Every Live-Action Superhero Movie And TV Show Coming In 2021
After a year in which only a handful of new live-action comic book properties hit TV or theaters thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 looks ready to make up for that. WandaVision will kick off Marvel's new wave of content coming to Disney+, with other series following. Marvel will also return to the big screen in 2021, with three movies dropping next year, including two that will introduce brand-new characters to the MCU. Sony also has a few Marvel character movies hitting theaters, teasing the epic multiverse crossover in the third Spider-Man movie at the end of the year.
DC also has plenty of content hitting screens, as well. Half a dozen CW shows are returning, and one hugely anticipated series will finally see the light of day when Neil Gaiman's Sandman hits Netflix. A number of fans are also looking forward to the experiment of the Justice League director's cut hitting HBO Max (and possibly theaters), as well as James Gunn's reboot/sequel of The Suicide Squad. And there a few comic book-based projects coming in 2021 that don't have anything to do with the MCU or the Justice League, like third seasons of The Boys and The Umbrella Academy.
Here are all the live-action superhero and comic book movies and TV shows coming in 2021!
WandaVision
Release Date: January 15
WandaVision is set to kick off Marvel Studios' new era in television, and it promises to be the weirdest Marvel project yet, judging from the trailers. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany return as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Vision. After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Wanda and Vision are now finally living a peaceful, happy existence in a perfect suburban town. They have dinner parties with neighbors, Wanda is pregnant with twins, and all is blissful. There's just one problem: Vision died in the events of Infinity War, and cracks soon start to show in the perfect facade of their life together. The miniseries looks to be Marvel's loose adaptation of the "House of M" storyline from the comics, which could open up a world of possibilities for both the movies and TV shows moving forward. Now that they're introducing the multiverse and alternate realities, there's literally nothing they can't do, story-wise.
Fun fact: WandaVision was filmed in front of a live studio audience, just like classic sitcoms of decades past.
Batwoman - season 2
Release Date: January 21
In January, Batwoman kicks off 2021 for DC's shows on The CW and the Arrowverse. This time, a new superheroine will step into the Batwoman mantle. Actress Javicia Leslie will take over for Ruby Rose in the titular role for season 2. Rose, who played Kate Kane, quit after the first season after the project proved to be an ill fit both ways, with Rose reportedly struggling with the long hours of a network TV show shoot. Rather than recasting Kate Kane, The CW decided to go in a new direction entirely. Enter Javicia Leslie.
Leslie will play a new version of Batwoman: Ryan Wilder has briefly appeared in the comics, but never as Batwoman. Ryan has been described as likable and goofy but also a little messy and untamed. According to multiple reports, she'll initially wear Kate Kane's Batwoman costume, but as the season progresses, she'll redesign the suit to make it more her own. Expect her to be a very different version of Batwoman than Kate Kane, albeit one that hopefully endears herself to fans quickly.
Black Lightning - season 4
Release Date: February 8
Black Lightning is one of the most unique shows in The CW's Arrowverse. Cress Williams stars as Jefferson Pierce, a high school principal who moonlights as the superhero Black Lightning at night. Fighting alongside him are his daughters, Anissa (Nafessa Williams), a.k.a. Thunder, and Jennifer (China Anne McClain), a.k.a. Lightning, with both sisters occasionally moonlighting under the code name Blackbird when they're doing vigilante work. Though Jefferson and his ex-wife, Dr. Lynn Pierce (Christine Adams) are divorced, they still remain extremely close raising their daughters together, aided by their longtime family friend, Peter Gambi (James Remar).
The series is more grounded and reality-based than other shows in the Arrowverse, grappling with a number of real-world issues such as socioeconomic disparity, race, and the echoes of Black people having historically been used for governmental scientific experiments or neighborhoods purposely being flooded with addictive drugs. It also showcases something rarely seen on TV, with a prominent LGBTQ+ relationship between two women of color.
The Flash - season 7
Release Date: February 23
Thanks in large part to Grant Gustin's winning performance as Barry Allen, The Flash is one of The CW's most enduring Arrowverse shows and currently the longest-running show since Arrow ended with season 8. The main reason for The Flash's longevity is the fantastic chemistry between the cast members and the incredible number of heartfelt moments and emotional payoffs over the years.
