Superhero Television Ranked!

Superheroes are dominating popular culture right now. This year alone we're facing six major superhero film releases! This phenomena has leaked to the small screen too, with more and more superhero television shows showing up now. Whether it be ABC's tie ins to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Netflix's grittier approach to famous Marvel characters, the CW universe of DC superheroes or others, it's hard to deny that this is the golden age for superhero television. But how do all of these shows actually compare to each other? To find out, I've compiled a ranking of most of the big superhero television shows airing right now. This list focuses on live actions shows, and only ones that have aired this past season. So while Agent Carter may have recently been cancelled, it just manages to squeeze into this list. Also worth noting, I have yet to watch the television show Powers, a PlayStation Network exclusive adaptation of the Brian Michael Bendis comic book, or Heroes Reborn, a miniseries revisiting the world created by the cancelled Heroes show. Therefore, neither obviously make the list. Finally, before we begin, an honourable mention to the DC show Constantine. It was a pretty good show with a great lead that was unfortunately cancelled a while ago (therefore ineligible for the list), but I figured it would be worth acknowledging due to the character currently surviving via a guest appearance on Arrow, and hopefully in future CW DC shows. Without further ado, here's the current superhero television shows ranked! 

9) Gotham

Gotham is a procedural cop drama set in the fictional city of beloved superhero Batman. The only catch is that Warner Bros and DC are very protective over their major characters like Batman and Superman, and others ready to debut in film (a problem that plagues a few other shows on this list), meaning that the show is set decades before Bruce Wayne dons the cowl. Instead, we follow Jim Gordon in his early days as a cop. There is actually some here within the show. The seedy crime element of Gotham could actually make for some interesting pre-Batman stories. Robin Lord Taylor shines as Oswald Cobblepot, the future Penguin, and is more often than not the highlight of the episodes he stars in. But the show is just an absolute mess. Rather than focusing down on a particularly engaging storyline, the first season drifts between wanting to be a procedural cop show and a superhero show, and it doesn't really get either right. It had some good qualities, but the bad outweighed the good by a considerable bit. The second season focuses down more with a goal in mind, and thus the show is doing slightly better because of it, but Gotham is more limping into a just above average show rather than striding into success. 

Best Feature: Robin Lord Taylor's conniving Oswald Cobblepot is the best part of the show, and his performance is always a joy to watch. 

Worst Feature: Penguin's rival in the first season of Gotham, Fish Mooney (Jada Plinkett Smith), wasn't a great character to begin with, but she stuck around longer than she had any right to and became an irritating beacon of the show's flaws.  

8) Agent Carter

Hayley Atwell's performance as Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger was undoubtedly one of my favourite things about that film. Unfortunately, regardless of the strength of the performance and the fanbase Atwell had behind her, Captain America needed to move on from her and be frozen in time until the modern day in order for him to unite with his comic book team in The Avengers. However, through the miracle of modern franchises, Peggy's adventures could continue on the small screen in the period piece drama Agent Carter. Unfortunately, for the most part, the show does not provide the content to suit the high bar set by Hayley Atwell's stellar performance. On paper, it sounds fantastic. Returning to the 1940's in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a fan favourite character sounds like a fun and refreshing story. However, the show's narrative becomes somewhat of a hindrance, as the plots Agent Carter finds herself involved with are rarely that compelling. The first season is notably stronger than the second, which feels rather bland quickly. The potential for Agent Carter was extremely strong, but following disappointing ratings ABC confirmed that the show won't be returning for a third season. Still, the show is far from the worst superhero adaptation, and I would still recommend it to any Marvel buffs or fans of Hayley Atwell and her character from Captain America. There's plenty of fun to be had, especially when Dominic Cooper reprises his role as Howard Stark and introduces on of my favourite characters in the show: Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy), Stark's butler (presumably the inspiration for Tony's A.I. JARVIS witin the films) and a lovable addition to the MCU. It's an enjoyable enough show, but one that can't shake the feeling of wasted potential. 

Best Feature: Hayley Atwell is as fantastic as Agent Carter in the series as she was in Captain America, if not more so. The show is pretty much worth watching for her alone. 

Worst Feature: The narrative of the show isn't as compelling as I'd like it to be, especially given the 1940's setting and strong lead actress.

