14 best superhero TV shows of 2021, ranked

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The Flash — “Armageddon, Part 4” — Image Number: FLA804a_0232r.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Grant Gustin as Reverse Flash and Tom Cavanagh as The Flash — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved /

The Flash (season 8)

I’ll be honest, The Flash almost didn’t make this list. The long-running CW series is widely regarded as one of the greatest superhero TV shows of all time, but its seventh season was easily one of its weakest – if not the weakest – offerings thus far.

That said, the show has managed to turn things around with its eighth season. We might be premature in saying that, but as we only have the first five episodes this year, that’s enough for it to make our best of 2021 superhero TV shows list.

What brought The Flash back to life? There are a number of factors involved, but we’ll start with its five-episode-event. “Armageddon” kicked season 8 off on a real high, bringing together heroes from the Arrowverse for the closest thing we’ve seen to a crossover since Crisis On Infinite Earths in 2019/2020.

But it was more than that that made the show feel fresh again. It was the stakes, the much tighter writing, the lack of that awkward corniness that undercut anything season 7 tried to do and the return of the Reverse-Flash all ensured that The Flash felt like The Flash again. And as a result, the beloved all-time great superhero TV series staged an incredible comeback, with some of those five episodes among the finest the show has produced in years.

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