Central to the series is Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash, the speedster with time-traveling capabilities, the love of his life, Iris West (Candice Patton), and the surrogate father-son relationship Barry has with Iris' dad, Joe West (Jesse L. Martin). Along the way, Flash is aided by his motley crew of sidekicks, Cisco Ramon/Vibe (Carlos Valdes), Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker), Wally West/Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale), and either helped or hindered by wild card Harrison Wells, who has been hero, antihero, and villain at various points. It's all very comic-book but all delightful.
Superman & Lois - season 1
Release Date: February 23
The Arrowverse's version of Superman was included in indirect ways for all of Supergirl's first season before Tyler Hoechlin finally appeared as the Big Blue Boy Scout in season 2, as well as showing up for the Arrowverse's various crossover events. Despite not being a main character, Hoechlin's portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman was an instant fan favorite, and as he's integrated himself throughout the storylines of the Arrowverse shows, The CW finally decided to give him his own spinoff series. Thus, the first season of Superman & Lois is coming our way.
Most fans already know the story of reporter Clark Kent, the alter-ego of Superman, and his lady love, Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch). Unlike most stories we've seen played out on the big and small screens, this time Lois and Clark will be the parents of two young boys, putting a brand-new spin on the old story. In a further twist, Clark has been laid off from The Daily Planet, and he and Lois return to Smallville to take care of some Kent family business. While they're struggling with the challenge of being parents in the modern world and raising two boys who may or may not have inherited their dad's power, that doesn't mean villains have stopped their plans. Clark still has to be Superman and save the day.
The King's Man
Release Date: March 12
The King's Man is one of the last comic book movies from 20th Century Fox set to be released by Disney. It's a prequel movie to 2014's wildly popular Kingsman: The Secret Service, and although 2017's Kingsman sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, didn't fare as well critically or commercially, there's still plenty of fan anticipation for the prequel movie.
The King's Man's trailer sets it up as a fun bit of revisionist history showing how the covert Kingsman spy agency was formed in the early years of the 20th century, when a dastardly plan hatched by Rasputin (Rhys Ifans) threatens to upend a world already upended by World War I. Along with Ifans, the rest of the excellent cast includes a mix of veteran actors and up-and-comers, including Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Gemma Arterton, Djimon Hounsou, Charles Dance, Stanley Tucci, Daniel Brühl, Tom Hollander, and Harris Dickinson. Matthew Vaughn is again back in the director's chair. Let's hope he can correct the mistakes of the second for the third (and likely final) Kingsman movie.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Release Date: March 19
After Captain America: Civil War hit theaters, fans joked that we should get a road trip buddy comedy starring Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), and Sam Wilson, a.k.a. The Falcon (Anthony Mackie). Their love-hate relationship played out as a competitive dynamic rife with humorous bickering, injecting a sometimes heavy movie with much-needed comedic relief. Lo and behold, Marvel apparently agreed with fans, because The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was greenlit in the studio's first wave of Disney+ shows.
The miniseries will revolve around Bucky and Sam teaming up together in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. Sam is struggling to feel worthy of taking up Captain America's shield, while Bucky is just hoping his Hydra-brainwashed head is back on straight. Together, the two try to be everything to the world that their friend, Steve Rogers, was, but they're faced with new threats and also old foes in the form of Zemo (Daniel Brühl), who has returned. And just in case you worried Sam and Bucky would stop bickering like an old married couple, the trailer lays those fears to rest.
Morbius
Release Date: March 19
Morbius marks the second of Sony's movies based on a Spider-Man villain (the first being 2018's Venom). Jared Leto stars as Michael Morbius, a brilliant but frail biochemist with a rare blood disorder. Morbius works to find a cure for his disease, and his desperation drives him to being his own guinea pig. Instead of curing his disease, however, he accidentally infects himself with a form of vampirism, turning into Morbius, the Living Vampire. As Morbius, Michael has superhuman speed and agility, the bat-like ability of echolocation — and an insatiable craving for blood. Bummer.
Similar to Venom, the Morbius trailer makes it appear as though Sony will be taking a more sympathetic approach to telling Morbius' story instead of him just being a two-dimensional baddie. It also was our first hint that we would be getting a Sinister Six, Sony-Marvel crossover movie: Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes/Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming, shows up at the end — and they're definitely scheming.
