Superhero TV shows have traditionally always played second fiddle to their big screen counterparts. Christopher Reeves Superman may have led the way for modern superhero movies but its TV equivalent Smallville took 10 years teasing his transition from Clark Kent to the Man Of Steel. Marvel had a successful TV show in The Incredible Hulk but they only really flourished with the animated shows like X Men and Spider-Man in the 1990s.
But that has changed of late. Shows like Arrow and its spin-off The Flash have shown that superheroes can work just as well on TV screens as the movies; creating great stories and action-packed adventures on a portion of the budget afforded films like The Avengers and The Dark Knight trilogy. And now suddenly great adaptations of fan favourite comic book heroes are springing up all the time.
2015 really saw great strides forward; superhero TV shows have clearly upped their game with new shows in Netflix to more confident multi-verse storytelling over on The CW. Here are 10 ways the TV superhero genre has proven this year that it can be just as successful as its big screen counterparts…
10. The Flash And Its Many Multiverses
In days gone by it would take most shows at least three seasons before they would shake up the dynamic; The Flash did it after one. Not content to rest on its laurels, the idea of multiverses was laid in the season finale, allowing audiences to experience new worlds and alternate versions of major characters. While arguably there is still more room for development on this front, you can’t fault the grandeur of this storytelling just nine episodes into its second year.
The Flash season one was a great debut season – one of the strongest for a superhero genre – and it would have been forgiven for maintaining the same dynamic for year two; after all, why fix what isn’t broken? But it did mix it up, upping the ante with characters like Zoom, Jay Garrick and alternate Harrison Wells and showing confidence in adapting major comic stories to the small screen.
Add in Arrow‘s embracing of magic in season four and you have two shows that are really upping their game this year.
9. The Big Build Up Towards Legends Of Tomorrow
With the success of both Arrow and The Flash, The CW are taking things to the next level with their third spin-off Legends Of Tomorrow. Featuring Atom, [White] Canary, Firestorm, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and unseen character Rip Hunter, this time-travelling series will see heroes and villains team up to save the world from the immortal Villain Vandal Savage.
The CW have done a great job of building up to their next big event in 2016; not only have we some excellent trailers but both The Flash and Arrow have sown the seeds this season, resurrecting Ray Palmer (Atom) and Sara Lance (Canary) from certain death, re-establishing Firestorm with the addition of Jefferson Jackson, adding some depth to Leonard Snart (Cold) and culminating in a truly epic and very, very fun crossover event Legends Of Today / Legends Of Yesterday. The two-part story debuted Kendra Saunder and Carter Hall (Hawkgirl and Hawkman) and the big bad himself, with Casper Crump delivering a truly momentous villain.
Legends Of Tomorrow looks audacious, epic and a whole lot of fun and shows just how far The CW have been willing to push their franchise this year.
8 Cancellation Doesn’t Mean The End
Many fans were left frustrated by the cancellation of Constantine, a show that probably should have never been on NBC. While not everything on the show hit the right note with fans, few could argue that Matt Ryan was great as the titular hero.
When rumours surfaced that Constantine might reappear on Arrow, it was taken with a large pinch of salt. Constantine was on a different network for a start, but the rumours persisted with Arrow star Stephen Amell claiming it could happen. And happen it did, with Matt Ryan resurrecting his character in season four episode Haunted, which, along with the big crossover episode with The Flash, proved to one of the strongest of the year.
Fans loved Ryan’s John Constantine, with fresh petitions for Constantine‘s revival (unlikely) and an encore performance on Arrow (far more likely). There have even been rumours that he might become a main character if Legends Of Tomorrow gets a second season; not bad for a character dumped from the airwaves after just 13 episodes…
7. Female Superheroes Can Be Just As successful
While a change is coming, it is still amazing that in the mega-successful superhero genre we still haven’t a successful female superhero movie. In 2015 however, superhero TV has changed all that with three female-led superhero TV shows.
Agent Carter isn’t a superhero show of sorts, but it was borne out of the massively successful Marvel Cinematic Universe as a period spy drama and one of the best shows on TV (sorry Agents Of SHIELD). Jessica Jones is a very different beast altogether, a serialised Netflix show following the massively successful Daredevil, that is part Noir crime drama, part psychological horror and just as successful.
And in the traditional vein, with have CBS’s Supergirl. Like The Flash, it has proved that superhero shows don’t have to be all dark and gritty. With a great lead and the ability to be fun, fresh and still embrace a whole host of comic book characters (see the recent introduction of a certain Justice League member) it has proven that female superheroes can be just as engaging as their male counterparts.
Even Agents Of SHIELD, got in one the act, transforming the okay Skye into super-powered Inhuman Daisy Johnson in the latter half of season two and putting her centre stage.
6. Daredevil Gets Everything Right
Okay, I don’t hate Ben Affleck’s movie as much as most but there is no denying that it is poles apart from Netflix and Marvel’s reimagining of the Man Without Fear. The first outing in the lead up to The Defenders had to be good and fortunately it really, really worked.
Not only did the serialised nature of the thirteen-episode season allow for a well-paced storytelling, it allowed for some great character development; from the legacy of Matt Murdock’s past (his father and Stick) but the show’s villain too. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk quickly became one of the greatest villains in Marvel Cinematic Universe and his relationship with Vanessa was as captivating as Murdock’s transition from vigilante to hero.
