I have a very distinct memory of being a kid and watching Batman punch someone through a wall on a Saturday morning while eating breakfast, and thinking, “This is the greatest thing on TV.” It turns out that I wasn’t wrong. Superhero television was doing something amazing long before the movies showed up and took all the credit. And then the MCU happened, and suddenly, every meaningful cape story had to be a theatrical event with a $200 million budget and a post-credits scene setting up four other movies.
I went along with it for years. Then, Daredevil came out in 2015 and genuinely recalibrated what I thought this genre could do on a screen that wasn’t 60 feet wide. After that, The Boys, Invincible, and Loki were released. TV started feeling like more than a consolation prize. It was where the best character work lived, because you can tell a story in 10 hours that you can’t in only two. These eight series are the reason I’ll never fully trust someone who says that superhero TV can’t be great.
‘Agent Carter’ (2015 – 2016)
ABC canceling Agent Carter after two seasons is a crime I haven’t fully forgiven, because Hayley Atwell absolutely owned the role of Peggy Carter. She is sharp, funny, and carries emotional weight without ever tipping into self-pity, and turns Peggy into one of the best TV characters of the 2010s. The series is so tightly-paced it doesn’t even feel like it belongs in Marvel’s catalog. Set in 1946, Season 1 follows Peggy secretly clearing Howard Stark’s name while stuck doing administrative work at the SSR, assisted by Stark’s butler, Edwin Jarvis.
The critical response to Agent Carter was consistently positive across both seasons, and many praised Atwell’s performance, the show’s tone, and its separation from the wider MCU narrative. James D’Arcy added just the right amount of humor as Jarvis. Season 2 relocated to Los Angeles, leaned into Old Hollywood noir, and gave Wynn Everett’s Whitney Frost a villain arc that was thoughtful and precise.
‘Loki’ (2021 – 2023)
Loki is my favorite thing that the MCU has ever done, and I’ve weighed it against enough superhero shows to feel confident enough to say it. Since Tom Hiddleston was the best part of many movies for several decades, he deserved his own starring TV role. I didn’t think that Marvel was capable of this kind of great TV anymore. Hiddleston’s character is given a philosophical, emotionally rich story about purpose, free will, and sacrifice. Naturally, Loki was among the most-watched Marvel Disney+ series at the time of its release.
Owen Wilson in the role of Mobius is also inspired casting that nobody saw coming, and the dynamic between the two is stunning. However, Season 2’s finale is what sealed the deal for me. The creative team described their mission as taking Loki “from a lowercase-g god to a capital-G God,” with Loki sacrificing everything he ever wanted, like connection, freedom, and companionship, to hold the multiverse together alone at the End of Time. Loki is bold, playful, and never wastes a moment.
‘Daredevil’ (2015–2018)
The hallway fight in Daredevil Season 1, Episode 2 changed how I think about superhero action, and if you’ve seen this series, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Matt Murdock, barely standing, claws his way through a corridor of men thanks to his pure stubbornness. There’s no music or CGI, just a guy who refuses to quit. Daredevil was intentionally darker than other MCU properties to avoid crossovers and drew inspiration from 1970s crime fiction. It has the texture of a noir film and the bones of a character study.
Season 1 holds a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, Season 2 has 81%, and Season 3 has a 97% score. That third season is the most impressive one, mainly because most superhero shows fall apart by then. However, Daredevil delivered some of its best work, such as Vincent D’Onofrio operating like a patient predator from inside prison walls, and Murdock psychologically dismantling and rebuilding himself. Charlie Cox is perfect in this role, and he carries the same intensity forward in Daredevil: Born Again.
‘The Boys’ (2019 – Present)
If Daredevil is about restraint, The Boys gleefully smashes it in favor of shock value. Antony Starr plays Homelander, a Superman analog with the emotional maturity of an abandoned child and the physical power of a god. The series uses that instability to interrogate celebrity culture, corporate power, and American mythology in the most uncomfortable ways possible. Developed by Eric Kripke and based on the Garth Ennis comic, The Boys follows a team of vigilantes fighting a team of superheroes.
