15 Best Live-Action Superhero Shows, Ranked According to IMDb

Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer located in Hell's Kitchen, but at nighttime, New York City knows him as the vigilante Daredevil. When Daredevil begins to unearth a conspiracy surrounding the wealthy and untouchable Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, his battle against the criminal underworld begins.

With season one of the series garnering a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes upon release, it's safe to say Daredevil was a massive hit. The trend only continued into its second and third seasons and became known among fans as one of the greatest pieces of Marvel television to date. Charlie Cox was so beloved as Matt Murdock that his return in Spider-Man: No Way Home attracted so much buzz, only to be followed upby the announcement that a sequel series, Daredevil: Born Again, would be coming to Disney+.

When young Hughie's girlfriend is brutally murdered by superhero A-Train by accident, he's recruited by the devious Billy Butcher to join a group of vigilantes set on taking down the corrupt and ego-fueled superheroes of the world. Hughie is sent on a path of blood, death, and destruction as their goal gets more complicated when the menacing and ever-powerful Homelander becomes aware of their presence.

Fans and critics alike rave over The Boys upon every resurgence and have no issue claiming that it only seems to get better with every new season. As it stands, the series has cemented itself as one of the boldest and most consistently daring takes on the superhero genre.

Upon finally avenging his family by taking down those who murdered them, Frank Castle begins to exact his vigilante justice on those who deserve it across the landscape of New York City, uncovering a large conspiracy in season one and getting drawn into a murder investigation in its sequel season.

It's no secret that John Bernthal was universally loved as Frank Castle in his introduction to Daredevil's second season. His clashes with Matt Murdock gave the character a strong moral counterpoint that grounded the violence. So, introducing an entire spin-off show for the character made many fans abundantly happy.

In a world where masked heroes and vigilantes are seen as villains and criminals, police officer Angela Abar, aka Sister Night, begins to investigate the mysterious death of police chief Judd Crawford. Through her investigation, she begins to uncover the truth behind certain events surrounding the taboo that is vigilantism.

Set thirty-four years after the events of the original comic book of the same name, Watchmen delivers familiarity in its world paired with new and exciting characters and concepts that keep what fans know fresh and engaging. These factors led to incredibly favorable reviews all across the board from critics and fans.

Taking place in an alternate timeline to the illustrious X-Men franchise, Legion follows David Haller as he tries to control his powerful mutant abilities. When a government agency named Division 3 begins to pursue him for his powers, he discovers more about the mutant community and the struggles they face.

With a powerhouse of a cast behind an incredibly intelligent script, Legion was a force to be reckoned with. The story was intricate while keeping the audience invested and interested in the characters with its commitment to character arcs that were emotionally resonant. That's always one of the core aspects when it comes to delivering a good superhero show.

The British sci-fi TV show known as Misfits follows young delinquents stuck doing community service when they're struck by lightning and begin developing strange and unlikely abilities. When they discover that others have been struck with similar powers, like their probation officer, life becomes even crazier for this group of outcasts.

Many praised the show for its ability to set up something completely new and do things that hadn't been done before amidst the 2009 superhero landscape. The show was successful enough to run for 5 seasons and introduced the world to characters, unlike others that had been seen at the time. Social outcasts with troubling pasts and morals handed abilities unlike any human gave room for wonderful conflict.

To better understand humans, Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) takes a break from serving time in Hell in defiance of his father and sets his sights on Earth. He begins running his own nightclub in Los Angeles and is thrown into a murder investigation led by the first human he's ever experienced to be immune to his charms.

Lucifer was wondrously complimented for its denial of seriousness and commitment to having fun amidst an oversaturated crime format. Tom Ellis won fans over and continued to garner attention for his performance as the devious protagonist. The show was even popular enough to warrant Ellis making a cameo on the CW's biggest superhero crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

When it was revealed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was going to begin pushing out high-budget streaming series, many were wondering what was going to come of that. Eventually, come 2021, fans and audiences alike would be treated to the likes of WandaVision, a series that follows Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), and their two children.

