Comicbooks inspired not only the movies but also TV shows.
With the X-men kicking off the Superhero hype back in the 2000s in cinema, TV couldn’t be left behind far.
Ofcourse we had TV shows like Batman (1966) Lois & Clark (1993) and Mutant X. While those shows were amazing during their time, they are now mostly old and so is their storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, I loved those shows and I loved it when they aired.
But the hype that The X-men started was uncanny.We now have TV shows that are based on comics and that are dark and with the help of CGI more credible than ever.
I have listed a bunch shows that aired in the past two decades that are based on comicbooks. And I am sure that there are some that you didn’t even know about.
Lucifer
The Devil is fed up with his life in hell and decides to take a vacation. He ends up in the city of angels where he starts a bar called Lux. That’s the premise of the Lucifer TV show. A show so controversial that a lot of Christians in the USA protested that a show about the devil should be forbidden.
It had the opposite effect and Lucifer did really great in it’s first season. A little bit less in the second and third act. But a social media campaign using twitter, facebook and people writing emails to Netflix after the cancellation by Fox saved the show from literally going to hell.
Netflix recently aired season 4 and even though it had a reduced episode count to 10 episodes, it didn’t hurt the show at all. In fact, it made the storytelling much more compelling with each episode connecting the next and telling the main story in an invigorating way.
If you like a show that has occult humor and a good lovestory then this is the show you need to watch.
The Lucifer from the comicbooks was a spinoff from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. If you ever want to read those, I heartily recommend them.
Smallville
Smallville tells the story of a young Clark Kent, way before he was Superman.
When Clark crashes his Kryptonian pod in Smallville, he is found by childless couple Jonathan and Martha Kent. They raise Clark Kent while protecting his secret: That Clark is secretly not from this planet and is powers are manifesting.
The show touches much of the Superman mythology with appearances of BRIANIAC, General Zod and Lois Lane. The villains of the week, dubbed by the Smallville fans as the Freak of the Week, were mostly long forgotten characters from the Superman lore who featured in the very old comicbooks from The Man of Steel.
The show lasted for 10 seasons and the producers’ motto lasted for 10 years: No tights, no flights. So you basically see Clark who is earthbound until the last second of the series finale.
Although a bit dated, I loved the show and watched every episode.
Arrow
Back in 2012 Arrow premiered on The CW. It was a very dark show in the spirit of the Batman trilogy by Christopher Nolan. Arrow was new in the sense that it was a B character from the DC comicbooks stable. Better yet, Arrow was conceived to be the stand in of Batman.
Anyway the first seasons of Arrow were amazing. It had dark storytelling and the makers of the show didn’t shy away from having Oliver Queen kill people on the show with his bow and arrow. The storytelling was fresh in the sense that we get to see Oliver in present day fighting crime after he had been missing for five years on an island called Lian-yiu. Through flashbacks we see how Oliver became a skilled combatant and it fleshed out the character a lot more, making Oliver Queen a three dimensional character.
It was recently announced that the 8th season of Arrow would be it’s last. So with only 10 episodes to go, we are hoping that Arrow will get the send off it deserves.
Agent Carter
Agent Carter was a direct spinoff from Captain America: The First Avenger. Peggy Carter was Steve Rogers’ handler and love interest in the movie. But unlike the classic damsel in distress, Peggy Carter was an excellent marksman, amazing in close quarter combat and had a tactical and strategic mind. She was the entire package.
The Agent Carter TV show dealt with sexism in the 1940s because what can a girl do when there is a man around to do it? Right, so Peggy Carter showed all these men how to actually do it instead of just bragging about things.
With the help of Howard Stark and the original Edwin Jarvis, Peggy Carter fights not only sexism but terrorists, mobsters and bio weapons. Peggy even takes the time to mourn the loss the love of her life Steve Rogers. Now if that doesn’t show you how strong Agent Carter really is, then I don’t know either!
Peggy featured in some of the older comicbooks but in modern days writers usually use her cousin Sharon Carter a.k.a. Agent Thirteen.
Fun fact: Edwin Jarvis had the honor to appear in Avengers: Endgame as Howard Stark’s butler and marked the first character to crossover from television to film.
The Flash
Barry Allen got struck by lightning and chemicals in his lab and that turned him into the fastest man alive: The Flash!
I have to say upfront that of all the Arrowverse TV shows, this one is my favorite.
Barry Allen made his first appearance on Arrow. At the time he was a slow crime scene investigator (CSI) who showed up to help out Oliver and Felicity on a case. The two part episode was intended to be a backdoor pilot for the Flash TV show.
The Flash TV show is a family show at heart. It’s spirited and the actors have a lot of chemistry.
The first season was amazing. The explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs created not only the Flash but also gave other people superpowers. Some good, some bad and some inbetween. However the show suffered from repetitiveness with the season’s big bads all being speedsters. Season 1 featured the Reverse Flash, season 2 featured Zoom, season 3 featured Savitar and fans started to complain. It resulted in a season four that didn’t feature any speedster but The Thinker. Which also turned out to be the most boring season. Despite the acting prowess of Neil Sandilands, the weak storyline and bad scripting didn’t do the show any justice.
Season five featured the Flash’ daughter from the future who turns out to be a speedster. The fifth season went back to what it was good at: a family show with speedsters running next to each other fighting another speedster and in my opinion, the show should stay that way unless ofcourse the scriptwriters manage to bring a non speedster into the mix but with a decent story.