Zack Snyder's Justice League
Release Date: March 2021
After years of a small but extremely vocal online community clamoring for Zack Snyder's director's cut of Justice League to see the light of day, it's finally happening. The 2017 theatrical cut of Justice League was ... rocky. This was due to Snyder stepping away from the project and Joss Whedon, a director with an entirely different aesthetic and narrative tone, stepping in to finish it. The result was an underwhelming mishmash of conflicting visions, a rushed narrative, and poor Henry Cavill's infamously CGIed upper lip.
In normal years, Snyder likely would never have been given tens of millions to recut a movie that already underwhelmed once, but with the COVID-19 pandemic killing the theater business and Warner Bros. struggling to get their HBO Max streaming service off the ground, desperation led them to giving Snyder the green light. The new cut will reportedly be four hours long, with some different storylines and brand-new footage being shot, as indicated by the trailer. It remains to be seen whether or not the investment will pay off for WB, but it will be extremely interesting to see how it all plays out.
Black Widow
Release Date: May 7
Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) has long been the glue that has held the Avengers together. Fans have been hoping for a movie with Natasha for quite some time, and they're finally getting one — albeit only after Black Widow tragically died in Avengers: Endgame.
Her spinoff, Black Widow, is set in an earlier part of the MCU timeline, unfolding between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Natasha travels back to her homeland of Russia in order to return to her roots and explore the mysteries of the Red Room in which she was trained and brainwashed. Along the way, she reconnects with her first found family: Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Melina Vostokoff/Iron Maiden (Rachel Weisz), and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour). Together, they must come together in order to take down a dangerous foe from the past: Taskmaster, the man in charge of the Red Room and training new Black Widows. Taskmaster has the gift of photographic reflexes, meaning he can memorize and perform complicated moves after only seeing him once. It makes him a near-unbeatable hand-to-hand opponent, as he can easily mimic the fighting style and martial art of any superhero.
The Black Widow trailer promises a big spy thriller with the theme of found family and sacrifice at its heart. Finally, Nat will get the send-off she deserves.
Loki
Release Date: May 2021
Just when we thought Loki was dead and Tom Hiddleston done with the MCU, Avengers: Endgame opened the door for him to return. Marvel's Disney+ minseries, Loki, will follow a pre-redemption, 2012 version of Loki who steals the Tesseract following the events of the Battle of New York and escapes custody, blipping out of existence and into ... well, we're not sure where. He lands in the custody of the TVA, a.k.a. the Time Variance Authority, a secret governing body charged with policing alternate timelines and realities and keeping things in order. The God of Mischief and chaos monster bouncing around with a Tesseract that enables him to bend space is the TVA's worst nightmare, and it looks as though they strike a deal with him to complete a job for them in a loose adaptation of the Agent of Asgard comic book series.
Loki has the ability to reset the MCU timeline in an enormous way — or even create a number of brand-new ones. In a stroke of genius, the trailer gives the answer to one of history's greatest mysteries: Loki was, in fact, D.B. Cooper. Expect a lot of chaotic fun.
Samaritan
Release Date: June 4
Samaritan is not based on a property from one of the Big Two or even a smaller comic book publisher. Instead, it's a brand-new story being described as a dark, novel take on superhero movies. Not much is known about it, but here's what we do know: Sylvester Stallone stars as a character named Stanley Kominski (who we can guess is the "Samaritan" of the title). After an enormous battle that happened 20 years ago, a well-known superhero was thought to have gone missing. However, two decades later, a young boy (played by Javon "Wanna" Walton) discovers that superhero may still be around, just keeping a low profile.
Is that superhero played by Stallone? We'll find out either when the first trailer drops or in June, when it hits theaters. Samaritan has a solid cast, also starring Martin Starr, Pilou Asbæk, Moises Arias, and Dascha Polanco.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Release Date: June 25
In 2018, Venom was an unexpected hit for Sony, raking in $856 million at the box office. Part of the reason for its success was that it didn't take itself at all seriously, instead leaning into comic book camp. Part of it was Tom Hardy putting on an absolutely manic performance, including, at one point, climbing into a lobster tank in the middle of a high-end restaurant in an effort to quell a fever. And part of it was that, after the last dismal attempt at putting a live-action Venom on the screen in 2007's Spider-Man 3, fans were thrilled to finally get a comic book-accurate version of the villain-antihero on-screen.
In Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Hardy reprises his role as Eddie Brock, a down-on-his-luck reporter whose life changes when he's infected with an alien symbiote that bonds with him, turning him into Venom. As dangerous as Venom can be, the sequel promises to introduce another favorite Marvel character that's even more murderous: Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), a serial killer who becomes infected with his own symbiote and turns into Carnage, an insane and malevolent killer who is a regular enemy of Spider-Man in the comics and the archenemy of Venom, who has been both enemy and ally to Spider-Man over the years. Between Hardy and Harrelson, Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be a wild ride.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Release Date: July 9
The first of Marvel's 2021 movies to introduce a brand-new character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings promises to blend tons of martial arts action — the kind we should have gotten with the Netflix Iron Fist series — with the zany mysticism introduced in Doctor Strange. The movie will also introduce Simu Liu to the MCU in the titular role, with Liu being cast not just for his acting ability but also for his extensive martial arts background. It will come in handy, as Shang-Chi is one of the Marvel universe's master martial artists.
Legend of the Ten Rings will find Shang-Chi in an epic tournament where the winner is set to win the legendary Ten Rings, earning immense amounts of power. Think Mortal Kombat done Marvel-style. Reports have indicated that the fight sequences in the movie will be incredibly dynamic, with everything from gritty, The Raid-like hand-to-hand fighting to more mystical wuxia sequences that will incorporate Shang-Chi's comic book ability to create clones of himself. Liu has already won fans over with his hilarious social media presence and excitement at being a new Marvel hero. With that and Shang-Chi set to open up the Marvel universe in a big way, this could be one of our favorite Marvel origin movies in years.
The Suicide Squad
Release Date: August 6
When Suicide Squad was released in 2016, it was ... not that well-received, despite introducing a number of fan-favorite characters, particularly Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). To be fair, that wasn't entirely writer-director David Ayer's fault — after all, he only had six weeks to write the script and then had to deal with studio meddling during the process. The result is a movie that literally doesn't have a second act and one incredibly underdeveloped villain and side characters. But Warner Bros. has faith in the Suicide Squad team itself and gave James Gunn the green light to do a sequel (that's quietly a reboot, let's be honest) with The Suicide Squad.
The sequel will bring back Harley and other OG members of the squad from the first movie, including Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and their handler, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). However, in true James Gunn fashion, it will also introduce well over a dozen new superheroes who are a collection of oddballs and weirdos. Gunn has promised that this is the craziest, most large-scale movie he's ever done, and for the man who directed both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, that's saying something.
Eternals
Release Date: November 5
Along with Shang-Chi, Eternals is Marvel's second movie of 2021 to usher in new characters to the MCU. This time, however, it's a brand-new superhero team. Of all the upcoming Marvel movies, perhaps the least is known about Eternals, directed by Chloe Zhao. The Eternals are an ancient race of aliens who have been living in the shadows on Earth for thousands of years and shaping human events. However, following the events of Avengers: Endgame, an unexpected event forces the Eternals back into the spotlight to take on their most ancient enemies, the Deviants.
The cast is absolutely stacked, with Richard Madden playing Ikaris, the leader of the Eternals, Angelina Jolie (Thena), Gemma Chan (Sersi), Salma Hayek (Ajak), Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo), Barry Keoghan (Druig), Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos), Lauren Ridloff (Makkari), Lia McHugh (Sprite), Ma Dong-seok (Gilgamesh), and Kit Harington as Dane Whitman, a.k.a. Black Knight. It's been reported that Sersi, an empathetic and human-loving Eternal, will fall in love with Dane Whitman and that their love story will be what powers the movie. Either way, we're incredibly curious to see how this new and powerful team fits into the MCU.
Untitled third Spider-Man movie
Release Date: December 17
The third Spider-Man movie collaboration between Marvel and Sony is set to change the landscape of tentpole movies in the same way that Marvel Studios changed the game by modernizing the concept of the blockbuster cinematic universe.
Tom Holland once again stars as our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, but this time, Peter Parker is up against an entire team of baddies. With Jamie Foxx's Electro and Alfred Molina's Doc Ock confirmed to be returning, but also reports that both Tobey Maguire's and Andrew Garfield's versions of Peter Parker/Spider-Man will appear, the third movie looks to not only be setting up a Sinister Six storyline but also an epic multiverse event drawing from all three live-action Spider-Man movie runs with Holland's plucky Peter Parker at the center of it all.
A number of people thought Marvel would take it easy and dial it back to a smaller scale with their movies following the conclusion of the decade-long Infinity Gauntlet arc with Avengers: Endgame. Turns out, their plan is to go even bigger. Madness of the best sort.
