6 Superhero Characters Who Work Best on TV

Published Nov 8, 2026, 7:21 AM EST

Eddie Possehl is a dynamic and driven writer/director with a passion for the written word and all things film, television, comics, and games. His passion for storytelling led him to establish his own production company in hopes of achieving his dreams.

His dedication to his craft has attracted renowned talent like Yuri Lowenthal to collaborate with him on his projects. As he grows and improves, Eddie is a shining example of a self-starter.

Sign in to your Collider account

With how prevalent superheroes have become in movies and television over the decades, it's become more and more clear that some heroes work better in one medium over another. This isn't to say that because a hero works in one medium, they can't work in another, but there are some that simply thrive more in television or movies, respectively.

Television has proven to be a great outlet for superhero storytelling, thanks to how much time a character gets to spend with the audience. Whether it be because their world is simply best executed on a smaller television budget, they have more day-to-day storytelling, or benefit from spending more time with an audience than the average bear, superhero TV is sometimes the best medium for some heroes. These characters prove exactly why that can be.

6 Moon Knight

Image via Marvel Studios

While the Disney+ television era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had its fair share of complaints, there are still some series that people liked, and one of them is, without a doubt, Moon Knight. While—thanks to his mythology and power set—one might initially think that he would actually fit better on the big screen, Marvel's white-clad superhero has already proven why he works better on television. When a character isn't massively known by general audiences, sometimes they actually benefit more from being a show because audiences get to spend more time with them and can grow more attached to them than they could in just two hours.

Over the course of Disney+'s Moon Knight, viewers got to spend almost six hours with Oscar Isaac's iconic hero, getting them attached to him better than they ever could have before. It's gotten to the point that people are begging to see him in other Marvel content now because of it. There's also a hefty dose of mystery and lore to uncover in the hero's mythological roots and the many unexplored corners of his mind, and the way it's covered over the many hours of the series couldn't have been done in a movie. It's actually pretty safe to say that Moon Knight would not have worked as well as a movie, making the character genuinely better-suited for television.

5 Green Arrow

Image via DC Comics

Sometimes a lot of it comes down to budget management, and that is most definitely the case with Green Arrow. Because of the character not having superpowers and being a bow and arrow-wielding hero, far less budget is necessary for bringing the Emerald Archer to life than others—even the likes of other non-powered heroes like Batman. While they could make a Green Arrow movie and do some cool stuff within it because of the less budget needed for the hero, executing his stories on television ends up being the better move, with no question.

He's already been a success on TV, actually, via the CW's Arrow (despite being more of a Batman show than a Green Arrow show). Why use the extra budget leftover from not needing to execute superpowers for a 2-hour story, when one could use that extra budget across an entire season of a show? This would allow the studios to do more on a week-to-week basis, rather than a one-time go in theaters. Not to mention, the hero's stories aren't usually gigantic world-ending threats that require the kind of budget a typical superhero movie has. Again, it becomes a case of being able to simply do more on television than they could in a film.

4 Invincible

Image via Prime Video

If it isn't already obvious, the one and only Invincible (Steven Yeun) has quickly become one of the most prominent television superheroes of all time. The show is already adapting the book very accurately, and people are adoring it. So . . . why is there a movie in development? This is a question that has rested on the minds of fans for quite some time, because everyone can agree that the show is pretty much the best medium for the series.

Invincible is already adapting the entire comic book run—so long as they go for the amount of seasons they want to—so the concept of doing him in a movie feels a bit redundant. There's simply no question that Invincible is already the best of what an adaptation of the series could be, so it warrants the title of this character working best on television. Why even try to fix something that's not broken?

3 Static

Image via Warner Bros. Animation

This character has already starred in an animated television show—Static Shock—and it was exceptional. This is primarily because the protagonist, Virgil Hawkins (Phil LaMarr), is a very grounded, street-level hero. He's just a 16-year-old kid who's trying to do his best—a Spider-Man-esque character, in a way. Coming-of-age stories are great, and there are plenty of coming-of-age movies, but this genre on television can often be far more effective.

