The Culture

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Superheroes invade the small screen

Until recently, live-action superhero fare was mostly confined to film, with juggernauts like Marvel’s Avengers universe and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy as the undisputed standard bearers. Now Marvel and its chief competitor, DC Comics, are striking deeper into television. Although Marvel boasts film supremacy–for now–DC has taken an early lead on the small screen, with Arrow (CW), Gotham (Fox) and The Flash (CW). Marvel looks to keep pace with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) and Daredevil (Netflix), which is scheduled for a 2015 release. For fans trying to figure out all the places to find their favorite characters, here’s a guide.

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NICK FURY

PHIL COULSON

TONY STARK

IRON MAN

STEVE ROGERS

CAPTAIN AMERICA

BRUCE BANNER

THE HULK

THOR

LOKI

MARIA HILL

NATASHA ROMANOFF

BLACK WIDOW

CLINT BARTON

HAWKEYE

MARVEL

1 IRON MAN

THE INCREDIBLE HULK

2 IRON MAN 2

1 THOR

1 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

THE AVENGERS

3 IRON MAN 3

2 THOR: THE DARK WORLD

2 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.

BRUCE WAYNE

BATMAN

JAMES GORDON

OLIVER QUEEN

GREEN ARROW

BARRY ALLEN

THE FLASH

CLARK KENT

SUPERMAN

Each icon represents a film (square) or TV series (circle) in which the character has appeared since 2005, the year Batman Begins kicked off the ongoing revival of screen superheroes

DC COMICS

1 BATMAN BEGINS

2 THE DARK KNIGHT

3 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

ARROW

MAN OF STEEL

GOTHAM

THE FLASH

THEY WERE WITTY NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND, FULL OF APPREHENSION AND APOCALYPTIC FANTASIES.

PAGE 56

THE WEEK

KATHERINE HEIGL RETURNS TO TV