Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Longevity of Live Action Superhero Shows and Quasi-Superhero Shows Based on Printed Material - By Season










UPDATED TO: morning of May 29, 2018






Unsuccessful Pilots and Series of Reunion Movies Treated as One Season. Successful pilots folded into season 1


Based on=comics unless noted. Will likely expand the parameters later














Name of Show Based On Status Seasons First Air Date Last Air Date Number of Episodes Average Episodes Per Season Note
Smallville Superboy, More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, etc Ended 10 10/16/01 5/13/11 218 21.8
Arrow More Fun Comics, Green Arrow, etc Active (Renewed) 6 10/10/12
138 23
Adventures of Superman Action Comics, Superman, etc Ended 6 9/19/52 4/28/58 104 17.33333
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., etc. Active (Renewed) 5 9/24/13
110 22
Six Million Dollar Man, The Cyborg (novel) Ended 5 3/07/78 3/06/78 99 19.8 Five pilots included in tally; reunion movies excluded
Incredible Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, Rampaging Hulk, etc Ended 5 11/04/77 6/02/82 82 16.4 Includes the pilots but not the reunions
Flash, The The Flash, etc Active (Renewed) 4 10/07/14
102 25.5
Superboy aka Adventures of Superboy Superboy, More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, etc Ended 4 10/08/88 5/17/92 100 25
Gotham Detective Comics, Batman, etc Active (Renewed for Final Season) 4 9/22/14
88 22 has pre-Batman Bruce Wayne and various Batman friends and foes
Zorro All Weekly Story, Argosy, West Magazine, etc (magazines) Ended 4 1/05/90 1/30/93 88 22
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Action Comics, Superman, Adventures of Superman, etc Ended 4 9/12/93 6/14/97 87 21.75
Batman Detective Comics, Batman, etc Ended 3 1/12/66 3/14/68 120 40 Average skewed in that the first two seasons had two half hour episodes each week it aired
Swamp Thing: The Series Swamp Thing, Saga of Swamp Thing, etc Ended 3 9/27/90 5/01/93 72 24 While a horror character, often interacts with superheroes
Supergirl Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Supergirl, etc Active (Renewed) 3 10/26/15
62 20.66667 3 more episodes expected to air in current season
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics, etc Ended 3 11/07/75 9/11/79 60 20 Pilot included in tally
Legends of Tomorrow The Atom, Firestorm, Rip Hunter Time Master, The Flash, Hawkman, etc Active (Renewed) 3 1/21/16
51 17
Bionic Woman, The indirect: Six Million Dollar Man spin-off Ended 3 1/14/76 5/13/78 48 16
Electric Company, The (Spidey Super Stories segments) Amazing Spider-Man, etc Ended 3 5/27/05 5/30/05 29 9.666667 Spider-Man segments in the Electric Company's 4th-6th seasons; since the segment wasn't in every episode, the count might prove to be imprecise
Shazam! Whiz Comics, Captain Marvel Adventures, Shazam! etc Ended 3 9/07/74 10/16/76 28 9.333333
Zorro All Weekly Story, Argosy, West Magazine, etc (magazines) Ended 2 10/10/57 7/02/59 78 39
Night Man Night Man Ended 2 9/19/97 5/17/99 44 22
Super Gran Super Gran children's book, etc Ended 2 1/20/85 5/31/87 27 13.5 British series
Daredevil Daredevil, etc Active (Renewed) 2 4/10/15
26 13
Jessica Jones Alias, etc Active (Renewed) 2 11/20/15
26 13
Human Target Detective Comics, etc Ended 2 1/15/10 2/09/11 25 12.5 Character frequently interacts with superheroes in comics
Witchblade Witchblade Ended 2 6/12/01 8/28/02 23 11.5
Secrets of Isis, The Indirect: (Isis comic came after) Shazam! tie-in Ended 2 9/06/75 9/03/77 22 11
Powers Powers Ended 2 3/10/15 7/19/16 20 10
Agent Carter Tales of Suspense, Captain America, etc Ended 2 1/06/15 3/01/16 18 9 Character frequently interacts with superheroes in comics
Legion Uncanny X-Men, etc Active (Renewed) 2 2/08/17
16 8 2 more episodes expected to air in current season
Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, etc Ended 2 9/19/77 7/05/79 13 6.5 Pilot included in tally
Zorro, la espada y la rosa, El  All Weekly Story, Argosy, West Magazine, etc (magazines) Ended 1 2/12/07 7/23/07 117 117 Spanish language telenovela that aired in the US
Zorro All Weekly Story, Argosy, West Magazine, etc (magazines) Ended 1 3/23/09 8/07/09 98 98 Philippines TV series based on the US created character
Testuwan Atomu (Mighty Atom) Weekly Shonen Magazine, etc. Ended 1 3/07/59 5/28/60 65 65 Japanese series and character, aka Astro Boy
Supaidāman Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, etc Ended 1 5/17/17 3/14/79 41 41 Japanese show loosely based on Spider-Man
Crow: Stairway to Heaven, The  The Crow Ended 1 9/25/98 5/22/99 22 22
Flash, The The Flash, etc Ended 1 9/20/90 5/18/91 22 22
Painkiller Jane Painkiller Jane Ended 1 4/13/07 9/21/07 22 22