Add in such epic moments as that hallway fight in episode two, the ‘car door’ incident that showed just how terrifying Kingpin could be and a dramatic finale episode and Daredevil proved that it was not only a great TV show, it was one of the best things in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe – Forget The Avengers: Age Of Ultron, this was Marvel’s triumph in 2015
5. Tapping Into The Best Elements Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Of all the love interests in the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter that made the most impact. With Captain America moving into the present after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, this could have been the last we saw of Peggy. But thankfully Marvel saw sense and in the follow-up to Agents Of SHIELD, the created an arguably more popular show in Agent Carter.
As a period spy drama, it allowed Marvel to really explore the origins of SHIELD and the Avengers. And across those eight episodes, Agent Carter delivered some of the most fun, action-packed TV of the year. The partnership of Atwell’s Peggy and James D’Arcy’s Jarvis was electric and Dominic Cooper clearly has a whole lot of fun continuing his role as Tony Stark’s dad Howard.
But it also laid some great groundwork to the MCU, from the origin’s of Black Widow’s training program in Russia (and another fantastic villain in Bridget Regan’s Dottie Underwood) to super soldier serums and Stark weaponry. And arguably it serves as a great companion piece to the modern day Agents Of SHIELD.
It is no wonder this ‘limited show’ is coming back for season two in January…
4. But No Longer Feeling Restrained By The Movies.
One of the biggest criticism of the early days of Agents Of SHIELD was that it felt too limited by its big movie counterparts. Stories were framed around the fallout of the Battle of New York and the London incident in Thor: The Dark World. And while the fall of SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier gave the show the boost it needed, it still didn’t feel that it could work without those strings being pulled.
The groundwork was laid in the first half of season two last year - The Inhumans – but it was in 2015 where Agents Of SHIELD started to have the confidence to shape the Marvel Cinematic Universe without being beholden to the movies. While not every element of the ‘war with Skye’s mother’ in season two worked, it demonstrated a renewed confidence that has continued into season three with the Secret Warriors storyline. (Here in the UK we have yet to see the third season but everything we’re hearing suggests it is a success).
The fact is when there was a ‘crossover’ with The Avengers: Age Of Ultron late in season two, the show worked despite not around it. And while we might not see the major characters from Inhumans until 2019, Agents Of SHIELD has laid the foundations a whole five years early.
3. Jessica Jones Doesn’t Rely On Classic Heroes For Great Superhero Television
It might be similarly adult in tone than Daredevil – arguably more so – but Jessica Jones has still proven that it can not only grab its audience but maintain it. Considering that Jones is a character that didn’t exist before 2000, that is no mean feat; Daredevil was fairly well known, even Guardians Of The Galaxy and Ant Man had existed since the 1960s. Jessica Jones was a fairly unknown quantity that unlike her Netflix predecessor, had never been adapted for screen before.
But Krysten Ritter absolutely proved herself as a leading lady, a powerful superpowered hero traumatised by the physical and mental abuse of David Tennant’s mind-controlling Killgrave. A fascinating psychological thriller it is a show that could easily exist without the trappings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but helps compliment what is quickly becoming a diverse range of characters and stories.
Jessica Jones proved Daredevil was not a fluke; Marvel could tell great stories across a wide range of mediums and continues to build on our excitement for Luke Cage, Iron First and The Defenders. Now all we need is the announcement that it is getting a second season.
2. The Explosion Of New Superhero Shows
Lucifer, Preacher, Oucast, Dreadstar, Hellfire, Legion, Red, Legends Of Tomorrow; so many comic-based / superhero TV shows have gone into development in 2015 that they longer feel like a rarity on television. In fact, like their movie counterparts they are becoming a large and established television genre in their own right.
And that confidence in adapting these stories really comes down to how successful current comic-based / superhero shows have been in 2015. We don’t have rubbish cast-offs like Mutant X; The Flash , Agents Of SHIELD and more have shown that superheroes can be adapted well and on a good budget too.
The superhero television genre is firmly here to stay.
1. TV Shows Have The Best Characters
If there’s one failing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, it is its villains. Sure Loki is brilliant but Malekith, Ronan and even Ultron failed to have the desired impact and many fans are still sore about Iron Man 3‘s interpretation of The Mandarin (personally I loved it). But then in 2015, that changed, not on film but TV. From great small-scale villains like Dottie Underwood to Kilgrave and Kingpin; D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk is now up there with Loki as one of the best.
And it doesn’t stop there. Many people are already asking why DC are using a different Flash for their big screen adaptations when Grant Gustin is a revelation in that role already on TV – with a great, fun show to back him up – while Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter has become one the superhero genre’s best leading ladies and she doesn’t have any superpowers of her own.
Quite simply, across the wide range of superhero TV shows we have seen some amazing performances and some great characters that probably wouldn’t have got more than a limited amount of screen time in the movies.
The days of a ten-year frustrating wait for Clark Kent to become Superman or low-tier superheroes is now firmly a thing of the past and 2015 has emerged as the best year for superhero TV yet. That only looks set to continue with so many great adaptations on their way. It’s been said we’re in the golden age of superhero movies – can that be said for superhero television too?