Black Adam
Release Date: December 22 (for now)
After years of working together with Warner Bros. to develop the project, Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam is finally hitting theaters. Johnson's keen to bring the story of Black Adam to life, as he'll be unlike most characters we've yet seen in the DCEU. He's not a hero but an antihero at best (and frequently a villain, squaring off against Billy Batson/Shazam most often). The movie version looks to be more on the antihero side of things.
Adam was a former slave who still carries with him a zeal for justice and reform, albeit with methods that often cross certain moral boundaries. His powers are similar to Shazam's, with incredible super-strength and durability and the ability to fly and cast lightning, but Adam's ruthless streak gives him an edge. Members of the Justice Society are also set to feature in the movie, including Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall/Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein/Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkell/Cyclone, and Dr. Fate, whose casting has yet to be announced. Just note that with pandemic-related production delays, this one could be bumped to 2022.
Stargirl - season 2
Release Date: TBD 2021
Another CW series about a DC superhero, this one adjacent to the Arrowverse, Stargirl is one of the younger shows, only entering its second season in 2021, and is based on the DC comic book Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Brec Bassinger plays Courtney Whitmore, a.k.a. Stargirl, a teenage member of the Justice Society of America. After discovering the original Star-Spangled Kid's cosmic staff, Courtney becomes the superhero Stargirl. Along with a number of other young superheroes, including Yolanda Montez/Wildcat (Yvette Monreal), Beth Chapel/Doctor Mid-Nite (Anjelika Washington), Rick Tyler/Hourman (Cameron Gellman), the teenaged members of the new JSA are reluctantly mentored by Courtney's stepfather, Pat Dugan, a.k.a. S.T.R.I.P.E. (Luke Wilson), a semi-retired superhero.
Throughout the first season, the JSA battled various members of their archnemesis group, the Injustice Society of America, while trying to maintain normal teenage lives and survive not just their superhero fights but also the perils of high school.
The Umbrella Academy - season 3
Release Date: TBD 2021
Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, based on the graphic novels by Gerard Way, has been one of the weirdest and most endearing superhero series over its first two seasons precisely because it hasn't focused on the superhero part of it. Instead, it's focused on the deeply dysfunctional but ultimately loyal and loving dynamic of the adopted Hargreeves siblings: Luther Hargreeves/Number One (Tom Hopper), Diego Hargreeves/Number Two (David Castañeda), Allison Hargreeves/Number Three (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus Hargreeves/Number Four (Robert Sheehan), Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), Ben Hargreeves/Number Six (Justin Min) — who has, technically, been a ghost the entire series — and Vanya Hargreeves/Number Seven (Elliot Page). Each has a distinct and weird set of powers that they've employed to save the world — twice — in half a dozen different timelines. Season 2 found them trapped in the past in 1960s Dallas.
The next season is set to be even weirder, with the end of season 2 seeing Number Five using his time-traveling abilities to zap them back to the future ... only to end up in what appears to be the right time but the wrong reality. Oops. Oh, and did we mention Ben is alive in this reality? The weirdness makes it wildly entertaining, but the series has really been the story of the estranged siblings' fractured relationship slowly repairing itself, and there's no reason to think that won't be the case in season 3.
The Boys - season 3
Release Date: TBD 2021
Equally wild is The Boys, based on the legendary Garth Ennis' graphic novels. It follows the exploits of Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who is hell-bent on exposing the Vought International corporation and taking it down, along with its company-branded team of often corrupt and lawless superheroes led by Homelander (Anthony Starr). The public face Homelander presents is a squeaky-clean Superman-Captain America hybrid, but behind closed doors, he's an unhinged, murderous psychopath. Helping Butcher are the Boys, a ragtag team of vigilantes who each have personal reasons for wanting to take down Vought, as well as Vought superhero Starlight (Erin Moriarty), who wants to see it all destroyed as much as Butcher's team and acts as their mole.
Season 2 ended on a tragic note, with the Boys mostly being split up. But a new superhero has been announced for season 3 with the addition of Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy. And Homelander has absolutely snapped and looks to be the main threat next season. Starr's performance as Homelander in the second season was nothing short of remarkable, and now that Homelander's veneer of rationality has been obliterated, it will be truly fun to see the unhinged and depraved depths Starr taps into in season 3.
