The best superhero TV series to watch now

The best superhero TV series to watch now

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Monday, 22nd February 2021
Regina King in Watchmen (Credit: Sky) Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in Wandavision (Credit: Disney +)
Regina King in Watchmen (Credit: Sky) Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in Wandavision (Credit: Disney +)

We take a look at the best TV series that give a different take on what it means to be a superhero. 

The Boys 

Amazon Prime 

The Boys shows the unfiltered truth of what it really looks like when superheroes and civilians live side by side, and it’s not always pretty. 

The unique comic book series mixes comedy with plenty of violence, starring Karl Urban as Billy the Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie, Tomer Kapon as Frenchie, Laz Alonso as Mother’s Milk, and Karen Fukuhara as The Female, as the vigilantes.

They find themselves at war with those with superpowers who abuse their abilities, especially the elite superhero team known as the Seven. 

Legion

Amazon Prime 

Dan Stevens plays David Haller, also known as Legion, the mutant son of Charles Xavier, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age and found himself in and out of psychiatric hospitals. 

A strange encounter with a fellow psychiatric patient helps him realise that what he thought was mental illness was actually his psychic mutant powers, which include telepathy and telekinesis. 

Hunted by a secret government agency known as Division 3, Legion must force out a parasitic mutant that has infected his mind and start to piece together his fragmented memories in order to unlock his true power. 

The Umbrella Academy 

Netflix

Based on the comic book of the same name by Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy follows a dysfunctional family of adopted siblings who are forced to reunite when their eccentric billionaire father suspiciously dies and a global apocalypse becomes imminent. 

The siblings are Vanya (Elliot Page), a timid violinist with no apparent supernatural abilities, Luther (Tom Hopper), an astronaut with super-strength, Diego (David Castañeda), a rebel with telekinetic ability and a penchant for knives, Alison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), a celebrity who is able to control minds with the words “I heard a rumour”, Klaus (Robert Sheehan), a reckless drug and alcohol addict who can communicate with the dead, and Five (Aidan Gallagher), a boy who can jump through space and time. 

WandaVision

Disney +

Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their roles as Wanda Maximoff and Vision from the Marvel Comics.

Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and three weeks after the end of Avengers Endgame, Maximoff and Vision are living the perfect life together in the idyllic suburban town of Westview in New Jersey.

However, as they experience the passing decades, the couple start to realise that not everything is as it seems, and something is very wrong. 

Watchmen

Sky Atlantic 

Based on the graphic novel of the same name, Watchmen is set in 2019 and racist violence has spread throughout Tulsa, Oklahoma, with white supremacist group the Seventh Kavalry taking up arms against the police department and minorities.

To protect themselves, the police wear masks to prevent their homes from being targeted, after a raid took place on the homes of 40 police officers during Christmas Eve in 2016. 

Out of those who survived the attack, only police officers Detective Angela Abar (Regina King) and Police Chief Judd Crawford (Don Johnson) stayed with the force in an attempt to achieve justice. 

Heroes

BBC

A group of ordinary people from all over the world discovers they have superhuman abilities and need to learn how to manage their new powers and stop catastrophic futures from coming true. 

They also need to avoid the clutches of a secret organisation known as The Company, who want to control those with superhuman abilities, and serial killer Sylar (Zachary Quinto), who is hunting them down and stealing their abilities. 

From Claire (Hayden Panettiere), a cheerleader with the ability of rapid cellular regeneration, to Hiro (Masi Oka), an office worker who has the ability to manipulate space and time, they all struggle to adapt to their new lives. 

Marvel’s Jessica Jones 

Netflix

Former superhero Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) is rough around the edges, sarcastic and not out to be anyone’s saviour. 

With superhuman strength, Jones has used her skills to open up a detective agency but is battling her own demons from the past and numbing the pain with alcohol.

As Jones tries to rebuild her life, she struggles to leave behind the trauma caused by Kilgrave (David Tennant), a killer with the ability to control people’s minds. 

Struggling with symptoms of PTSD, Jones relies on fellow superhuman Luke Cage (Mike Colter), who has superhuman strength and unbreakable skin, and her adoptive sister Trish (Rachael Taylor), who has found fame as a radio host. 

The Flash 

Sky One 

Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) is an assistant police forensic investigator who finds himself given the power of superhuman speed when he is caught in the explosion of a particle accelerator. 

With his newfound abilities, he becomes known as The Flash and fights crime as a masked superhero, while also attempting to get justice for the murder of his mother. 

Allen discovers he is not the only super-powered human and not everyone is using their new powers for good. 

With the help of his friends Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), a bioengineering expert, and Cisco (Carlos Valdes), a mechanical engineering genius, and his crush Iris (Candice Patton), a journalist, Allen will learn what being a superhero really means. 

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We take a look at the best TV series that give a different take on what it means to be a superhero.