Comic Book Characters That Need Their Own TV Show

Marvel and DC are really starting to branch out with their multimedia empires. It's obvious that there's a huge audience for superhero stories, especially on TV. Both companies are seeing success by utilizing great comic book-based characters and franchises that aren't necessarily household names. With all the attention on shows like Daredevil, Agent Carter, Arrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Jessica Jones, and The Flash, let's look at other comic book characters and groups deserving of their own TV series.

One of the problems with the superhero genre, in both television and film, is that everything is starting to seem very similar. Sometimes it seems like the only difference between franchises are the costumes, powers, and level of grittiness. Once the action gets going, there doesn't seem to be that much of a difference between Batman and Captain America—they beat up the bad guys and move on to the next one. That's part of the reason why both Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool both did so well, since they provided a different style than these stories usually have. Suicide Squad might fill the void for DC at the movies, but a better option could The Outsiders.

They're similar to the Suicide Squad, except that the Outsiders are heroes, just ones that don't fit the mainstream norms set by the Justice League. It's a good chance to show off some of DC's more obscure heroes in a setting where they'll really get to shine. The team is related to Batman, so it fits with DC's apparent fear of not doing anything that doesn't have some sort of tie-in to the Caped Crusader.

This might sound like a strange choice, but a show centered on J. Jonah Jameson could be amazing. The man owns and runs a newspaper, which borders on being a tabloid, and he hates superheroes. Unfortunately, he lives in a world full of them. Also, he's old, super cranky, and he loves to yell at people. That sounds like a hilariously entertaining combination. It would be like House, except instead of trying to cure patients, he's just being a jerk to vigilantes in brightly colored costumes. Jameson was one of the best parts of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and he has all the trappings of a great TV character.

The show could combine all the drama of working at a newspaper (or news website, or whatever the Daily Bugle has been retconned to be these days) with surviving alien invasions and having the city occasionally taken over by madmen. Jameson is loud, angry, hilarious, but he's also intelligent and, above all, a sound newspaper man. He's Marvel's resident cranky old man and he belongs on our TVs as soon as possible.

Whatever happened to anthology shows? There's a Marvel character known as the Watcher, and all he does is watch planet Earth. Not in a creepy way, but in an "alien races are interested in us" sort of way (actually, that still sounds creepy). The Watcher could host a show that tells a different story of interest from the Marvel Universe each week, focusing on new characters. It would be a great opportunity to showcase lesser known characters. It could be a combination of The Twilight Zone and Tales From the Crypt, only with less maniacal laughing. The Watcher might be a creep that spends his days just looking at us, but at least he's quiet about it.

The story of Dick Grayson is pretty crazy. There have been rumors of a show focusing on his circus acrobat days, but that's probably not the best direction for this character. This is a guy who grew up being trained by Batman, fighting crime alongside the Dark Knight, all the while living in a giant mansion. Eventually, he ditched the Robin persona, moved out on his own, and started from scratch. That's what this show should focus on—the period of time directly between Robin and Nightwing.

It could be like combining Felicity with Batman Begins. The difference between this origin story and others is that Grayson already has experience fighting crime. Instead of having the first season focus on him stumbling through learning the ropes, this could focus more on Dick finding his own identity. His story would be about discovering how to fight crime without Bruce Wayne's resources. Here's a spoiler: it's much harder to do anything, including fight crime, without billions of dollars.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, the Nova Corps is introduced as a sort of outer space police force. This is relatively consistent with their comic book counterparts. The main difference, however, is that the comics have always focused on the Nova from Earth. There's been two major human Novas, Richard Rider and Sam Alexander, and either one would work well for TV. People love cop shows and teen dramas. The main difference between the two characters is that Richard Rider was chosen to be a Nova, while Sam Alexander found his missing father's old helmet and gained his powers from that.

The show could decide to focus on either telling the story of a rookie space cop or a kid searching the cosmos for his missing, ex-Nova father. Either way, it's just a good excuse to send a teenager zipping across the stars. Think Saved by the Bell meets NYPD Blue meets Star Trek, only with less early '90s fashion and better special effects.

Everyone loves a great villain, which explains Deathstroke's popularity. He's a mercenary, and he's able to go toe to toe with Batman. His character has everything that he needs to be awesome, and he's already appeared on Arrow. If DC is looking to expand their TV multiverse, Deathstroke is an easy choice. This is probably the perfect time to capitalize on him, mainly because of Deadpool, as the original comic version of Wade Wilson was kind of a ripoff of Deathstroke (named Slade Wilson). While Wade started getting funnier and breaking the fourth wall over the years, Deathstroke has been waiting in the shadows. We'd love to see Deathstroke in his own Arrow spin-off series.