8 Signs We're Reaching Saturation Point With Superhero Movies

4. At Least Eight New Superhero TV Shows Coming Our Way

As mentioned in the intro, it isn't just cinema which is being saturated with superheroes. TV is also getting in on the successes of The Avengers and The Dark Knight by creating superheroes for the small screen. It's a smart move. A cinema version of Green Arrow would always be compared to Batman but on TV Arrow has presented us a great character in his own right with all the trappings of the DC world (A.R.G.U.S and the League Of Shadows). Agents of SHIELD meanwhile has given us a wider perspective of the world Iron Man and Captain America inhabit. TV is a fantastic medium for storytelling in that it can take the time to build a complex world, hero and villains without the limitations of a 2-3 hour running time. Indeed, Arrow successfully brought two years of character development in its explosive season finale, paying off on many long-running story threads. Now we have Flash to join the frey and the early days of Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon and many classic villains in Gotham. Over in the Marvel world, while season two of Agents of SHIELD will see Coulson and his team picking up the pieces after the organisation's fall to HYDRA, Agent Carter will visit SHIELD's beginning. Not to mention more characters fleshing out the Marvel cinematic universe over on Netlix. Like the Green Arrow, these new shows will have the opportunity to introduce audiences to lesser known characters, starting with Daredevil, who failed to light up the silver screen in 2003, followed by Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, all before they team up for The Defenders. Just like the many, many movies coming out way over the next few years, it's an exciting time for superheroes on TV. Televised superheroes are a safer bet - the chance to flesh out stories and diversify characters is a big selling point and failures can be more easily swept under the carpet through series cancellation than a big summer blockbuster. But like those many movies there is the risk that audiences will simply get sick of superheroes, particular when they suddenly seem to be there in movie trailers and episodes every time you switch on your TV.