Birds of Prey Birds of Prey Ended 1 10/09/02 2/19/03 13 13
Black Lightning Black Lightning, Outsiders, etc. Active (Renewed) 1 1/16/18
13 13
Blade: The Series Tomb of Dracula, etc Ended 1 6/28/06 9/13/13 13 13 While a horror character, often interacts with superheroes
Constantine Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, etc Ended 1 10/24/14 2/13/15 13 13 While a horror character, often interacts with superheroes
Gifted, The Uncanny X-Men, New X-Men, etc Active (Renewed) 1 10/02/17
13 13
Iron Fist Iron First, Immortal Iron Fist, etc Active (Renewed) 1 3/17/17
13 13
Luke Cage Hero for Hire, Power Man, Cage, etc Active (Renewed) 1 9/30/16
13 13
Punisher, The Amazing Spider-Man, Punisher, Punisher War Journal, etc Active (Renewed) 1 11/17/17
13 13 Character frequently interacts with superheroes in comics
Middleman, The The Middleman Ended 1 6/16/08 9/01/08 12 12
Powerless Various DC comics Ended 1 2/02/17 4/20/17 12 12 Includes three episodes that did not air in original run
Tick, The The Tick Active (Renewed) 1 8/25/17
12 12
Krypton Action Comics, Superman, World of Krypton, etc Active (Renewed) 1 3/21/18
10 10 About Superman's grandfather
Runaways Runaways Active (Renewed) 1 11/21/17
10 10
Tick, The The Tick Ended 1 11/08/01 1/31/02 9 9
Bionic Woman indirect: remake of Six Million Dollar Man spin-off Ended 1 9/26/07 11/28/07 8 8
Cybersix Skorpio, etc. Ended 1 3/15/85 ?/?/85 8 8 Argentine series based on comics first published in Italy
Defenders, The Daredevil, Alias, Power Man and Iron Fist, etc (calling it based on the earlier Defenders comics is a reach) Active (Not Yet Renewed) 1 8/18/17
8 8
Inhumans, The Fantastic Four, The Inhumans, etc Ended 1 9/29/17 11/10/17 8 8 The first two episodes previously appeared together on IMAX
Human Target Detective Comics, etc Ended 1 7/20/92 8/29/92 7 7 Character frequently interacts with superheroes in comics
Sable Jon Sable, Freelance
1 11/07/87 1/02/88 7 7
Zorro and Son All Weekly Story, Argosy, West Magazine, etc (magazines) Ended 1 4/06/63 6/01/63 5 5
Zorro (TV Movies) All Weekly Story, Argosy, West Magazine, etc (magazines) Ended 1 10/30/60 4/02/61 4 4
Incredible Hulk (TV movies), The Incredible Hulk, Rampaging Hulk, etc Ended 1 5/22/88 2/18/90 3 3 The Incredible Hulk Returns, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, The Death of the Incredible Hulk
Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman TV movies Cyborg (novel) Ended 1 5/17/87 11/29/94 3 3 The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, Bionic Showdown, Bionic Ever After?
Captain America Captain America Comics, Tales of Suspense, Captain America, etc 2 Pilots 1 1/19/79 11/23/79 2 2
Legends of the Superheroes Justice League of America, Shazam!, etc Mini-Series 1 1/18/79 1/25/79 2 2
Phantom, The The Phantom comic strip Mini-Series 1 12/22/09 12/23/09 2 2
Adventures of Superboy, The Superboy, More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, etc Pilot 1 Unaired (1961) Unaired (1961) 1 1
Adventures of Superpup, The Action Comics, Superman, etc Pilot 1 Unaired (1958) Unaired (1958) 1 1 Superman characters as canines (puppets)
Aquaman Aquaman Pilot 1 7/25/06 7/25/06 1 1 "Air date" is when it appeared on iTunes
Batgirl Detective Comics, Batman, etc Short Pilot 1 Unaired (1968) Unaired (1968) 1 1
Doctor Strange Strange Tales, Doctor Strange, etc Pilot 1 9/06/78 9/06/78 1 1
Generation X Generation X Pilot 1 2/20/96 2/20/96 1 1
Global Frequency Global Frequency Pilot 1 Unaired (2005) Unaired (2005) 1 1
It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman Action Comics, Superman, etc TV Special 1 2/01/75 2/01/75 1 1
Justice League of America Justice League of America, Justice League International Pilot 1 Unaired in US and Canada (1997) Unaired in US and Canada (1997) 1 1
Knights of Justice Big Bang Comics, etc Pilot 1 7/04/00 7/04/00 1 1
Most Wanted Savage Tales, West Coast Avengers, etc Pilot 1 Unaired (2016) Unaired (2016) 1 1
Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., etc. Pilot 1 5/26/98 5/26/98 1 1 Character frequently interacts with superheroes in comics
Power Pack Power Pack Pilot 1 ??/??/1991 ??/??/1991 1 1
Roger Corman Presents: Vampirella Vampirella Single Episode 1 9/28/96 9/28/96 1 1 Single episode of two-season anthology series
Spirit, The The Spirit comic strip Pilot 1 7/31/87 7/31/87 1 1
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics, etc Pilot 1 3/12/74 3/12/74 1 1
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics, etc Pilot 1 Unaired (2011) Unaired (2011) 1 1
Wonder Woman: Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince? Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics, etc Short Pilot 1 Unaired (1967) Unaired (1967) 1 1

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