2021 was a successful year for Disney+, with five major series from Marvel Studios being released exclusively on the streaming service. This includes “WandaVision”, “Loki”, “The Falcon And The Winter Soldier”, “What If?” and “Hawkeye”, which had millions of Disney+ subscribers around the world tuning in.
However, for those Marvel fans who don’t want to pay for a Disney+ subscription, they just pirated the shows instead. With the current streaming landscape being so fragmented, lots of people prefer to pirate instead of paying for yet another service. According to a recent article from TorrentFreak, these five shows made the top ten for the most pirated series in 2021.
Top 10 Most Pirated Series of 2021
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WandaVision
January 15, 2021Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
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Loki
June 9, 2021After stealing the Tesseract during the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” an alternate version of Loki is brought to the mysterious Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline. They give Loki a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a “time variant” or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat.
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The Witcher
December 20, 2019Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster-hunter for hire, journeys toward his destiny in a turbulent world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
March 19, 2021Following the events of “Avengers: Endgame”, the Falcon, Sam Wilson and the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities, and their patience.
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Hawkeye
November 24, 2021Former Avenger Clint Barton has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. Possible? Maybe with the help of Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a superhero. The two are forced to work together when a presence from Barton’s past threatens to derail far more than the festive spirit.
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What If…?
August 11, 2021Taking inspiration from the comic books of the same name, each episode of this animated anthology series questions, revisits and twists classic Marvel Cinematic moments.
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Foundation
September 23, 2021Follow a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.
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Rick and Morty
December 2, 2013Rick is a mentally-unbalanced but scientifically gifted old man who has recently reconnected with his family. He spends most of his time involving his young grandson Morty in dangerous, outlandish adventures throughout space and alternate universes. Compounded with Morty’s already unstable family life, these events cause Morty much distress at home and school.
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Arcane
November 6, 2021Amid the stark discord of twin cities Piltover and Zaun, two sisters fight on rival sides of a war between magic technologies and clashing convictions.
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The Wheel of Time
November 18, 2021Follow Moiraine, a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization called the “Aes Sedai” as she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women. Moiraine believes one of them might be the reincarnation of an incredibly powerful individual, whom prophecies say will either save humanity or destroy it.
TorrentFreak’s calculations are based on single episodes and the ranking is estimated based on sample data from several sources, including I Know and statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers. “Game of Thrones” was at the top for many years until the launch of several Disney+ exclusives, which dominated the list for most pirated TV series. Last year, “The Mandalorian” was the number one favorite among the pirating public.
“WandaVision,” which was nominated for 23 Emmys overall this year, took the top spot. The series was a hit on Disney+ and on pirate sites, with each episode being downloaded millions of times. Disney’s “Loki” settled for second place, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” was placed in the fourth spot, with “Hawkeye” following in fifth place and “What If” in sixth.
Since Disney+ isn’t legally available in many countries throughout Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the only way to watch some of these shows was through piracy. These shows are also very important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which only encourages people to watch the shows through piracy, especially since there are so many sites out there illegally streaming content.
Disney+ is available in the following regions:
- North America: United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico
- Latin America: Argentina, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
- Asia-Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.
- Europe: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Greenland, France, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Once Disney+ launches in more countries, it should become easier for more viewers to watch Marvel’s original series legally on Disney+ at an affordable rate. However, as long as streaming services continue to raise prices), piracy will continue to exist.