Lucifer - season 5, part 2
Release Date: TBD 2021
Lucifer has had a long and bumpy ride, first prematurely canceled by The CW as it chose to focus on its superhero-based DC series and then resurrected by Netflix. Production for season 5 had been halted due to the pandemic shutting everything down, so the second half of the season will air sometime in 2021. Tom Ellis excels in the titular role as the rakish, charming Lucifer Morningstar, a man with the literal powers of Satan but zero self-awareness when it comes to his emotional landscape and personal life.
Part 1 dropped this summer and left a number of questions to be answered by part 2. First off, Lucifer's absentee father, God (Dennis Haysbert), finally showed up, but why? Why is Lucifer's twin brother, Michael, so hell-bent on ruining Lucifer's life — and what's his endgame? Will Ella (Aimee Garcia) be the last of Lucifer's friends to finally learn he's the actual Devil? Will Michael make good on his promise to give Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt) a soul? Is Charlie, Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) and Linda's (Rachel Harris) son, mortal or immortal? And for the love of God, will Lucifer finally get his baggage together and tell Chloe (Lauren German) that he loves her? He'd better — time's a-ticking, after all.
Supergirl - season 6
Release Date: TBD 2021
The sixth and final season of The CW's Supergirl is also scheduled to drop in 2021. When she was first introduced to the Arrowverse, Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), a.k.a. Supergirl, cousin of Superman, was a fun, optimistic breath of fresh air in a TV comic book universe that, at the time, was getting too dark and ponderous to be much fun.
Originally, Kara was sent in a pod from Krypton to protect her younger cousin, Kal-El. But Kara's pod got knocked off-course. By the time she finally arrived on Earth, her cousin had grown up to become the legendary Superman. After years of keeping her powers a secret, while seeing constant news reports about her cousin's heroics, an accident forces Kara to reveal her true nature. Recruited by the Department of Extranormal Operations to stop threats and keep her city safe, Kara takes up the name of Supergirl while moonlighting as a reporter for CatCo Worldwide Media.
Supergirl has often been a sunny spotlight in the gritty world of the Arrowverse, but all good things must come to an end.
Legends of Tomorrow - season 6
Release Date: TBD 2021
Similar to Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow arrived at a time in which the Arrowverse was desperately in need of some lighter characters and shows. The first season was a bit clunky, being comprised of a handful of characters the other established shows didn't seem to know what to do with. Since then, Legends has grown into one of the most genuinely fun and entertaining superhero shows on TV. Part of that is thanks to the show never taking itself too seriously. It's not that the stakes aren't high and that there isn't drama (and sometimes even tragedy), but Legends of Tomorrow embraces its madcap comic book roots in a way few other superhero series do, particularly in today's era of dark, gritty, R-rated comic book series.
The Legends are a time-traveling team who hop around various timelines trying to prevent major tragedies and world-destroying events from occurring. Season 5 saw them moving away from the time travel conceit, with the team by that point having battled everything from aliens to Time Masters (not to be confused with Time Lords) and blown up a blue plush toy named Beebo into a giant, animated Beebo avatar to fight a demon named Mallus. Trust us, it all manages to make sense ... somehow.
Titans - season 3
Release Date: TBD 2021
DC's Titans revolves around the exploits of a grown-up Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), a.k.a. the original Robin, sidekick to Batman. He's retired from being a vigilante after leaving Gotham, working as a police officer in Detroit. But one thing leads to another, and Dick is forced to come out of retirement, taking up the new code name of Nightwing (by the end of season 2) and forming the Titans, a group of young superheroes who nonetheless aren't quite as young as the teenagers they are in the Teen Titans comic book series.
Aside from Nightwing, the Titans consist of Kory Anders/Starfire (Anna Diop), Rachel Roth/Raven (Teagan Croft), and Gar Logan/Beast Boy (Ryan Potter). A number of other notable heroes and villains were introduced in season 2, which found the cast expanding greatly after the success of the first season. Longtime DC villain Deathstroke was the villain of season 2, with a new Titans team being formed at the end. The series is a much more adult and mature version of the Teen Titans team than we've seen before, and season 3 looks to continue that trend.
