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Based on the (really rather excellent) comic book series from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, Prime Video’s satirical superhero romp The Boys picks up the genre deconstructionist torch passed by Alan Moore’s Watchmen. The tone is less philosophical but even more cynical, suggesting that power doesn’t just corrupt—it makes people absolute dicks.
It’s set in a world where people with superpowers work for a powerful multinational corporation, with plenty of money and a powerful PR machine behind them to clean up their messes and excesses, and keep them in the public’s good graces. When the girlfriend of Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) is gruesomely killed by an indifferent superhero, he’s recruited by the titular group, which is determined to keep the “supes” in line by absolutely any means necessary. The show’s rude and crude veneer masks a disturbing truth: If superpowered people really existed, this is probably how they would act.
While you wait for the premiere of the show’s fifth and final season next year (and prepare for the forthcoming prequel Vought Rising), you can check out the spin-off Gen V, the animated miniseries Diabolical—and these 12 other shows that might scratch the same itch.
Creature Commandos (2024 – )
The old DCEU (“old” as in 2023) was definitely not shy about being edgy—consider that the plot of cinema’s first Batman/Superman team-up turned on a urine explosion—but the new, James Gunn-lead iteration is willing to go harder. This animated show sees Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, reprising the role) assembling a black-ops team to protect a foreign nation from the Amazonian sorceress Circe. Waller can’t be trusted with actual humans, so her team is made up entirely of literal monsters: The Bride (Indira Varma), Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), and aquatic mutant Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao), alongside Nazi-obsessed G.I. Robot and the rodent-like Weasel (both Sean Gunn). The cartoon is extremely violent with a dark sense of humor, but Gunn also brings an impressive amount of heart. Stream Creature Commandos on HBO Max.
Slow Horses (2022 – )
Go with me on this one. Based on the Mick Herron books, this series does for spies what The Boys does for superheroes. Headed by Gary Oldman’s rude, farty Jackson Lamb, Slough House is a dumping ground for has-been (or never-were) MI5 agents, who either can’t be trusted with important missions or, in Lamb’s case, have pissed off far too many people. They’re not super-spies, mostly being only mediocre at their jobs, but their expendability frequently puts them in the line of fire, and their general scrappiness and disregard for the rules has saved them more than once. Kristin Scott Thomas is Lamb’s foil, a politically savvy spymaster in the main office. It’s probably my favorite Apple TV+ show, and it earns extra points for coming out on a consistent schedule; it has been renewed through a seventh season. Stream Slow Horses on Apple TV+.
Doom Patrol (2019 – 2023)
Here’s an uncharacteristically bold and indescribably freaky entry in the superhero canon, including characters like the non-binary Danny the Street (a literal street), paranormal investigators the Sex Men, Imaginary Jesus, and orgasm-generating body builder Flex Mentallo. But all the weirdness is grounded in excellent, frequently emotional character work from the entire cast, including Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer, April Bowlby, Diane Guerrero, Joivan Wade, Michelle Gomez, and Timothy Dalton, all playing characters processing copious amounts of trauma and guilt while becoming something like superheroes in spite of themselves. It’s very queer and very sex-positive, making it a standout among the usually chaste, straight world of superheroes on TV. Stream Doom Patrol on HBO Max.
Deadloch (2023 – )
The cleverly titled Deadloch flips classic crime drama tropes on their heads. It’s also an excellent mystery/crime procedural that simultaneously works as a genre send-up—not superhero stories, but dour “murder shows” like Broadchurch and its many imitators. The Australian import stars Kate Box stars as Dulcie Collins, the fastidious senior sergeant of the police force in the fictional town of the title. When a body turns up on the beach, Dulcie is joined by Madeleine Sami’s Eddie Redcliffe, a crude, obnoxious detective brought in to help solve the case. The web of secrets and mysteries in the tiny Tasmanian town makes for an addictive narrative, with the added bonus that it’s all frequently a hoot. Stream Deadloch on Prime Video.
Legends of Tomorrow (2016 – 2022)
After a rough first season spent trying to find its footing while shoehorning in characters from other CW shows, Legends quickly evolved by taking its core premise seriously. Assembled by a rogue time traveller, the Legends were initially brought together because, while they all had useful powers, none of their lives were destined to have an appreciable impact and, thus they could be pulled from their timelines with impunity. With that in mind, the show developed a sense of humor about its crew of time-traveling losers, and an even bigger heart. Caity Lotz leads the team as former assassin Sara Lance alongside her wife, future-clone Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan); they’re joined by a romance-novel-wiring pyromaniac, a stoner from an alternate timeline, British occult detective John Constantine, and a rotating crew of unlikely heroes. Stream Legends of Tomorrow on Netflix.