Many had the question, though, of how Vision could be alive after his death in Avengers: Infinity War. That's a huge part of the overall mystery in WandaVision and a big part of what kept audiences so invested throughout the series' runtime. Of the Disney+ MCU shows, WandaVision is typically received as one of, if not the best, of the bunch.

When forty-three women all across the world surprisingly give birth out of seemingly nowhere to super-powered children, billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) adopts seven of them and turns them into The Umbrella Academy. They traveled the world as a young superhero team in their youth, but are brought together once more when their adopted father is revealed to have passed away.

When their brother, Five (Aidan Gallagher), returns from the future after being missing, revealing that a global apocalypse is imminent, the team is brought together once more. Fans and critics adored the show for being fun and lightly toned, whilst bringing heavy and compelling emotional relationships and character arcs that kept them invested in the titular team.

Washed-up former superhero Jessica Jones attempts to rebuild her profession as a private investigator, using her super abilities to deal specifically with cases involving superhumans all over New York City. Dealing with villains such as David Tennant's Kilgrave, who make her goals significantly harder.

Known for being one of the best Netflix MCU shows, Jessica Jones was nominated for twenty-three awards from 2015 to 2019 and ended up taking home six. From release to cancellation, the series garnered great reviews and ended up being the final MCU Netflix show standing by the end of its run.

Despite how it was received off the cuff, Gotham brings an incredibly cool concept to the screen, which depicts the era of Gotham that immediately follows the death of the Waynes. Primarily following a young James Gordon (Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan), Gotham brings about the likes of Batman's greatest villains in these early years, acting as almost an origin story for them, in a sense.

Over the years, people grew to really adore this show. The entire plot acts as a great example of how studios can provide a prequel story in a way that doesn't directly interfere with what would come after (well, mostly). The character arc that Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) gets to have within this show is also great and acts as a perfect prelude to the Batman stories that will inevitably come later.

Set in the 1940s, Agent Carter brings MCU fans into the day-to-day life of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) until one day, Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) is accused of treason. Upon his accusation, Stark privately hires Carter to clear his name with the help of his capable butler, Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy).

The series was nominated seven times across four award shows in the span of just one year. Many note the show's wonderful ability to revive the period piece charm defined by Captain America: The First Avenger and bring it back to the MCU. Peggy Carter herself is beloved within the fandom for the show's focus on her as a person first and an agent second.

One could definitely consider the Doom Patrol team a Guardians of the Galaxy type team for the DC universe. This much is clear within the 2019 show, Doom Patrol. This band of misfits is so much fun to watch, and is a team of characters that are all super compelling. This is also the first live-action television appearance of the incredibly popular Cyborg (Joivan Wade), which is very cool to watch.

Doom Patrol acts as a spinoff to the other live-action DC series airing at the same time, Titans, and, thankfully, it's not horrifically bad like that one. The cast here is so talented, and each brings a character that is so easy to emotionally connect with, which, combined with the excellent writing and direction, makes Doom Patrol an incredibly entertaining watch.

Sometimes, the classics find a way to survive the test of time (well, mostly), and that is most certainly the case with 1952's Adventures of Superman. Acting as one of the first major live-action superhero shows, the series is pretty dang legendary when it comes to looking at the history of superhero television.

Despite being produced in 1952, Adventures of Superman manages to mostly pull off everything needed to accurately depict Superman (George Reeves), and the performance of George Reeves was relatively enjoyed by many. He doesn't rank too high in fans' Superman actor rankings, but he does a pretty good job. Adventures of Superman isn't perfect and is a product of its time, but it's pretty great for being produced in the 50s.

Regardless of the fact that The Flash gets a plethora of flak for how much it fell off later in the series, those first three-ish seasons (depending on who you ask) are easily some of the best superhero television out there. Many people believe that had the show not severely declined in the latter seasons, it would be considered one of the best superhero shows of all time (talking top five).

The Flash is fast-paced, thrilling, exciting, emotionally compelling, and filled with some great performances — star Grant Gustin, no matter how rough the show got, always brought his A-game and owned the screen. It's an incredibly fun show that has a good few first seasons that are more than worth a watch and rewatch.