Getting to spend a decent amount of time with a character who's growing so much into the person they're going to be—like Virgil is, on a superpowered scale—allows the audience to really gravitate towards and fall in love with the protagonist. It also gives viewers time to really explore the hero's world and dive into the characters that surround him, fleshing out his journey into a whole new depth.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which MCU Character Is Your Best Friend? Steve Rogers · Tony Stark · Peter Parker · Shuri

Pick where you meet, what they text you at two in the morning, what they hand you on your birthday and what the two of you keep arguing about. Four very different people are waiting on the other side: the one who never leaves, the one who is exhausting and worth it, the one who replies in four seconds flat, and the one who will roast you and then fix your life.

🛡️Steve Rogers(Captain America)

🛠️Tony Stark(Iron Man)

🕸️Peter Parker(Spider-Man)

🐆Shuri(Black Panther)

FIND YOUR FRIEND →

01

Where do the two of you meet? Nobody in this universe makes a friend somewhere normal.

AIn a gym at six in the morning, where the two of you are the only people awake. BAt a party you were not really invited to, where they talked to you for an hour. CQueuing for coffee in Queens while something loud happens six blocks away. DIn a lab you had no clearance for, and they decided to let you stay.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

Your phone lights up at two in the morning. What does it say? You find out what kind of friend somebody is by what they send at that hour.

ANothing at all, because they are already outside, having heard you had a rough week. BFour hundred words about an idea they just had, plus a schematic you cannot read. CAn apology for texting so late, followed by a question that could have waited. DA meme aimed directly at you, sent with no context and absolutely no mercy.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

It is your birthday. What do they hand you? The present is never really about the present.

ASomething small they made themselves, handed over slightly awkwardly. BSomething absurd and expensive that fixes a problem you mentioned once, months ago. CA gift that clearly took months of saving, wrapped badly, with a long note inside. DAn upgrade to something you already owned, installed without asking you first.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

What does a good Saturday with them actually look like? Superheroes have days off, and this is how they spend them.

AA long walk, an old diner and a conversation you had both been avoiding. BWhatever they decide at noon, which somehow ends with you in another country. CBad takeaway and an old film on their couch, interrupted about eleven times. DTwo hours in a workshop, arguing about whether your idea would even work.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

You have your worst day in years. What do they do about it? This is the part of a friendship nobody puts in the trailer.

AThey sit next to you and say almost nothing until you are ready to talk. BThey throw money, noise and three terrible plans at it until one of them helps. CThey turn up with food, refuse to leave, and then check on you every day for a month. DThey tell you the honest version of it, which nobody else was willing to say.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

Every real friendship has one fight it keeps having. What is yours? The thing you argue about is usually the thing you like most about them.

AThey take risks with their own life that they would never let me take with mine. BThey vanish into work for weeks and expect me to be completely fine about it. CThey keep apologising for things that were never even slightly their fault. DThey are three steps ahead of me and do not always bother explaining why.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

The alarm goes off and you are both in the field. What is your job? You get one role on the team, and it says a lot about who you want next to you.

AHolding the front line so that everybody behind me gets out of the building. BDoing the thing nobody has a plan for yet, at speed, and inventing the rest. CGetting people off the street quietly before anyone realises we were there. DRunning everything from a screen and talking the rest of them through it.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

Ten years on, what do you want this friendship to be? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who picks up the phone.

AExactly the same, because some people are simply permanent and that is the appeal. BLoud and complicated and worth every bit of the trouble it caused along the way. CStill the person I look out for, and still the first one who checks on me. DTwo people who keep each other sharp and never once get sentimental about it.

REVEAL MY BEST FRIEND →

The Line Is Ringing Your Best Friend Is…

Four people, four completely different ideas of what it means to have somebody in your corner. Here is who picked up, what they would ask of you, and what you would get back.

Steve Rogers

You want the friend who does not leave. Steve is the one who turns up at the door without being asked, who remembers what you said you were worried about, and who has never once made you audition for his attention.

