Every The CW Superhero Show Ranked Worst To Best
The home of DC superheroes since its debut, which of The CW's live-action heroes will stand tall?
Comic book-inspired programming has been around for decades, allowing us to enjoy the escapades of costumed superheroes from the comfort of our own homes, but never has a TV network become so synonymous with superheroes in the way that The CW has.
A joint venture between Warner Bros. and CBS, it was, for the longest time, primarily a teen network, housing beloved shows like One Tree Hill, The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle (and it was once even the home WWE's Friday Night SmackDown). And yet, in the past decade, it has undergone something of a rebrand.
Sure, it still houses a number of teen shows and ultimately influences some of its non-teen programs to give into its more, well, angsty tendencies (when they shouldn't), but that doesn't change the fact that it is now primarily considered the home of DC Comics programming.
That reputation is down to the popularity of the Arrowverse - a shared universe of superhero shows spun off from 2012's Arrow, all of which focus on some of DC's most iconic superheroes. With comparisons to Marvel's big-screen cinematic universe, The CW's line-up is ever-changing, with some shows leaving our screens just as new ones join the fray. But its line-up hasn't just consisted of Arrowverse superheroes.
With all that in mind (and two more potential superhero shows on the way), let's take a look at The CW's heroic programming and, while we're at it, rank them.
7. Batwoman
The latest addition to the Arrowverse, Batwoman's arrival sparked a little bit of controversy among fans before it was even released because of its diabolically poor trailer. The on-the-nose dialogue and thin character motivations painted the show in such a poor light before it even debuted that all the show had to do was just be better than it was presented. Needless to say, it was... and then some.
Debuting with a decent - albeit slightly flat - pilot episode, Batwoman showed potential and the writers quickly put their hearts and souls into the show in the hopes that they could make it live up to that potential. It took them a little while, but man oh man, did they get there in the end.
The show stopped playing around and kicked into gear just prior to the annual Arrowverse crossover - which on this occasion was only bloody Crisis On Infinite Earths - and after said crossover was finished, it started firing on all cylinders.
One of the best comebacks in recent TV memory, the Ruby Rose-starring series managed to become this season's strongest Arrowverse offering, so it's a real shame that the season was cut short before it could end the way that the creative team wanted it to. But if it continues to dominate the way that it did in the back half of Season 1, it could certainly find itself moving up this list. Let's hope that it's capable of doing that now that Rose has left the show.