What I respect most about The Boys is that the satire gets sharper as the series continues, rather than becoming repetitive or lazy. The Emmy-nominated second season kept finding new angles on Homelander, Annie/Starlight, and Hughie. However, Season 3 deserves all the praise. Remember “Herogasm”? Of course, several dramatic episodes follow, and the spin-off series Gen V deepens the lore. The Boys stays committed all the way through, and that’s why it’s perfect.
‘Invincible’ (2021 – Present)
Nothing in superhero animation has blindsided me like the final moments of Episode 1 of Invincible. The show spends 40 minutes feeling warm and familiar, and it seems like something that you can easily binge without being traumatized. Then the story becomes sudden, brutal, and purposeful. I remember sitting there processing it for 10 minutes.That setup pays off beautifully across four seasons and counting. Invincible has received widespread praise, with nominations for two Primetime Emmys and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Animated Series, with shout-outs particularly for Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, and J.K. Simmons.
The show is built almost entirely on Simmons’ performance as Omni-Man. He is simultaneously the most powerful being on the planet and a father whose relationship with his son is about to become the most complicated thing either of them has ever dealt with. The emotional mechanics of that arc fuel everything. Season 4 debuted at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Invincible Season 5 has already been announced.
‘X-Men: The Animated Series'(1992 – 1997)
X-Men: The Animated Series tackled genocide, fascism, and systematic fear in a Saturday morning cartoon, and nobody stopped it. I rewatched several episodes recently and was struck again by how seriously the writers took the material. The mutant allegory isn’t background noise here. It’s the main storyline, and it lands brilliantly. The first 13 episodes were notable for being among the first American animated shows to feature a full season of continuous narrative, which is game-changing.
X-Men: The Animated Series adapted major storylines like the Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, the Legacy Virus, and more with actual ambition. It aired for five seasons from 1992 to 1997 on Fox Kids, and its revival, X-Men ‘97, premiered in 2024 with most of the original cast returning. The fact that a revival could work 30 years later tells you everything about how strong and durable the foundation was.
‘Superman & Lois’ (2021 – 2024)
I was skeptical going into Superman & Lois, and what surprised me is how much it made me care about Clark Kent the “person” before he became Clark Kent the “superhero.” Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch play the couple like two people who actually know each other, and the domestic scenes carry as much pull as the action. Since the Kents move to Smallville with their two teenage sons, the show became both a family drama and a superhero series. While that could be a recipe for a disaster, it isn’t.
Season 3 gave Lois a breast cancer storyline and handled it with more care and seriousness than I expected from a CW production. Superman & Lois is perfect because it treats its humans as seriously as its superhero plots. The show ran for four seasons and ended the DC TV era in 2024 due to Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to avoid conflict with James Gunn’s DCU reboot.
‘Batman: The Animated Series’ (1992 – 1995)
There’s nowhere else to end a list of superhero TV shows that are perfect from start to finish. Batman: The Animated Series isn’t just the best, most timeless superhero series ever made. It’s also one of the best animated shows in any genre, and I’ll argue that with anyone. It holds a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes and is considered a landmark in animated television. Its decision to paint animation cells on a black background instead of white is lauded as a groundbreaking visual choice.
Kevin Conroy voiced Batman and Bruce Wayne in two completely distinct manners, and that dual-voice performance defined the character for a generation. Mark Hamill’s Joker and the show’s rich character development introduced Harley Quinn to the world, and the writers won Emmy Awards for episodes like “Heart of Ice.” Most importantly, the show treated its villains as real people with actual backstories rather than props with powers. There’s so much to discuss here. Batman: The Animated Series is a show that entertained kids, impressed adults, has been rewatched a dozen times, and it never loses its edge.
A few honorable mentions before I go. Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Justice League both came very close, and if this were a top 10 list, they would be on it without question. I believe Jessica Jones, Batman Beyond, WandaVision, and Teen Titans are pretty great too. What would you add to the list? Drop it in the comments.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
