It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… or, at least, it will do in a couple of days, when U.S. Thanksgiving gets out of the way, and everyone can fully surrender to holiday madness. With that in mind, let’s spend this week’s Marvel-ous being fully appreciative this week for the unexpected joy of the season that is Disney+’s two Marvel holiday specials.

What’s that, you say? Two holiday specials? Well, yes; while everyone knows and loves The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special from 2022 — with good reason, which we’ll get to in a second — let’s not forget the wonder that is 2021’s holiday-themed miniseries, Hawkeye. If Die Hard gets to be a holiday story, then Hawkeye — a series that gives the world the gift that is Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop — definitely does.

Ho Ho Hawkeye

Ignore, for a second, the fact that Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton has never been as entertaining onscreen as he is in this miniseries follow-up that mixes fallout from 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and influences from Matt Fraction and David Aja’s beloved 2016 comic book series. Let’s put aside the fact that, yes, Hailee Steinfeld really is that charming as Kate Bishop, a character I personally feel robbed we haven’t seen in countless other Marvel projects in the three years since this was released. Just for good measure, we’ll even pretend that Pizza Dog’s MCU debut isn’t one of the finest things to happen to the MCU in its 16-year-history.

Even without all of these, Hawkeye would still be an underrated Marvel Studios offering, and a great holiday story — it has a clear emotional arc (Clint has to deal with his old messes, but really just wants to get back to his family for Christmas; in the process, he picks up a partner who proves herself to him and reminds him that he’s more than just his mistakes), some fun set pieces, and even a couple of unexpected cameos and wider MCU shoutouts that remind the viewer that, sometimes, Marvel easter eggs can be fun and not just exhausting advertisements for other projects.

It’s very possible that you haven’t checked out Hawkeye in a few years. Add it to your holiday rotation this year. It’s worth a look.

I Don’t Know What Christmas Is, But Drax and Mantis are Here

There’s a manic energy that fuels the sentimental cheer of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special… which is entirely fitting, because James Gunn’s Guardians movies were always at their best when they mixed the over-the-top and the exceptionally sentimental. (Vol. 3, I love you so much, and you made me cry more than once.)

Does the Holiday Special really work as a festive story? The jury remains out on that one, because honestly, there’s a sense that this story could have happened at any point in the year, but I bluntly don’t care. You have a great soundtrack, including two original songs, one of which is a certified all-time banger —

— and you also have a feel-good story that is so self-aware of its own sugariness that it’ll happily undercut it at any given moment with an off-color joke or Kevin Bacon being remarkably game to make fun of himself, all combining to tell a simple story about a found family trying to make a holiday wish come true. It’s a very deliberate evocation of a particular set of tropes (the holiday episodes of U.S. TV shows of the past), and it’s works as much through force of will and makeshift charm as anything else.

Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any Marvel/Disney+ holiday specials since then; maybe that’s because of the 2023 strikes or Marvel’s deliberate restructuring of its releases, but whatever the reason, I feel as if we’ve lost a tiny little bit of holiday cheer as a result. Still, there’s always the opportunity to revisit the classics, instead. After all, isn’t looking backwards part of this whole holiday appeal?

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