-Men" TV series and was produced by the then 20th Century Fox crew of Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler-Donner, and, for the first season, Bryan Singer. It was a funky take on the character of David Haller (Dan Stevens), the psychically powerful mutant offspring of Professor Charles Xavier, and it dealt head-on with the character's schizophrenia. It was basically told from his perspective, which meant viewers, like David, had to work hard to discern what was real and what was imagined. It was a zany ride that pleased critics and baffled most fans. But seven years after it ended, perhaps audiences are ready for its off-kilter sensibilities.

Legion takes The X-Men in David Lynchian directions

FX

"Legion" premiered on February 8, 2017, at the moment the MCU's Infinity Saga was speeding toward its highly anticipated two-part conclusion. Most MCU fans were not in the market for the weirdness of "Legion," which is likely why its ratings plunged after its debut. Nevertheless, FX believed in Noah Hawley, who'd delivered the Primetime Emmy-winning "Fargo" for the network, so it gave him three seasons to tell a complete story. This meant Hawley was playing with house money, and, man, he bet every last chip.

Dan Stevens, a wildly versatile actor who's too damn interesting to simply be a movie star, dove headlong into the role of David/Legion, and his bizarreness was matched, if not exceeded, by Aubrey Plaza as Lenny Busker, who gets implanted in David's mind by Amahi Farouk (aka. the Shadow King). On a basic level, the battle between David and Farouk rises to fate-of-the-world stakes like so many other comic book narratives, but Hawley addles his viewers with surrealistic detours and psychedelic imagery that often overshadow the main storyline. He manages to keep the train on the tracks, but just barely, and there's something enthralling about that.

Hawley's show was fascinating enough to attract immensely talented directors like Hiro Murai, Ana Lily Amirpour, Ellen Kuras, Keith Gordon, and Andrew Stanton. There's a go-anywhere freedom to "Legion" that recalls "Twin Peaks." So, yeah, if "'X-Men' meet David Lynch" sounds enticing, you can stream all three seasons of "Legion" on Hulu.