How Superheroes Took Over TV

As the bulletproof Luke Cage returns, we trace the irresistible rise of the small-screen superheroes.

- David Allan, Ian MacEwan

FANTASY DRAMA

Luke Cage from

Friday 22 June, Netflix

It’s not so long ago that our favourite caped crusaders did most of their crime-fighting on the big screen. But not any more. Within the last few years, dozens of comic-book characters have made the leap on to prime-time TV.

Just as Superman, Batman and Green Arrow were all created in the 1930s and 1940s at the time of the Great Depression and World War Two, the worldwide recession and the threat of terror attacks have seen a renewed craving for superheroes to protect us in these troubled times.

As ex-con superhero Luke Cage, played by Mike Colter, returns to Netflix (see panel), we look at how television got super…

KRYPTON FACTOR

The 1950s show Adventures of Superman (1952-1958) starring George Reeves was TV’s first hit superhero series. However, it ended prematurely when Reeves died from a gunshot wound, a tragedy that saw TV executives steer clear of superheroes for a while.

HOLY SMOKE!