Favorite Comic Based Superhero TV Shows

[Christopher]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up.

Ooh, I was trying to think of less well-known comics-based shows, and I remembered The Middleman should be on the list. That's another one where it might be a stretch to call MM a superhero, but he did keep his identity secret and wore a uniform of sorts, he had a sidekick, and the series was definitely immersed in comics and superhero tropes (as well as sci-fi and spy-fi tropes).

[Showdown]

Justice League
Batman TAS
Superman TAS
X-Men (90s)
X-Men Evolution
Smallville
Lois & Clark
The Tick (animated & live action)

[Admiral2]

No Particular Order:

Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter)
The Flash
The Incredible Hulk (Mr. McGee, don't make me angry...)
Justice League Unlimited
Batman TAS
Superman TAS
Fantastic Four (1960's)
The Adventures of Superman
Spider-Man (70's live-action...it's underappreciated)
The Cape (also underappreciated)

[ClayinCA]

^ The Cape wasn't based on a comic book. (Well, in the show it was, but not in reality.)

My favorites, again in no particular order:

Batman (60s)
The Incredible Hulk
Wonder Woman (but only the first season)
The Adventures of Superman
Flash Gordon (Filmation)
Batman: The Animated Series (in all its incarnations)
Justice League Unlimited
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Superman (Ruby-Spears version)
The Flash

Honorable mentions go to Super Friends and Shazam! (even though neither show holds up well, I loved them both beyond all reason when I was six), Lois & Clark (which gets a split vote because while I loved Teri Hatcher, I couldn't stand Dean Cain as Superman), and Smallville (which gets it right when it gets it right, but oh so very wrong when it gets it wrong).

[Silvercrest]

Does "Saturday Morning Watchmen" count?

[JD]

I just picked up the first DVD set of Superman: The Animated Series, based on seeing it on so many lists here. And after watching all three parts of The Last Son of Krypton, I can see why it is, it was great.

[Turtletrekker]

Silvercrest wrote:

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Does "Saturday Morning Watchmen" count?

Classic!

[DarKush]

In no particular order:

Hulk
Wonder Woman
Flash
Smallville
Blade
Batman: TAS
Batman Beyond
Spider-Man (FOX)
Superman: TAS
Justice League
Justice League Unlimited
Superfriends
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
X-Men: Evolution
Batman
Buck Rogers

[Mr Light]

The pilot of Superman:TAS is actually one of the weaker installments of the show. Or maybe I just say that because they re-ran the damn thing a million times back when it first aired and I got so damned sick of seeing it instead of new episodes

It is a problematic pilot though, since he doesn't really do Superman-y things until part three.

[Christopher]

Mr Light wrote:

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It is a problematic pilot though, since he doesn't really do Superman-y things until part three.

Well, you could say much the same about Superman: The Movie. A great deal of the movie is spent on Krypton, in Smallville, in the Fortress, and at the Daily Planet before the first real superhero action comes along. "Last Son of Krypton" was adopting a similar structure, and I liked it that it went into so much depth about the origin story. It was cool seeing a whole episode of Jor-El, Action Scientist.

[Admiral2]

ClayinCA wrote:

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^ The Cape wasn't based on a comic book. (Well, in the show it was, but not in reality.)

Close enough for me. I think of it as an homage to comics. I real one, not a BS one like Heroes.

[Kai "the spy"]

Mr Light wrote:

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It is a problematic pilot though, since he doesn't really do Superman-y things until part three.

Well, duh. It's a pilot. It's the origin story for that version of the character. Christopher already mentioned STM. I add the suggestion to rewatch the pilot of "Lois & Clark" and see how much time he spends in that one doing Superman-y things.

What I actually consider a weak spot in "Last Son of Krypton" is how we never actually learn how and why Clark Kent decides to help people, and why he dons a costume to do it.

[JD]

Yeah, I was kinda surprised when it pretty much jumped from Smallville to him in Metropolis already doing the Superman thing.
Oh, and I thought it was really cool that the whole first episode focused on Jor-El.

[Christopher]

Kai "the spy" wrote:

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Christopher already mentioned STM. I add the suggestion to rewatch the pilot of "Lois & Clark" and see how much time he spends in that one doing Superman-y things.

Heck, he doesn't spend much time doing Superman stuff in the whole first season of Lois and Clark. The original idea was never to actually see Superman at all, and though that obviously didn't, err, fly, they tended to keep the superheroics pretty minimal. I recall at least one first-season episode where Superman only appeared in costume for less than a minute in the teaser and then it was all Clark for the rest of the episode (that might've been the one where he went home to Smallville and had his first encounter with kryptonite).

What I actually consider a weak spot in "Last Son of Krypton" is how we never actually learn how and why Clark Kent decides to help people, and why he dons a costume to do it.

I'm not sure I consider that a weakness. Maybe Superman is just intrinsically good. I have no problem with that interpretation. I think that generally people do have an instinct to help one another, and what demands an explanation is why someone wouldn't try to help. We're a social species by nature; cooperative action and mutual assistance are part of our survival strategy. And that crosses species lines -- humans rescuing stray animals, dolphins rescuing drowning humans. Heck, we're often more driven to be compassionate toward other species than to our own, because we don't feel the same competition toward members of other species. So to me it makes perfect sense that a Kryptonian would feel instinctively motivated to help and protect us fragile humans.

As for the costume, well, it just seems to be part of that world. None of the other DCAU characters really had their use of costumes explained. It was just something that crimefighters did.

[Kai "the spy"]

Christopher wrote:

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Heck, he doesn't spend much time doing Superman stuff in the whole first season of Lois and Clark. The original idea was never to actually see Superman at all, and though that obviously didn't, err, fly, they tended to keep the superheroics pretty minimal. I recall at least one first-season episode where Superman only appeared in costume for less than a minute in the teaser and then it was all Clark for the rest of the episode (that might've been the one where he went home to Smallville and had his first encounter with kryptonite).

Yep, I remember that one. Although he still kinda did "Superman-y things", just not in costume.

What I actually consider a weak spot in "Last Son of Krypton" is how we never actually learn how and why Clark Kent decides to help people, and why he dons a costume to do it.

I'm not sure I consider that a weakness. Maybe Superman is just intrinsically good. I have no problem with that interpretation. I think that generally people do have an instinct to help one another, and what demands an explanation is why someone wouldn't try to help. We're a social species by nature; cooperative action and mutual assistance are part of our survival strategy. And that crosses species lines -- humans rescuing stray animals, dolphins rescuing drowning humans. Heck, we're often more driven to be compassionate toward other species than to our own, because we don't feel the same competition toward members of other species. So to me it makes perfect sense that a Kryptonian would feel instinctively motivated to help and protect us fragile humans.[/QUOTE]

I, too, think it's best to portray Superman as doing these things out of the good of his heart, but I also think it would be inspiring to actually experience Superman seeing the need for a hero. I think "Birthright" did very well in that regard.

As for the costume, well, it just seems to be part of that world. None of the other DCAU characters really had their use of costumes explained. It was just something that crimefighters did.

Well, Batman's need for a costume was explained in "Mask of the Phantasm".