13 Years Before The Boys, Another Superhero Series Had Already Shown Marvel & DC How It's Done

By El Kuiper

Published 4 days ago

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Image Edited by Simone Ashmoore

Long before Prime Video's The Boys satirized and deconstructed the superhero genre's overwhelming cultural influence, NBC's Heroes changed how Hollywood and audiences viewed and interacted with the comic book media landscape. Prime's streaming adaptation of The Boys is the antithesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC's all-consuming grip on superhero media. Eschewing the PG-13 rating that most on-screen superhero stories are restricted by, The Boys satirically examines a version of our world in which the government and corporate oligarchs become involved in creating and curating people's superpowers.

The Boys often references and even mocks the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC's approach to superhero storytelling, parodying the movies, shows, and costumes, and examining the genre's black-and-white approach to the age-old battle between good and evil. While The Boys' success directly responds to Marvel's and DC's grip on the superhero genre, NBC's Heroes showed Marvel and DC what the superhero genre could be, especially in a TV format.

Heroes Did Superhero Deconstruction On TV Before The Genre Was Popular

Heroes Was A Character-Driven Drama First, A Superhero Show Second

Heroes' first season debuted on NBC in 2006. This was pre-Iron Man, the movie that kickstarted the behemoth that would soon become known as the MCU. Heroes instead followed in the footsteps of superhero films like Fox's original X-Men and Fantastic Four movies and Tobey Maguire's first two outings as Spider-Man. Most major comic book media of the early aughts, with the exception of Christopher Nolan's grounded take on Batman with 2005's Batman Begins, were strongly influenced by their source material, leaning into the more gimmicky, sometimes even goofy, aspects of superhero comic books.

That approach was, and still is, incredibly effective; some of those films were undeniably groundbreaking, combining clever storytelling with the expected comedy and fantastical fights that have always been hallmarks of the genre. In the early 2000s, though, comic book storytelling was confined to the big screen, with just a few animated series produced for television, and superheroes had nowhere near the same cultural clout as they did in the 2010s and now. Heroes' premiere on NBC changed everything, though.

Custom image of Stephen Amell as Arrow and Charlie Cox as Daredevil

This 2006 Superhero Show Did What Marvel & DC Would Take Another 10 Years To Achieve

Marvel and DC are at the top of their game when it comes to a specific type of project, but they arguably wouldn't be if not for a 2006 project.

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Not only did Heroes prove that superhero stories could work in an entirely different narrative format, but it also proved that superpowered characters didn't need to be limited to being caped crusaders or your run-of-the-mill comic book villains. Season 1's 23-episode run allowed creator Tim Kring to deconstruct what it means to be a superhero. These characters lived normal lives for years, even decades. Heroes questioned how an ordinary person would react to gaining powers. Would those opportunities make them greedier, more selfless, or something even more volatile? How do those people change society as a whole?

To a certain degree, Heroes' superpower system had plenty in common with the X-Men – certain individuals have extraordinary underlying abilities activated at different points in their lives and are blamed or persecuted for something they have no control over – but Heroes took that to another level. Using sci-fi as its primary genre, Heroes asked, "What if superheroes were real?" and both Marvel and DC have been asking themselves that question ever since.

Heroes Might Have Been A Very Different Show If It Came Out Today

The Superhero Market Has Never Been So Saturated

Since Heroes first premiered, the superhero genre has become almost unrecognizable. Superheroes permeate every corner of today's media landscape, from film to TV, and have changed how audiences interact with and respond to major franchises. Every installment pushes the overarching narrative forward. Every character can potentially pop up in a different film or episode. There's little room for something new, and when something new does come along, those new (or underexplored) characters and stories are not always met with the enthusiasm they arguably deserve.

Heroes' originality would have been lost if it had been released more recently, much in the same way it feels different to watch Zack Snyder's Watchmen now than when it first premiered three years before the MCU's original Avengers film was released. It'll be interesting to see how the Heroes reboot, The Boys franchise, and even other superhero-like properties such as The Umbrella Academy?

Heroes' Disappointing Sequels Don't Change The Fact That Season 1 Was Great

Season 1 Changed How We Viewed Network TV

There's no denying that Heroes fell off after a phenomenal first season. This was in large part due to the writers' strike of 2007 and 2008, which delayed development and forced the writers to cut off certain storylines before they'd been resolved. As a result of the much shorter season length – 11 episodes rather than 23 – the returning characters' development was brought to a screeching halt in favor of a fast-paced, convoluted plot and new superpowered individuals, and the show's subsequent seasons and reboot never recovered from the shocking change of pace.

Heroes was a trailblazer in creating character-driven superhero storytelling, especially in season 1.

Despite the show's wonky legacy, Heroes: Eclipsed has a real shot at redemption. One of the main complaints about superhero stories today is that they feel too similar to one another, vehicles for spectacle rather than depth. Superhero productions that feature more grounded character drama, like Daredevil: Born Again, Thunderbolts*, WandaVision, Peacemaker, and The Boys, in turn, feel fresh and exciting.

The characters and their relationships are the stars, rather than massive, third-act battles. Heroes was a trailblazer in creating character-driven superhero storytelling, especially in season 1. The superpowers were simply a way of exploring and deconstructing these characters' psyches, their choices, and their motivations. If the Heroes reboot can recapture that magic, audiences could be in for something truly special.