Superhero shows have captured the attention and imaginations of generations of viewers since Superman hit television in the 1950s. Over the decades, superhero shows have transformed into something that nearly everyone can enjoy, but not every show works well. Some series were a bit too campy for viewers, or their animation was sub-par for the time, and some focused on unlikable heroes.
The one thing that is sure to bring a superhero show crashing into failure is a terrible hero. Some heroes are tough to tolerate, let alone like, and this can attract viewers' ire and often lead to a series' cancelation. As much fun as superheroes are, there are always a few who are completely unlikeable.
10 Aquaman's Been The Butt Of Many Jokes
Although he is a mainstream DC superhero, Aquaman has not gotten the same amount of love as his contemporaries in the Justice League. This is especially true of the version of Aquaman from the Super Friends series produced by Hanna-Barbera.
This is the version of Aquaman who spawned the popular meme where he uses flying fish as water skis. Not only did the early animated Aquaman use various sea creatures as mounts, including an oversized seahorse, but he's also the reason many fans think Aquaman's only useful power is fish telepathy. Super Friends' always featured simplified versions of DC's heroes but they did a special disservice to the Emperor of the Seas.
9 Batwomen Left A Big Cowl To Fill
Batwoman received great reviews from fans and critics alike for its first season with Ruby Rose portraying Kate Kane. However, Rose left the show and that's where hate for Batwoman and her series crept in.
Instead of recasting Kate Kane and dealing with the initial awkwardness of a new actress in a title role, the show decided to use a completely new character, Ryan Wilder, to take up Batwoman's cowl. Most fans felt the character was shoehorned into the series and caused more problems than she solved.
8 Teen Titans Go!'s Heroes Aren't Meant To Be Likable
As what many hoped would be the spiritual successor of the original Teen Titans animated series, Teen Titans Go! was already courting hate from some fans. A parody of the concept of superheroes, it made some fans laugh and others writhe in pain.
Many fans loved the fact that the characters were voiced by the same voice actors of the previous Teen Titans show but the characters themselves were completely different. While they were fairly comic-accurate in Teen Titans, TTG intentionally portrayed its heroes as mean, petty, and ignorant. Most of the time it was hard to see why the Titans were friends, much less like them.
7 There Wasn't Much Fight In Iron Fist
With the success of the other Netflix original Marvel series, many viewers had high hopes for the Iron Fist series. However, those hopes were all crushed early in the show's first season, and it can all be traced back to the title character.
One of the biggest complaints viewers had was that Danny Rand was whiny and prone to unnecessary fits of rage. Also, despite being the pinnacle of martial arts training, Rand was easily subdued by goons or even hospital orderlies. This Iron Fist was weak when the plot required it and acted like a spoiled rich kid the rest of the time.
6 Automan Felt Like Tron's Cheaper Cousin
Trying to capitalize on the success of Disney's Tron, the series Automan was released on television. Automan's effects mirrored Tron's with its bright blue lights and digital people but instead of going into the digital world to fight crime, Automan came out into the real world.
Automan was a computer program and in the real world went by the awful secret identity Otto J. Man. Automan had a sidekick with an equally terrible name, Cursor, who could draw physical objects into reality. Unfortunately, Otto wasn't just derivative. He didn't have much personality and nothing's less likable than a boring hero.
5 Black Scorpion Couldn't Live Up To Batman's Standards
Black Scorpion aired on the Sci-Fi channel in 2001 and followed a police detective who took to the streets as a vigilante after the death of her father. The plot was a little unoriginal for a vigilante, but it could have had potential.
However, Black Scorpion threw that potential away and instead attempted to make her into a carbon copy of Batman. Black Scorpion is a superhero without powers who relies on high-tech gadgets to fight villains. She even had her own version of the Batmobile called the Stingray. Paired with bad acting and low production values, this low-budget Batgirl didn't garner many fans.
4 The Phantom's A Classic But Didn't Make The Cut
The Phantom was a miniseries released in 2009 that followed one of the original Platinum Age superheroes. The Phantom has been around as a superhero since 1936 and has been fighting evil for generations. However, this Phantom did not live up to the character's potential
Lee Falk's original concept for The Phantom was never flashy, and this series did little to update the hero for the 21st century. The closest thing to innovation was the character's newly discovered love for parkour. A white savior straight out of Africa's jungles wasn't going to play well in recent decades, nor was a character whose main motivation was producing a kid he could force to take over his extremely dangerous job.
3 Cleopatra 2525 Was Rocky From Start To Finish
Completely unrelated to the historical Cleopatra, Cleopatra 2525 follows Cleo after she is awoken from cryostasis in the year 2525. In an homage to Buck Rogers, when she awakens she finds that the Earth's surface has been taken over by armed flying robots.
The premise sounds like a great science fiction story, except the main character was a bit odd. Cleo was an exotic dancer in the early 21st century and she was placed in cryostasis after a botched breast augmentation. It was an intentionally campy premise but Cleo never outgrew this simple premise. If she'd been more than a lucky ditz then the show could have been a lot of fun but a hero without brains is nobody's favorite.
2 The Cape Was As Generic As Its Title
The Cape managed to produce one of the least evocative superhero names in TV history. The Cape was supposed to air for 13 episodes but was cut down to 10 because of its poor ratings. The story followed the disillusioned, good cop who leaves the force trope.
The Cape somehow got mixed up with a circus after being chased out of town and was eventually given a cape made of spider silk. It sounds cool, but the cape had no special abilities. Instead, The Cape learned to use illusions with the spider silk cape to help fight crime. A stage magician turned phony superhero has some potential but the characters lacked personality. Nothing's worse than a boring hero who's struggling to find himself.
1 The Fantastic Four Found Its Worst Member In H.E.R.B.I.E.
1978 saw the release of The New Fantastic Four animated series. Unfortunately, the rights for the Human Torch were in use for a solo movie, so they needed a replacement as their fourth member. Instead of using one of the many other characters who had joined the Fantastic Four in the past, the show created a new character named H.E.R.B.I.E.
H.E.R.B.I.E. was pitched as a cute robot sidekick and that's really all he was. Even the first artist commissioned to make him hated H.E.R.B.I.E. so much that he was replaced by Jack Kirby. H.E.R.B.I.E. added little to the team, and his anxious personality did nothing to fill the void left by the Human Torch's bravado. H.E.R.B.I.E. was perenially ineffective and became the Fantastic Four's designated loser, to no one's benefit.