7) Legends of Tomorrow

Legends of Tomorrow is a fantastically fun concept. With CW's The Flash and Arrow introducing more and more interesting side characters each season, Legends of Tomorrow aims to collect them together in an ensemble time travelling show to give them their chance to shine. Legends capitalizes on the fun it can have with this concept as much as it can, with the varied team providing fun thrills each weak, despite the overarching story being rather weak. Indeed, looking at Legends from a purely critical perspective, it is incredibly easy to poke holes. Episode after episode, the continuity of the show is damned as the time travelling consequences rarely pay off. The season consists of a lot of filler episodes and the season long story provides little content for the payoff to be worth it. However, because of the fun that the show allows itself to have, the problems aren't as glaring as they could have been. On the contrary, the filler episodes are usually the better ones as the team engage in fun time-travelling scenarios without much regard for consequence. Unfortunately, the weak narrative throughout the season and poor continuity eventually weigh the show down, and by the season's end the show feels like missed potential. With the second season confirmed to be a shake up from the first, I have hope that Legends of Tomorrow can fully capitalize on it's concept with a more engaging narrative to match the fun it currently provides.

Best Feature: Legends' ensemble cast are extremely fun to watch, with only a few weak links in the characters dragging the team down.

Worst Feature: The season long story is rather bland and boring, and feels like it has been stretched too far when so many episodes resort to using filler content in order to keep the show going.

6) Supergirl

Like most TV, Supergirl has a rocky start with early episodes before it manages to hit its stride. However, unlike some of the other shows on this list, it takes longer for this stride to hit. Early episodes seem clunky as the show somewhat patronizingly tries to enforce the feminism of its main character almost apologetically. This isn't helped by constant comparisons to Supergirl's cousin, Superman, and how much better he is. Thankfully, the show eventually lets the actions of the characters speak for themselves rather than constantly telling the audience. Melissa Benoist really shines with her portrayal of Kara Zor-El, also known as Supergirl. The supporting cast are mostly strong, with David Harewood as Hank Henshaw and Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant providing particular depth to the show. The action ranges from middling to fantastic, with a mid-season bout with a Kryptonian feeling grand in scale. However, even after the show gets stronger, it still suffers from some glaring issues such as weak villains (both from a writing and acting perspective), an over-reliance on cliche love drama and a strange sense that something is missing, with constant references to Superman being made yet him only ever appearing as a silhouette due to restrictions from Warner Bros (who want Superman to remain in the films only, despite Supergirl being completely detached from Man of Steel). With the show moving to CW for its second season, I have strong hopes that Supergirl will only continue to grow in strength and move up the rankings.

Best Feature: Melissa Benoist's infectiously charming portrayal of Supergirl is really the series' strongest suit, which perhaps shines brightest when she shares the scene with a speedster superhero in a brief cameo episode.

Worst Feature: The first season of Supergirl lacks a compelling overarching narrative, instead relying on weak villains and predictable love dramas. Hopefully with the switch to CW, this will change for Season 2.

5) Arrow

In some ways, you could consider Arrow to be the spark that ignited the trend in superhero television we have now. With The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow spawning from it, it is definitely responsible for three of the nine shows on this list. It's debatable if it had any effect on the other shows, but the success of Arrow will have only given the rival shows confidence to go forward with their plans. With a solid opening season and a stellar second, Arrow was a strong example of how to do a superhero show, even if it strayed from the actual Green Arrow comic books frequently in favor of a grittier, almost Batman-like take. It's hard to complain too much though, when what we got was still excellent, with the show definitely peaking as Arrow took on the ruthless Deathstroke (Manu Bennett) in the action packed second season. So why so low on the list? Well, Arrow got a third and fourth season. And gradually the show slipped and stumbled from greatness into mediocrity. The writing became considerably weaker, perhaps even more noticeable due to superior sister show The Flash showing up at the same time as Arrow started slipping. Nevertheless, Arrow is still currently more bad than good, and the first two seasons at least are definitely wort a watch. Earlier seasons have strongly choreographed action sequences, an interesting performance from Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, and some fantastic villains. Here's hoping the fifth season is a return to form before Arrow slips even further down the list. 

Best Feature: Arrow was at its strongest in its second season, and that's largely down to the brilliant rivalry between Amell's Oliver Queen and the deadly Deathstroke, played spectacularly by Manu Bennett. 

