3. Arrow season 1
After the success of Smallville, it made sense for The CW to set their sights on a Green Arrow TV series. What caught people off-guard was the fact that it would be a different Green Arrow than the one who appeared in that series.
But its star wasn’t the only thing different about Arrow, The series, led by Stephen Amell, was much darker than the source material it was based on, portraying Oliver Queen like a grittier Batman-esque character than the quippier Emerald Archer from the comics. It was definitely the effect of living in a post-Dark Knight world, but it paid off in a huge way, with the show instantly setting itself apart from Smallville and every other superhero TV show ever made.
Here, Oliver returned from his five years on an island to right his father’s wrongs, killing off the people who threatened to destroy Starling City. He wasn’t putting on the hood to be a hero, he was out for vengeance. And as he sought that vengeance, he saw how the people of his city were looking to him to save them.
Arrow‘s first season was a dark look at a new kind of superhero show, and it was an incredibly successful one at that. With drama, action, and a compelling narrative, Oliver’s return to Starling City and subsequent war with the Dark Archer set an incredibly high bar.