Doom Patrol - season 3
Release Date: TBD 2021
Doom Patrol is, by far, the weirdest DC show out there, and it's wonderful in its weirdness. A spinoff of Titans, it also shares Titans' more dark and edgy tone than the mainstream Arrowverse shows of The CW and is based on the DC comic book Doom Patrol team. The team consists of Crazy Jane/Jane (Diane Guerrero), Elasti-Girl/Rita Farr (April Bowlby), Cyborg/Vic Stone (Joivan Wade), Negative Man/Larry Trainor (Matthew Zuk/Matt Bomer), Robotman/Cliff Steele (Riley Shanahan/Brendan Fraser), and the Chief/Dr. Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton).
Far from being celebrated superheroes, the Doom Patrol are all generally shunned by society because of their bizarre appearances after all having gained their powers through tragic circumstances. The Chief, who rehabbed all of them, also gave them a mansion in which they can all live and hide away from society when they're not fighting crime. That crime usually comes in the form of supervillain Mr. Nobody (Alan Tudyk), formerly known as Eric Morden, a low-rent criminal who underwent an experimental procedure by a former Nazi doctor that gave him the power to teleport through dimensions and alter reality. Doom Patrol deftly balances a wicked sense of humor with plenty of heart and compassion for its characters, with high stakes and heartbreak. Season 3 should be the strongest yet.
The Sandman - season 1
Release Date: TBD 2021
After spending literally three decades in development hell, a live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman's beloved and critically acclaimed The Sandman graphic novel series is finally seeing the light of day courtesy of Netflix.
The Sandman revolves around its main character, Dream, also known as Morpheus, a.k.a. the Dream of the Endless, the eponymous "Sandman" of the title. Dream is one of the seven Endless, ancient beings who embody powerful concepts, with the other six siblings being Death, Despair, Delirium (previously Delight), Destruction, Destiny, and Desire. They've existed since the dawn of time and spend most of their time fulfilling the functions of their name, and as one might guess, being ancient avatars of natural forces, their sibling relationship is somewhat dysfunctional. Of the seven Endless, Death is, ironically enough, the most kind and personable of the seven and the one closest to Dream, who, at times, can be insensitive and cruel in his exacting desire to fulfill his responsibilities as the personification of sleep.
Much of The Sandman deals with Dream learning that he can't control everything and that all things, even him, must change and dealing with the sins of his past. During its celebrated run, The Sandman was the first graphic novel to win the World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction and has won more than two dozen Eisner Awards, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Hugo Award. The Netflix series certainly has a lot to live up to.
Ms. Marvel - season 1
Release Date: TBD 2021
Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, first made her Marvel comics debut in 2013, and fans have been dying to see a live-action adaptation of the fan favorite ever since. Newcomer Iman Vellani has been cast as Kamala for the Disney+ series after an exhaustive search for the right person to play the bubbly character. Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager who lives in New Jersey and is obsessed with typical nerdy teenager things: following the exploits of her favorite superhero, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, playing video games, reading comic books, and writing fanfic. When Kamala is accidentally exposed to the chemical Terrigen Mist, it activates her dormant Inhuman cells, turning her into a superhero with the powers of shapeshifting and elasticity.
Along with Miles Morales, Kamala led the youth movement in Marvel Comics, becoming one of the new wave of teenaged superheroes who made an immediate impact on the Marvel universe and fans alike. Ms. Marvel is set to debut sometime in late 2021 as part of Phase Four of the MCU, and it's already been confirmed that Kamala Khan will be making an appearance in future movies at some point.
Hawkeye - season 1
Release Date: TBD 2021
The last of the Disney+ series based on already existing MCU characters to be released in 2021, Hawkeye will find Jeremy Renner reprising his role of Clint Barton/Hawkeye. This time, the master archer will be joined by a young protégé, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), who takes over as the new Hawkeye once Clint has semi-retired. Florence Pugh, who will appear in Black Widow as Yelena Belova, is also set to make an appearance.
Hawkeye will undoubtedly have big action pieces — it is Marvel, after all — but it will also likely be much more of a character study than we might guess. Clint has much to atone for after crossing multiple lines in his quest for vengeance during the events of Avengers: Endgame. Plus, with Kate Bishop in the mix, it means the series will be borrowing heavily from Matt Fraction's Hawkeye: My Life As a Weapon series, which leaned heavily into absurdist, dark humor and the struggle of being a non-powered, normal guy trying to keep up on a team with superpowered teammates. The MCU version of Hawkeye has always been at his best when borrowing from the humor of Fraction's run, and an entire series of letting that version of Hawkeye out to play could finally show that the archer is the most underappreciated Avenger.