Worst Feature: About halfway through the third season, and continuing on into the fourth, Arrow feels less like the hardened, gritty vigilante show that it started as, and more of a teenage soap opera. Oliver Queen's central conflict comes more often from drama with his love-life and friends now than it does super villains.  

4) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is perhaps the definition of a rocky start. Over half of the first season is rather mediocre. The show feels more like a formulaic police drama than it does a flashy superhero spectacle, as the Agents go week by week and deal with a generic, cliche threat and then move on to the next thing. The show promised a crossover with Thor: The Dark World and delivered the agents cleaning up after Thor's climactic battle. But then Captain America: The Winter Soldier happened, and changed everything. In hindsight, the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems like it was dragging its feet and waiting for Winter Soldier to happen so it could show everyone what it was about. The show smashed forward into action and became a much more enthralling show with every aspect of it benefiting from the change. The second and third seasons continue the strength that the later episodes of season one provided, thankfully, with the show managing to avoid the pitfall of the first season, and other shows with similarly large episode numbers, by dividing its seasons in two. One threat will be evident in the first half, with another taking over for the second. If you binge watched the show, it happens so naturally that you may not notice, but it really helps in keeping the show fresh. Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson is an obvious draw as one of the few elements familiar from the films, but his supporting cast are remarkably well developed, especially considering how generic they seemed to be in the earlier episodes. While early on it felt as though the show struggled to be compelling while not touching the major Marvel content reserved for the films, it feels grand in scope now within its own right, as the show tackles Hydra, Inhumans and more. The show develops fantastic narratives and a lot of heart as it goes on, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has grown into a fantastic companion piece to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Best Feature: The Captain America: The Winter Soldier tie-in episodes that pull the rug from under the audience's feet and reveals the show's true intentions.

Worst Feature: Too much of the first season is mediocre as the show plods along to the shocking reveal. You will be rewarded for your loyalty to the show if you can get past the first ten to fifteen episodes (with a good episode appearing every so often), but it won't be the easiest show to start.

3) Jessica Jones

Like SHIELD, Jessica Jones is connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, unlike SHIELD, Jessica Jones is a Netflix property and feels like a completely different animal to the likes of The Avengers. Focusing on a darker narrative than you could find in the films, Jessica Jones provides more gritty depth to the universe by focusing on the titular super powered private investigator having to re-encounter her old tormentor as he resurfaces. Said tormentor is played by David Tennant in perhaps the biggest draw to the series. His portrayal of the villain is so disturbingly charming that you'll often catch yourself off guard as to liking him, only to be reminded of the inexcusable actions he has previously committed. Krysten Ritter is an interesting lead as the volatile Jessica, with Mike Colter making a small standout appearance as Luke Cage. The show is almost as strong as Netflix's other Marvel property, but a few small issues stunt it from greatness, such as a drop in momentum towards the end of the series and annoyingly irrelevant sub-plots from uninteresting characters. Nevertheless, with Jessica due to return in the upcoming ensemble Netflix show The Defenders, Luke Cage set to get his own series and even a series of Jessica Jones confirmed, we're set to see a lot more from these characters. And while I'm uncertain on how the second season will fare as the show moves to a new story, I'm excited to find out.

Best Feature: A fantastic performance from David Tennant as Kilgrave, Jessica Jones' nemesis. Tied in with the dark nature of the character and some terrific writing, he's one of the best antagonists you're going to find in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Worst Feature: Some of the side characters and their subplots within the show fail to be as strong and entertaining as characters such as Jessica, Luke and Kilgrave, meaning whenever they appear the show's momentum grinds to a halt.

2) Daredevil

Before Jessica Jones, Netflix released Daredevil, and blew everyone away. The series washed away the bad taste that the 2003 movie had left in the general public's mouth, and gave us one of the best superhero adaptations of all time. Charlie Cox instantly falls into the role of Matt Murdock, also known as Daredevil, and pulls off playing the two alternate sides to his character extremely well. The entire cast is strong, but the other two members I will particularly call out is Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk, the villainous Kingpin of crime that Matt must oppose in season one, and Jon Berthnal's Punisher, who opposes Daredevil in Season two. The action for Daredevil is brutally choreographed, and rivals much of what you'd find even in Hollywood. The story in Season One is absolutely remarkable, and in my opinion I thought it never faltered or lost momentum as it headed towards the conclusion. However, the Second Season arguably had a major drop. The season felt fragmented into two separate stories; one spearheaded by the conflict with the Punisher and the other focusing on characters such as Elektra and Stick from Matt's past. The season stumbled a lot as it continued and as the main narrative failed to live up to the example set by the first season, but it was still extremely enjoyable in its own right. However, the shortcomings of the second season drag Daredevil down from what I would have ranked it had it just been the first. Like Jessica Jones, Daredevil is set to reappear in The Defenders. Unlike Jones, Daredevil is yet to be secured for a third season. I take this as good news personally. As Netflix begins firing on all cylinders with Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders and now a Punisher spin-off show, it is perhaps for the best that they slow down a bit and take their time again with Daredevil to ensure that the following seasons are more in line with the original. Check out a full review of the first season here!

