Superhero narratives have always relied on plot twists. It seems their outlandish, larger-than-life brand of storytelling demands a few shocking revelations and developments to keep fans coming back. Plot twists in and of themselves are no guarantee of success, and occasionally, they actively hurt their stories.
Superhero TV shows are just as likely - perhaps even more so - as superhero comics and films to utilize plot twists to keep their audience on their toes. Especially nowadays with the exponential rise of superhero narratives, we’ve got a lot of shows (and thus, plot twists) to choose from.
Whether it’s the Arrowverse over on The CW, the gaggle of Marvel shows on Netflix, or any of the other miscellaneous TV superhero universes, fans have a wealth of content to peruse with hours of plot contained within each one. Hours of plot means hours of plot twists, and these shows have achieved some of the highest highs and lowest lows in that arena.
This list counts down the best and the worst of those plot twists: the ones that either left fans desperate to know more or turned off to the entire story. Some of these plot twists were critical darlings, generating all kinds of rave reviews for their shows. Others were panned, as they either moved the show in an unpleasant direction or were disappointing in their reveal.
There are a lot of ways to make or break a plot twist, and it seems showrunners have found just about all of them.
This is 10 Plot Twists That Hurt Superhero Shows (And 10 That Saved Them).
Hurt: Bumping off Laurel Lance (Arrow)
Pro tip: just because a character seems to be losing their niche on your show doesn’t automatically mean they have to perish. Yet that seems to be what happened on Arrow, when Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) lost her life in season four.
Arrow has never been shy about character demises, but they usually feel earned or necessary. This on edidn’t feel like either.
First, multiple other characters in the show that same season had nearly lost their lives or been brought back from beyond the grave. This robbed the real deal of any impact when it finally happened.
Second, the show didn’t get rid of the actor, as she merely played an evil version of the character in later seasons. In the end, the passing of Laurel didn’t feel like much of anything– just an ignominious end to an iconic character.
Saved: Karolina and Nico (Runaways)
Sometimes all a show needs is a good love story. Marvel and Hulu’s Runaways is a lot of things, but at its heart it’s a show for teens finding their identity among a world that doesn’t understand them. While the Runaways fight against a supervillain organization led by their own parents, the show makes time for a good romance.
Enter Lyrica Okano as Nico and Virginia Gardner as Karolina, two of the most prominent characters who have a serious crush on one another.
While it was never reciprocated in the comics, the show has made it clear that Karolina returns Nico’s feelings.
It will be explored in future episodes, which makes it a step forward for LGBTQA representation in the MCU. It seems to have worked for the show, as it’s been renewed for a second season.
Hurt: Barry saves his mother (The Flash)
This may seem counterintuitive, but it makes sense if you know the story of Barry Allen. After his mother’s passing, later revealed to be a homicide at the hands of the Reverse Flash, Barry grew up to be the Flash, a speedster who can run fast enough to travel through time. Naturally, this presents the temptation to go back and save his mother.
The problem was, The Flash had already dealt with this issue by the season two finale, which is when Barry finally did it. Arc after arc showed Barry come to terms with his grief and move on. He even traveled back in time and refrained from saving her in a previous episode.
To go back on all this narrative work and reset the timeline just felt like a bunch of progress had been wiped away.
Saved: The Shadow King (Legion)
Legion won raves from critics in its early episodes thanks to its portrayal of a superpowered world where everything is unstable and nothing is certain. Through psychedelic visuals and trippy sequences, it was hard for the audience to tell exactly what was real and what wasn’t, further compounded by David Haller’s own mental state.
David (Dan Stevens) is a mutant with telepathic abilities, but mental instability. Only it turns out some of that wasn’t mental illness - it was actually a mutant living inside David’s head.
The Shadow King, an old and powerful telepath, had lived in David’s mind since David’s father had defeated him.
Also known as Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King had been manipulating David for years. Now that’s a twist.
Hurt: Iron Fist is the key (The Defenders)
After years of Marvel Netflix shows, some of which were beloved and others reviled, The Defenders premiered in 2017. However, it immediately forgot an important piece of advice most shows would be wise to follow: stick to your strengths. In The Defenders’ case, those strengths would be any character not named Danny Rand.
