Some Superheroes Are Just Made For TV

It must be an incredibly hard decision for a studio to decide what superheros are worthy of a big screen adaptation, which should be aired on the small screen…and those that should never make it beyond the comic book page.

Some have successfully made it on TV and in cinemas, Batman and Superman are the obviously choices, but there are others that you’d never consider as a big budget action movie, but will dedicate a decade of your life to watching on TV religiously. Arrow is the current show that I’m putting into this category. Filling a void left by Smallville, a show which aired for 10 long years, Arrow is a little darker and gives us a completely new look at the Green Arrow that we have seen in the later seasons of Smallville.

This is a grown up superhero series. There is no high school with a sixteen year old guy struggling with his teen years, waiting to become a man. Our lead character Oliver Queen well and truly is a bad boy (he takes his girlfriend’s sister on a sailing trip that kills her). Not only that, but when he becomes the Green Arrow he doesn’t just pop on a suit and have magical powers, we get to see him work hard to get his physique and bullseye bow and arrow skills. Each episode features a workout scene, that will leave the men wanting to be able to do his moves and the women wanting their boyfriends to be him.

But beyond the fitness montages, this show is dark. Oliver Queen suffers pain. His body is covered in scars, and his missions often end in him with a fresh wound or two. Regular flashbacks take us back in time to see where his wounds come from and how he lef behind bad-boy Queen and became the Arrow.

All of this made for a perfect first season and certainly got everyone talking, leading to the show getting signed up early for a second season. I have a feeling that Arrow is going to be around for a while. Arrow airs on the CW on Wednesdays.

Are there any other superheros you’d like to see on the small screen?