Business

The TV Superhero Glut Might Not Be Totally Invincible

With two dozen comic book shows, TV executives are learning the limits of small-screen superpowers.

01192018-superhoes-on-tv-animated-CMS — Photograph: Getty Images; Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Gotham, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning: DC; Marvel’s The Gifted, The Defenders, Legion, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Inhumans: Marvel Inc

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By Christopher Palmeri

January 22, 2018 at 10:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the January 29, 2018 issue of businessweek.

“Marvel’s Inhumans,” a superhero series that began airing on ABC in September, seemed to have it all. The story of a royal family of superhumans comes from classic 1960s comics. The cast includes Iwan Rheon, the Welsh actor who played the ultimate bad guy, Ramsay Bolton, on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” The show got a promotional boost from a unique partnership with the theater chain Imax Corp.

The audience didn’t materialize. An average of 1.5 million nightly viewers in the coveted 18-to-49 demographic placed it 87th among broadcast shows. Critics ripped the program for its unimaginative plot and weak characters. “Perhaps, if nothing else, the disaster that is the pilot of ABC’s ‘Marvel’s Inhumans’ will dissuade network executives from the out-of-control trend of superhero shows,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette critic Rob Owen wrote in his review. Not so fast.