3 Disney+ Shows Great for a Weekend Binge (August 29 – 31)

I always think of Disney+ as the escapism streaming service, and it’s not hard to see why. With more Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic shows and movies than you know what to do with, it’s my go-to for weekend (and even weekday) binges when I want to transport my brain to another place for a minute.

The question with Disney+ then becomes: which galaxy, universe, or corner of our own planet to choose? Here are a few ideas I think you’ll like.

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Eyes of Wakanda

If there’s one thing Disney is good at, it’s coming up with entertaining ways to support the cannons of its major universes, such as the MCU and Star Wars franchises, with compelling TV series. I’m particularly enamored when they do it with stunning animated shows like Eyes of Wakanda because they often deliver imaginative new ideas, characters, and settings to familiar worlds.

Through just four short standalone episodes (a total runtime of just two hours), Eyes of Wakanda takes the lore of the Vibranium-rich hidden realm and transports us back in time for adventures centered around keeping the precious metal out of the wrong hands.

For example, in Into the Lion’s Den, we visit Crete in 1260 B.C., where a disgraced Dora Milaje must redeem herself on a covert mission to recover stolen Vibranium tech from a rogue Wakandan general. And in the finale, The Last Panther, two Wakandans in 1896 take on a Black Panther from the future who warns them of repercussions on the timeline we all know and love.

The animation is beautiful and the action is creative and fast-paced—the series reminds me of the thrilling tales in the recent Predator: Killer of Killers spinoff series that I loved. All four episodes are easy to get through, and you’ll find yourself hoping for more.

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Ironheart

Since Eyes of Wakanda is such a quick binge, it only makes sense to continue the weekend theme and jump on to Marvel’s Ironheart next. If you’re a fan of the Black Panther and Wakanda storylines, you might remember Ironheart‘s girl genius Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), the MIT prodigy who got into some trouble in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever by building her own Iron Man-style suit.

A direct continuation from Wakanda Forever, we catch up with Riri back home in Chicago after she’s been expelled from MIT and is struggling to make ends meet and to find the cash to finish her suit. Enter Parker Robbins, a.k.a. The Hood (Anthony Ramos), a mysterious criminal with a dark power who leads a gang of high-tech thieves. Lured by the money, Riri reluctantly joins up and gets caught in The Hood’s nefarious plan, while those in her life that she loves (including the AI hologram version of her deceased best friend) try to keep her grounded.

There are some excellent, fact-action fight sequences with Riri in the suit, and the show features some great performances from the cast, including a small part for Alden Ehrenreich (Han Solo!) as the son of Iron Man‘s Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). There’s even a major character reveal at the end that’ll shake up the MCU. Ironheart‘s six episodes come in at a total runtime of just under five hours.

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Underdogs

I recently dedicated a whole post about Disney+’s excellent new nature docuseries Underdogs here on How-To Geek because it’s unique, entertaining, and is unlike any wildlife show I have ever seen. And while it ticks all the boxes for what makes a nature show excellent—stunning videography, impossible close-up photography, majestic animals, a poignant conservation message—what will make you hang on for the ride is the show’s super-famous narrator … Deadpool.

Okay, okay, not Deadpool, but the next best thing—the guy who plays him. Yes, Ryan Reynolds lends his considerable voice talents to Underdogs (it’s also produced by his Maximum Effort company), and it’s his playful wit, sarcasm, and overall “Reynoldsism” that make it so much fun, and an easy binge at just over three and a half hours, total.

But that’s not to say that it’s all Reynolds; far from it. Underdogs turns the nature show genre on its head by focusing not on the usual marquee subjects of the animal kingdom, but on its far more interesting freaks and weirdos—indestructible honey badgers, invisible frogs, koalas with gross nursing tactics, and criminal mastermind monkeys—yep, the aptly-named underdogs.

Whether you’ve made your way through the entire MCU, the House of Mouse, or have traversed all the galaxies far, far away, there’s always somewhere else to go with Disney+, with its access to its partners like Hulu, National Geographic, FX, and more.