4-Part Superhero Series On Netflix Beats Marvel At Its Own Game

Back in the days before the Marvel Cinematic Universe achieved box office dominance, and years before shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Daredevil brought Marvel to the small screen, a network TV show showcased an entirely original group of superheroes. Heroes got off to an incredibly strong start on NBC in 2006, and the original four-season run has now returned to Netflix.

In fact, Heroes was such a high-profile hit during its original run from 2006-2010 that even non-fans were familiar with one line: "Save the cheerleader, save the world." While the show famously dropped in quality from the first to the second season for a variety of reasons, season 1 stands up to this day, and didn't need characters like Iron Man and Spider-Man to accomplish something great with superheroes.

Created by Tim Kring, Heroes starred Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Adrian Pasdar, Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter, and Zachary Quinto. While the premise would certainly become increasingly complicated as the show went on, the very first episode set up the premise clearly. The introduction to the series read:

In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals has emerged with what can only be described as 'special' abilities. Although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world, but change it forever. This transformation from ordinary to extraordinary will not occur overnight. Every story has a beginning.

Opinions on how the first season ended were divided even back when the finale aired in 2007, and that will likely be the case in 2026 as new viewers discover Heroes on Netflix. That said, there was one element of the finale that the MCU would later emulate with the Avengers movies, and that element wasn't spoiled by the drop in quality between season 1 and season 2.

Heroes' Season 1 Finale Team-Up Did The Avengers' Best Trick 5 Years Early

The Avengers, which released in 2012, and its sequels get a lot of well-deserved credit for bringing superheroes together for massive team-up events. Heroes pulled it off first, five years earlier on network television. The season 1 finale, called "How to Stop an Exploding Man," brought together characters who had honed their powers separately, all for the united goal of stopping Sylar and saving the world from nuclear destruction. The main showdown even happened in New York City, much like how The Avengers' climax would play out five years later.

Unfortunately, Heroes arguably never delivered a twist that could outshine the season 1 finale bringing the heroes of the show together, whereas The Avengers has been followed by three sequels and counting. Nevertheless, it was early proof of how a series (or film) with strong comic book-esque elements could deliver an epic climax by bringing many characters with very different powers together.

Even though Tony Stark is far better known than Peter Petrelli in 2026, and even though Sylar is no Thanos, Heroes deserves to be remembered for finding the formula for a team-up in the season 1 finale, which aired a year before Iron Man would premiere in 2008 to kickstart the MCU.

Heroes Paved The Way For The MCU's More Grounded Approach To Superheroes

A series that is packed full of characters with superpowers doesn't seem like it could possibly be grounded, but Heroes made the most of its ensemble to tell personal stories to go along with powers that could have been pulled from the pages of any comic book. With a first season that ran for a total of 23 episodes, Heroes invested time in creating personal drama for the characters, which raised the stakes ahead of the big finale.

Viewers wouldn't have had reason to care about saving the cheerleader to save the world if Heroes couldn't provide reasons to root for the characters, and the NBC drama delivered. Of course, Heroes could do a lot more with 23 episodes than the MCU could do with the six films of Phase 1, totaling to just over 12 hours of action. Even to this day, only one Marvel show has ever released seasons with more than 20 episodes, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was only confirmed as canon to the MCU earlier this year.

Heroes made the most of its network TV format to deliver a standout superhero series, complete with enough grounded character development to hook viewers into the first season. In fact, that first season was stellar enough that Heroes still has a positive reputation overall, despite season 2 failing to meet the same quality. All four seasons of the original run are available on Netflix now.