• His entire character is built on a single sentence, which is that he will not abandon somebody just because it has become expensive to keep them.
• He is far funnier than people give him credit for, and the joke is almost always at his own expense rather than yours.
• The friendship comes with a cost, since being close to Steve means being dragged into fights that were never yours and being glad about it later.
• You would get a friend who tells you the hard thing to your face and then defends you to everybody else in the room.

Tony Stark

You want the friend who is genuinely exhausting and completely worth it. Tony will forget your birthday, then build you something at four in the morning that you did not know you needed, and hand it over as though it were nothing.

• He is bad at saying the warm thing out loud, so he says it in hardware instead, which is why everybody around him ends up with upgraded everything.
• Being his friend means putting up with the disappearing, the deflecting and the jokes that arrive about ninety seconds too early.
• What you get in return is somebody who will spend an unreasonable amount of money and effort on a problem the moment it becomes yours.
• He is the loudest person in the room and the one most likely to be quietly panicking about all of you.

Peter Parker

You want the friend who replies in four seconds and apologises for it. Peter is earnest in a way that is almost unfashionable, and he will take on far more than he can carry rather than admit that he is struggling.

• He is the only one on this list who needs looking after as much as he looks after you, and that balance is exactly what makes it a real friendship.
• Nobody in the MCU is better at the small stuff, from remembering the thing you were nervous about to showing up with food you did not ask for.
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived in July 2026 and put him back where he works best, which is broke, local and carrying the weight on his own.
• You would get a friend who is sincerely, embarrassingly happy for you when something goes right, with no edge to it at all.

Shuri

You want the friend who insults your shoes, fixes your phone and then quietly rearranges your entire life for the better. Shuri does not do soft reassurance, and that is the reason you would believe her when she says you are fine.

• She is the smartest person in almost any room she walks into and treats that as a reason to tease you rather than a reason to lecture you.
• The teasing is the affection. When Shuri stops making fun of you, something has gone seriously wrong and you should probably ask her about it.
• Her story is the one on this list that goes somewhere genuinely dark, which is what turned her from a scene stealer into the emotional centre of the films.
• You would get a friend who never pities you, never softens the truth, and never once lets you take yourself too seriously.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

2 Daredevil

Image via Jojo Whilden /©Disney+/Marvel Studios /Courtesy Everett Collection

One of the most famous and beloved Marvel television shows is the one and only Daredevil—no contest. The televised story of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) has become so popular that people begged for the show and the actor to return, leading to the announcement of the sequel series, Daredevil: Born Again. The Netflix series is genuinely considered a true work of art.

This character is much like a lot of other television-preferred superheroes in the fact that he is a street-level hero, and far more grounded than others. This makes it far easier to depict him on television, and having the extra time for viewers to watch him makes the political thriller and mystery aspects of the show have so much more time to be more complex than they ever could have been in just a movie.

1 Spider-Man

Image via Sony Pictures Animation

Despite Spider-Man: Brand New Day being within the top three highest-grossing movies of all time, the character of Spider-Man is easily better suited for television. The best parts about the character are the coming-of-age aspects of his journey, his gigantic group of supporting characters, and even larger catalog of villains. Sure, these things are adapted very well to film—the large number of massively successful films being prooof—but his stories told on television can often be considered some of the best adaptations of the character, period.

A great example of this is the likes of The Spectacular Spider-Man—a series that has episodes that can genuinely be considered masterpieces—and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. These are noted by many to be some of the best iterations of the character ever put onto screen, and that's not for no reason. The huge amount of time audiences have spent with these versions of the character makes for a connection unlike any other. Not to mention, the fact that they're animated means they have no restrictions when it comes to bringing certain characters to life—limitless potential for comic accurate designs and unique powers—and allows for some amazing spectacle.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

• 

  Christopher Daniel Barnes

  Peter Parker / Spider-Man (voice)

• Sara Ballantine

  Mary Jane Watson (voice)