Best Feature: Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk is absolutely incredible casting, and he crushes the role. Giving some depth to the Kingpin of Crime, it's hard to think of many villains in superhero adaptations that actually stand up to this guy.

Worst Feature: The second half of the second season has a weaker narrative than the rest of the show, with the Punisher's story becoming over-convoluted and the Hand story being rather messy. Still, even when stumbling, Daredevil is better than most.

1) The Flash

Deciding between The Flash and Daredevil for the top spot was an extremely tough call to make. Both have masterfully done first seasons and slightly disappointing second seasons. Looking purely at the first seasons, I would have to give Daredevil the ever so slight edge. However, factoring in the second seasons, The Flash just manages to speed ahead, as even when the show isn't totally on form, it's such an entertaining time. The Flash focuses on Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, a forensic scientist who suffered the death of his mother at the hands of a supernatural element as a child. His father is wrongly imprisoned for the crime, and when Barry gains superhuman abilities, he vows to protect the city and find justice for his father. The writers of the show confess that they have three words above the door to their writers room: Heart, Humour and Spectacle. The show delivers in spades on all three. The tragedy Barry endured as a child doesn't mean the show is weighed down with his sorrows. On the contrary, the bright and cheery show of The Flash feels like the antithesis of the gritty tone sister show Arrow started out with. But the show does pack a lot of emotion as Barry deals with his new powers and his parental issues. The villains can be hit and miss but much like in the comics Barry has a strong core rogues gallery to face off against, including the ludicrously named yet fun Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), Weather Wizard (Liam McIntyre), Heatwave (Dominic Purcell) and the brilliant Mark Hamill returning in his role as The Trickster from the 1990's Flash show. There's even fully CGI villains every so often with better effects than you'd expect from a television show, particularly one situated on the CW. The Flash's true nemesis from the comic books is a strong here, as Reverse-Flash plagues Barry Allen for the first season in a fantastic story arc. While not as strong as his predecessor, Zoom continues to be a terrifying threat to Flash as the antagonist in the second season. When The Flash hits its stride, it does so magnificently, delivering some of the best superhero content you can get out there right now. Even when it stumbles, such as several spots in the second season or a couple of early "villain of the week" styled episodes in the first season, The Flash is strong enough in its core respects to still be entertaining. Set to return for a third season this Autumn, here's hoping that The Flash can continue to be the strongest superhero television show there is, and that it continues to deliver on heart, humour and spectacle. For a full review of Season One, click here!

Best Feature: While it's tempting to give this honour to the fun spectacle and effects that the show provides with its countless superhero showdowns, it is undeniable that the absolute core of the show is its heart, and that is best on display with Barry's relationships with his friends, fathers (both foster and biological) and even with his foes. 

Worst Feature: In the wake of a fantastic closing half to the first season, the second season does stumble a few times in trying to live up to expectations, most notably in failing to create an overarching season long narrative that is quite as interesting as what came before. 

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows' review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is the sequel to the 2014 reboot of the classic 1980's franchise. Sporting a new director with Dave Green (Earth to Echo) replacing Jonathan Liebesman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wrath of the Titans) and featuring a marketing campaign showcasing its fan-pleasing array of characters, Out of the Shadows is set to take aim at fans disappointed with the 2014 predecessor and bring them on board with the newly relaunched franchise. The film follows the four brothers and ally April O'Neil (Megan Fox) on the trail of a sinister plot relating to their nemesis, Shredder (Brian Tee). As they discover more, the turtles must join forces with Casey Jones (Stephen Amell) to ensure the safety of New York .

