The 2000s were a weird time for superhero TV shows. It was basically the one decade in the lifetime of millennials that didn’t feature a bunch of TV series centered on the concept of superheroes. The ’90s had stellar cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series. The 2010s brought Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and the rest of the Arrowverse, as well as the likes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Gotham, and Jessica Jones. The 2020s are filled with everything from WandaVision and Loki to <a href="https://comicvibe.com/lanterns-episode-5-gives-the-manhunters-a-comic/” title=”Lanterns Episode 5 Gives The Manhunters A Comic”>Lanterns and Peacemaker to The Boys and Invincible. Yet, the 2000s didn’t feature all that many, as the rise of superhero shows began again after they started succeeding on the big screen. However, there was one completely original superhero show that wasn’t based on DC or Marvel that was the standout project in the genre of the decade.
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The show in question was Heroes, which premiered in 2006. The series captivated audiences and told a unique superhero story. While many people have fond memories of the series and have gone back to rewatch it after the tragic passing of star Hayden Panettiere, there’s a lot more to the lore of Heroes than most people realize.
Heroes Was A Groundbreaking TV Show
Premiering in September 2006, Heroes took the world by storm because it felt unlike anything else on TV. Part of what made the show work so well was that it had a relatively simple, yet incredibly interesting premise on the surface. The show centered on the idea of following a group of seemingly ordinary people who one day wake up to find that they have superpowers. Watching them deal with their new abilities while also struggling with their personal lives outside of their powers was captivating. When the heroes finally came together for the big finale in Season 1, people everywhere were hooked.
The show gave us some iconic characters. Peter Petrelli was kind of the protagonist and his ability to mimic the powers of those around him was interesting to see play out. Claire Bennet’s healing factor made her the focal point of Season 1 and its famous “Save the cheerleader, save the world” hook. Sylar was a great villain, Hiro’s positivity was endearing, and that’s just to name a few. People still hold up Heroes Season 1 as one of the greatest seasons of superhero television in history. The show helped to reignite interest in superheroes in general.
Unfortunately, the lasting legacy of Heroes is its untapped potential. Season 1 set a high bar that later seasons couldn’t match. The show was a victim of the writers’ strike in 2007 and the series never fully recovered. That said, it remains the peak of superhero television in the 2000s because even when it wasn’t at its best, it was still better than a lot of what was on TV at the time. Some fans loved the show enough to dig deep into its lore, where they found a lot more than most people realized.
There’s A Ton Of Lesser-Known Heroes Mythos
NBC understood how interested people were in Heroes and they worked to expand the lore far beyond the TV show into what became known as “Heroes Evolutions.” For starters, the show featured a bunch of graphic novels that came out every week. These stories gave us more background on key characters and plot information that wasn’t available on TV. Characters like Hana Gitelman, who only fleetingly appeared on the show, had several notable stories in the graphic novels. Meanwhile, the graphic novels were also where you could learn about Noah Bennet’s first encounter with Claire.
It was the kind of stuff you didn’t need to read to enjoy the show, yet it enhanced the experience. In total, there were a whopping 173 graphic novels in this series. They eventually also released stories where the reader could shape the narrative, as well as webisodes. “Heroes Evolution” was such a success that it earned the show a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Interactive Media Programming: Interactive Fiction.
On top of that, Heroes put out an interactive web page that featured posts from Hana Gitelman, quizzes, tri Your Hero” promotion. Fans voted on the personality and attributes of a hero who ended up appearing in the live-action web series. Being a fan of Heroes meant you could go way past the surface level and discover a whole new batch of stories and lore to turn it into a totally new experience
Every season of Heroes is currently available to stream on both Netflix and Tubi.
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