Superhero TV: Every Era of Capes on the Small Screen

Before superheroes ruled the box office, they lived in your living room. Superhero TV has run continuously since the 1950s, and its evolution — from weekly camp to prestige drama — tells the whole story of how the genre grew up. Here's the broadcast history of the cape.

The founding era: camp and wonder

The Adventures of Superman (1952) made George Reeves TV's first hero, but 1966's Batman turned superhero TV into a phenomenon — Adam West, tilted cameras, painted sound effects, twice a week, same bat-time. A decade later, Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman (1975–79) gave the era its icon and its spin-change. These shows weren't embarrassed by comics; they were delighted by them.

The long-arc revolution

• Smallville (2001–2011) — ten seasons of Clark Kent before the cape; the no-tights, no-flights rule made the origin the whole show
• Arrow (2012) and The Flash (2014) — the CW's Arrowverse built television's first connected super-universe, with crossovers every fall
• Supergirl (2015–2021) — six seasons that made Kara Danvers a generation's hero

Movies gave superheroes spectacle; television gave them time — and time is where characters live.

The prestige turn

Gotham (2014–2019) ran a Batman show without Batman and made the villains the draw. Titans and Doom Patrol went darker and stranger on streaming, and animated series — from the untouchable Batman: The Animated Series (1992) to Justice League (2001) — quietly produced some of the best superhero storytelling in any medium, any era.

Dress for the marathon

Every era's heroes are in the superhero collection — officially licensed, printed to order in the USA, free US shipping and free 30-day returns.

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