Watchmen (2019)
A standalone sequel to the groundbreaking Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins graphic novel from the ’80s, this series plays in the sandbox of that book (arguably the wellspring of all modern superhero deconstruction). In an alternate Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a world where super-powered vigilantes exist and have been outlawed, the series starts, dramatically, with a depiction of the real-life massacre and destruction of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street by white residents in 1921. Regina King plays Angela Abar, a modern cop whose grandparents were killed during those attacks, an event that echoes throughout the series, which focuses on the fallout from the plot of the original comic, and the conspiracies that grew out of it. Stream Watchmen on HBO Max or buy episodes from Prime Video and Apple TV.
Riverdale (2017 – 2023)
Veering from superhero action to teen serial but keeping the thread of comic book deconstruction, Riverdale offers up a wild take on the once entirely wholesome Archie comics universe. The show veers wildly between genres, starting out by blending a coming-of-age story with a sexy whodunnit. The dour, elderly Miss Grundy of the comics is having an affair with Archie in the series opener, leading into a bloody murder mystery. Before long, we’re folding in supernatural horror and alternate universes, made all the weirder by the way the show continues to take itself absolutely seriously in the face of absolutely bonkers plot twists. Steam Riverdale on Netflix or buy episodes from Prime Video.
What do you think so far?
Talamasca: The Secret Order (2025 – )
Who watches the watchers? That’s the question central to The Boys (and its spiritual antecedent, Watchmen), and it’s taken up by this surprisingly fun and zippy supernatural spy show. The third series in what AMC is calling its Immortal Universe of shows based on the works of Anne Rice, this one stars Nicholas Denton as Guy Anatole, a new recruit to the title organization of supernatural spies. William Fichtner plays a vampire making a play for control of the organization, and Downton Abbey‘s Elizabeth McGovern brings us yet another delightfully confusing accent as the leader of the Talamasca’s New York motherhouse. Throughout the first season, we, like Guy, are entirely in the dark as to whether the Talamasca are the goodies or the baddies—but maybe there’s no clear answer to that question. Stream Talamasca on AMC+.
Hit-Monkey (2021 – 2024)
A breath of fresh air among Marvel’s million+ hours of TV and movie content, the animated Hit-Monkey eschews pat morality in favor of, well, monkey violence. Named only Monkey (Fred Tatasciore), the lead character is a particularly aggressive macaque forced from his tribe and mentored by Bryce (Jason Sudeikis), a dead assassin who has returned to the world as a helpful ghost. It’s all impressively animated, and Ally Maki, Olivia Munn, George Takei, Leslie Jones, and Cristin Milioti are among the talented voice cast. Stream Hit-Monkey.
Murderbot (2025 – )
One of the smartest new shows of the year is also a dark comedy based on the Hugo-Award winning book series by Martha Wells. Alexander Skarsgård is the title’s hilariously deadpan robot, a private “security construct” who’s managed to hack its way through its own programming and gain free will—which it mostly wants to use to watch its favorite streaming shows. It can’t just run off for fear of drawing attention, but the self-named Murderbot (it’s being ironic, kinda) is content to do the bare minimum when it’s assigned to a team of inexperienced and naive hippie researchers who don’t see the need for a killer security robot—at least, not until they’re enmeshed in a complicated capitalist plot in which they’re all just cogs. Stream Murderbot on Apple TV+.
Harley Quinn (2019– )
Kaley Cuoco voices erstwhile Joker sidekick Harley Quinn in this very adult cartoon series starring the anti-hero who made her debut in Batman: The Animated Series way back in the day. Don’t expect traditional superheroics, nor the epic narrative swings of The Boys—this one’s mostly a zany comedy that delivers solid queer representation alongside moments of personal growth for our (anti)heroine in the wake of her big breakup with Mister J. Stream Harley Quinn.
Peacemaker (2022 – 2025)
Peacemaker spins out of James Gunn’s snarky 2021 entry The Suicide Squad, bridging the gap between the old DC movie universe with the current one. John Cena’s title character, having survived the events of that film, is once again recruited by the United States government to join a team trying to stop mysterious butterfly creatures from taking over their human hosts. It’s got the movie’s bloody comic tone, but adds just enough dimension (and emotion) to the jingoistic superhero’s story that it’s easy to root for him, even as his self-awareness remains…limited. Stream Peacemaker.
Legion (2017 – 2019)
Though vaguely an X-Men spinoff, this show from Noah Hawley (Fargo, Alien: Earth) stands entirely on its own, and winds up feeling like nothing else on TV. Dan Stevens plays David Haller, diagnosed with schizophrenia and possessed of tremendous psychic abilities. In one of the many psychiatric hospitals to which he’s been committed, he meets first the freewheeling Lenny (Aubrey Plaza) and then Syd (Rachel Keller), who can trade bodies with anyone she touches. Veering in and out of trippy astral planes and deeply damaged psyches, David soon comes to realize that he’s not crazy—and also that he’s probably not the hero of the story, even as he’s caught between the authorities who’d like to use him for his power, and the Shadow King who’s been haunting his mind since childhood. Stream Legion on Hulu.
