Which A-list superhero would make for the best TV series?

As a general rule, the A-list superhero franchises - your Supermans, Wonder Women, X-Men - have been reserved for the big screen in the past two decades, and, given the box office returns, that's understandable. Still, imagine that one of the big properties were given a lavish TV adaptation, a la Game of Thrones or This is Us. (Is that a big-budget network show? Are big-budget network dramas even a thing anymore? I can't recall the last time a scripted network show made a big pop culture footprint. Glee? But, I digress.) Assuming it got a large budget by TV standards, if not an outrageously huge one (as in, several times GoT's cost), what would you most like to see? Some thoughts of mine follow...

Superman
Pros: It's Superman.
Cons: The Metropolis-set Smallville years and Supergirl have gone through a lot of Kryptonian lore lately... and maybe Superman is so inherently iconic he works best in rare big-screen appearances.
My Take: Not too promising.

Batman
Pros: It's Batman. Also, a series could explore many aspects of Gotham apart from Batman.
Cons: We just had Gotham, in which Bruce Wayne was a major character, and now we have Batwoman, so... same problem as above, really.
My Take: Maybe in five years or so, but the Bat-lore also seems a tad saturated at this point.

Wonder Woman
Pros: It's Wonder Woman. Also, there's a whole island full of her fellow warriors.
Cons: Not sure? See below.
My Take: Not being a comics reader, I have no idea what a Diana-centric series would be like. (Neither, it seemed, did that infamous David E. Kelly pilot.) I could definitely see The CW doing a show about a non-Diana Themiscryan in the near future, though. So, no objection here, I guess.

X-Men
Pros: A series could give all the players episodes and story arcs in which to shine, and help set it apart from the historically long-lasting movie franchise.
Cons: Honestly, not really seeing any.
My Take: I don't expect Disney to, because Money, but a blockbuster X-Men Disney+ series might just be the ideal way to revive the property.

Spider-Man
Pros: A series could emphasize the soap opera/everyday challenges of the friendly neighborhood hero.
Cons: Any superhero series would be expensive, but one requiring NYC location shooting would be doubly so. Also, urban swinging effects would probably be even pricier than flying and other powers. Finally, we've had a lot of live-action Spider-Men over the years, and Tom Holland's still going strong.
My Take: As well-suited as the character and his stories might be to the small screen in theory, the actual obstacles to such a project (even apart from rights issues) would be daunting.

Zorro
Pros: Everything. Period show? Sure. Dark and twisted present? Why not. Futuristic megacity, or post-apocalypse? Yes and Yes.
Cons: Not a damn thing.
My Take: MORE ZORRO, PLEASE.


... What say you all?

 

Extra con: It's already been done well. Twice. The Adventures of Superman and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman were great, successful shows that depicted the iconic Superman well, but modern creators have no use for those takes, hence Smallville and Supergirl.

Extra Con: Again, already done well, and again, not in a way that modern creators want to do it, hence the David E. Kelly version.

What would I do? a Fantastic Four series, though i can't claim they are A-Listers anymore. (I mean, they're only the progenitors of the Marvel Universe...whatever.)

 

For a while now I've wondered if TV might be a better fit for the Fantastic Four. I know they've had some crazier stuff in the comics, but it wouldn't go totally against the comics to do a TV series with smaller scale stories focusing more on them as a family.
Of the ones listed in the first post, I'd go with the X-Men. There are just so many characters, and such a deep mythology behind them, that a 2-2.5 movie every couple years just can't really do them justice.

 

This. Totally this. A little surprised it hasn't already happened. But I wouldn't steer it totally away from the epic/cosmic stuff - it would be fun to see that contrasted with the more domestic issues the Four tend to face. At least it always worked well in the books.

 

Is Dr. Strange an A-lister these days? Seems like he could carry a series.

As far as DC goes, I would say Wonder Woman. A few years back in the comics they played up her diplomat status which seems like it would be conducive to a regular setting, supporting cast and a variety of episodic story elements. ("The ambassador from Badguyistan has super powers?!? Wha?")

Zorro is a tougher sell. He's pretty much a sword guy and if you take him out of his regular setting you have to justify him using a sword in modern day (or the future or space or whatever) and that it would be hard to make that work. But if someone could figure it out I'd love to see it.

 

Oh yeah, you'd definitely have to have some of the fantastic, no pun intended, stuff, but just not on the kind of scale you'd see in a movie. You'd definitely at least want to do the occasional visit to places like The Negative Zone.

 

Deadpool provided he can be R-rated. You could team him up with anyone. Maybe you can't get Hugh Jackman back for a movie but maybe you can come do one ep and have some fun before it's back to doing movies. Also they could spoof tv. Maybe one week they do Trek and next week they goof on Sopranos. Jason

 

Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and meh throw in Iron Fist and Punisher.

;-)

 

Simple: ever since that mysterious solar flare back in '53, for reasons scientists have been unable to explain, gunpowder hasn't worked at all.

As for the Four, I still have my doubts that body-stretching powers could ever look cool or believable enough in live-action to suit a leading role. But, I could be proven wrong...

 

Elongated Man looks okay on the rare occasion when he uses his powers on the Flash

 

A couple of not-quite A-listers I'd like to see would be Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle (Ted Kord version) together in a series. Think of it as superhero action adventure as a buddy-cop show having some comedic tone to it. Would be great if done right. If you're not familiar with these guys, go look up the Giffen-era Justice League comics (Justice League International and I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League)- they're fantastic.

 

Well, Marvel is putting Ms Marvel on Disney plus and she has body stretching powers.

 

I would like to see a period piece starring aviator hero Blackhawk.

While not an A-Lister, I would like to see an anthology show featuring DC's Space Cabbie.

 

Sure, but he's an inherently goofy character. Hence my doubt as to whether it would work for a serious leading role of a team of adults.

Ooh, co-signed! Though we might get a Spielberg-produced movie instead...

 

Blade would be an obvious candidate.

 

x-men. by a long mile

 

We've seen him use his powers in serious situations on The Flash and it's still worked fine.
Pretty much all of the powers of the FF have been done on live action TV at this point, so I don't think there'd be a problem with any of them.
I'm assuming they'd probably just go back to a costume and makeup for The Things, since I don't know if we're really at a point where you can do a mo-cap character on a weekly basis yet.
The are going to have K2-S0 in the Star Wars Cassian Andor series, but I don't think we know yet just how big of a role he'll have.

 

There's something like over twenty Spider-Man universe projects in development or coming soon. We're about to be over-Spidy-saturated, so I consider it a con to have a new series, like action or otherwise.

 

I would go for the ones with heroes who have more limited powers. Like, with Superman they have to reach further to create credible threats. Whereas X Men have smaller powers with well matched opponents.

Enemies of Superman have one tactic that can beat him. Use Lois to lure him to kryptonite. So a TV series would have that happen every week. Whereas something like Batman or X Men where the heroes don’t have the power advantage, you can do more different stories and more easily force the heroes to be clever.

 

The four live action Superman series, 7 animated series, one Supergirl series, 6 movies, and over 1,000 Superman comic kind seem to have found plenty of ways to create a threat for Superman