Fans of the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise may find the new film has a lot to offer them, as the film is littered with new fan-favourite characters. The villainous Shredder is now joined by his henchmen Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE's Sheamus), a mutated warthog and rhino set to give the turtles a physical match. Stephen Amell joins the cast as vigilante Casey Jones with a slightly different background to the one fans will be familiar with. Shredder is quickly revealed to be in leagues with Krang (voiced by Brad Garrett), a being from a different dimension who plans on enslaving our own. Tyler Perry stars as the nefarious scientist, Baxter Stockman. With so many new characters joining the already large cast, you'd be forgiven for worrying that the film could easily collapse under its own weight. This surprisingly doesn't become an issue, as the numerous villains all serve one narrative thread, unlike for example Spider-Man 3 or The Amazing Spider-Man 2, both of which utilized three separate villains with their own narrative that made those films clunky and overstuffed. The one issue it does present, though, is that fans may be disappointed to discover their favourite characters don't get a lot to do. Casey Jones does indeed don his iconic mask, but it's for one sequence that fans will have already seen in the trailers. Krang is technically the main villain, but the film doesn't spend a lot of time with him. The character isn't really set up, either, making his initial appearance early in the film rather jarring. Shredder (he main antagonist from the previous film) returns here with a stronger character, but that's mainly due to the film actually giving the character a strong actor, whereas in the first film when unmasked he was played by an unknown in the shadows. However, this goes to waste as Shredder's role in the film is incredibly minimal. The two characters that really get a chance to shine are Bebop and Rocksteady, as the film utilizes them as the physical lackeys, or "errand boys" as Shredder puts it, to the main villains, allowing them to be the physical presence against which the turtles battle for the majority of the film. The two are stupidly charming, and arguably a highlight of the sequel. 

The first Ninja Turtles film succeeded whenever it allowed the fun of the franchise to leak through and the four titular turtles' personalities shined through the Michael Bay remake filter that some believed plagued the first, with many citing the elevator scene as a highlight of what the film should have focused on. While Bay's grubby thumbprints can still be seen on the sequel, with a scene of Megan Fox using her sexuality to fool a villain feeling in line with his Transformers films, Out of the Shadows gives a lot more focus to the turtles, making for a funner film than the first. Not all of the humour sticks, but enough does to make the film enjoyable. Out of the Shadows also attempts to explore the characters a little deeper than the first, but stumbles as it does. While all four brothers struggle with balancing their obsession for the culture of New York and the people that live their with their inability to blend among us, it is a particular struggle that the character of Michaelangelo struggles with. Mikey is given a strong scene in the film relating to this which is actually touching, but the film doesn't spend any time after it developing it. Rather, the character arcs of the turtles quickly falls into rehashing the problems they faced in the first film which are suddenly solved at a point where they are needed to be rather than coming to a natural conclusion. I feel that with some extra time spent on the script, there is actually a solid story to be told here focusing on the turtles, but in the current revision it gets lost as the action ramps up in the second half of the film. The action was perhaps the strongest advantage that the first film had, but here its somewhat weaker as battles between characters are considerably shorter and there aren't any sequences as memorable as you'd like them to be. The visual effects aren't going to win any awards, but given that the film serves as a live action Saturday morning cartoon they do their job just fine. Steve Jablonsky replaces Brian Tyler as composer, and while the new score isn't quite as good as the last, he at least leaves a treat in the credits for fans of the cartoon. The story of Out of the Shadows isn't really anything special. Shredder, Krang and their villainous company wish to do villainous things for villainous reasons, and the heroic turtles must stop them. But the story is really just there to serve as a catalyst for the main characters, and while you could definitely argue that a stronger story could make a stronger film, it's hard to be too hung up about it when you look at the product as a whole.

In conclusion, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows doesn't really bring much special to the table. A number of characters in the film's impressive roster are unfortunately underdeveloped, the action feels like a step down from the previous installment and the story isn't that great. But where the film succeeds is with the heart and personality of the four core characters and the fun the audience can have with them. The film spends more time with them than its predecessor, and Leo, Donnie, Raph and Mikey are all given discernible and fun personalities that make the film enjoyable enough, which is helped by the fun the film has with the henchmen they oppose, Bebop and Rocksteady. There's enough heart and humour in here to make it a fun ride, even if a lot of other aspects of the film remain largely unpolished.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows  -  6 / 10