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New & Upcoming Superhero TV Shows Coming Out In 2017 & Beyond Pt.1
Between Marvel, DC Comics, and lesser-known imprints, comic book stories have been fully embraced by the TV medium, translating onto the small screen the huge success comics have enjoyed in cinema.
It’s really not hard at all to stumble upon a television show that was based on comic books. Whether they enjoy huge ratings (such as The Walking Dead), connect an entire universe (like DC’s Arrow and The Flash or Marvel’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones), or even focus on telling a completely separate story (which is the case with Legion and Preacher), comics-based TV series are everywhere.
Besides all of the options we already have, even more television shows based on comic books are coming in the near future – some already with release dates, others still being developed. After ABC and Netflix, Marvel is expanding its lineup of series to Hulu and Freeform. Fox is injecting even more X-Men projects onto its networks. HBO, Syfy, and Amazon Prime Video are joining the party. And DC Comics is even attempting to launch its own streaming service with original live-action content. Needless to say, TV is getting even busier with comic book-based properties.
These are the 16 Comic Book TV Shows You Didn’t Know Were Coming.
16. THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
In 2007, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way published a comic book series via Dark Horse Comics: The Umbrella Academy. Like everything that had to do with his band, the series is dark, gloomy, and involves children in adult-related problems.
The Umbrella Academy received a lot of praise from critics and fans, and a film adaptation was optioned by Universal Studios shortly after the comic book series was published. However, Universal seemed to give up on it as a film, and in 2015, the studio began talking about a TV show instead – an idea that also fell through.
In 2017, Netflix announced that it would adapt The Umbrella Academy as a series to join its lineup of original shows. There are no reports that confirm whether Gerard Way is involved in the adaptation, however.
15. NEW WARRIORS
A television adaptation of the Marvel Comics’ New Warriors is set to premiere on the Disney-owned cable network Freeform (formerly known as ABC Family) in 2018. The New Warriors team of heroes was first introduced in a 1989 The Mighty Thor comic book, and have often served as a young counterpart to the Avengers – mimicking the dynamics between New Mutants and the X-Men.
The New Warriors TV show – which will be a live-action half-hour comedy – will feature heroes such as Squirrel Girl (Milana Vayntrub), Mister Immortal (Derek Theler), Night Thrasher (Jeremy Tardy), Speedball (Calum Worthy ), Microbe (Matthew Moy), and Debrii (Kate Comer). The series is supposedly going to take itself less seriously than other Marvel television projects such as Netflix’s Luke Cage and the ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
14. HAPPY!
Image Comics’ miniseries turned graphic novel Happy! is poised to receive a live-action TV series treatment by cable network Syfy, which has recently been investing heavily in comic book properties.
Happy! was created by Grant Morrison (who has written stories for Batman, Superman, and Justice League) and Darick Robertson (mostly known for having originated the comic book series The Boys), who are both veteran comic book writers. It tells the story of Nick Sax, a corrupt former police officer who becomes a hit man and meets a small blue-winged horse named Happy.
Actor Christopher Meloni has been cast as Nick Sax, and Saturday Night Live alum Bobby Moynihan voices the character of Happy. The cast also features Mad Men’s Patrick Fischler, The Get Down’s Zabryna Guevara, and Ritchie Coster, who appeared in The Dark Knight.
13. TITANS
DC Comics is working on launching its own digital streaming service – which still doesn’t have an official name – in 2018, and one of the flagship exclusive shows on the platform will be Titans, based on the Teen Titans comic book series.
Titans was originally meant to be a TV show on TNT, and a pilot was even written by Akiva Goldsman. After years of no further developments, the network announced that it was no longer interested in the project, and DC Comics’ Geoff Johns clarified that other plans for the series were already taking place. In 2017, it was finally announced that this television adaptation had found a new home in DC’s soon-to-come streaming service. It’s set to starting shooting in Fall of 2017.
This DC Comics streaming platform will also feature the third season of the animated Young Justice TV series, which previously aired on Cartoon Network.