Finn Jones’ Rand, aka the Iron Fist, was the protagonist of the very worst Marvel Netflix series, yet The Defenders seemed oblivious to that. Instead of sidelining him, a plot twist made him the center of the whole conflict; the key to the bad guys’ ambitions, a kind of walking MacGuffin.
The Hand chased him for episode after episode, which gave Iron Fist get a lot of screen time. That’s something the show should have avoided.
Saved: The Punisher arrives (Daredevil)
One thing about the Punisher fans seem to forget is that in his original incarnation, he wasn’t a hero or an antihero. He was a villain, and some of his best appearances have him play just that role.
The second season of Netflix’s Daredevil could have been boring, but with Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle as antagonist, it got just the burst of energy it needed.
The Punisher is a compelling character, and his appearance in Daredevil helped reignite the fading show.
Frank’s first appearance and his bloody prison brawl were some of the best moments in the entire Marvel Netflix run, and they were an indisputable boost to the show that ostensibly starred another brooding superguy.
Hurt: Super bullets (Luke Cage)
After a promising start to Luke Cage, with none other than Mahershala Ali as the villain Cottonmouth, the show traded out that compelling character in favor of a much less interesting antagonist, Diamondback.
One of Luke Cage’s greatest draws as a character is his bulletproof skin, which not only grants him a likable confident air, but is also empowering in the current political climate. Then the show brought in Diamondback and Judas Bullets, which were able to puncture Cage’s superskin, rendering that whole superpower (and its political symbolism) pointless
. This was a cheap ploy to introduce stakes to the show, and damaged the previous feeling of empowerment and confidence.
Saved: Zoom’s identity (The Flash)
Zoom was one of the more memorable villains of The Flash. A psychopathic, time-traveling serial assassin, Zoom found Barry at the same time the hero was approached by Jay Garrick, a Flash from another dimension.
It was revealed that Jay was actually just Zoom toying with Barry.
This plot twist served two purposes. First, it allowed Teddy Sears to play a psychotic villain after playing the good guy Garrick for so long, which was a fun change.
Second, it showed just how formidable Zoom was as a villain. Not just cunning enough to con Team Flash, but also fast enough to pull it off.
For a show as light and fun as The Flash, Zoom and his secret identity ended up being the perfect dose of creepiness and fear.
Hurt: Henry James Olsen (Smallville)
Sometimes you just can’t have it both ways. It seems the writers of Smallville wanted to do two things: pull off a surprising character exit and also keep Superman’s canon intact for the future.
In the episode entitled “Doomsday,” they bumped off Jimmy Olsen, then showed that he had a little brother - also named Jimmy.
The Jimmy Olsen fans knew was a guy named Henry James Olsen, and he was never the Jimmy Olsen who would work with Clark Kent and Lois Lane at the Daily Planet. The “real” Jimmy Olsen was James Bartholomew Olsen, Henry’s younger brother.
Even disregarding the massive plot holes here (Jimmy has a younger brother named Jimmy? The real Jimmy Olsen is years younger than Clark and Lois?) this made no sense on any story level. It just felt cheap and confusing.
Saved: Simmons is pulled into the portal (Agents of SHIELD)
Never say that Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD doesn’t know how to stage a cliffhanger. At the end of the ABC show’s second season, everything appeared to have been relatively settled after a volatile finale. Then, in the last few seconds of the episode, scientist Jemma Simmons (played by Elizabeth Henstridge) was absorbed into an alien object. Cut to black, roll credits.
Needless to say, this was a shocking twist, but it didn’t just bring back fans to see the third season premiere.
It also set up one of the main plotlines of the entirety of the third season, proof that the narrative arc had been carefully planned out. This was a twist that increased both ratings and critical reception for the show.
Hurt: Cat Grant figures out Supergirl’s identity (Supergirl)
One of the most fun reveals any superhero show has up its sleeve is revealing the hero’s secret identity to cast members who never saw it coming. It’s a little contrived dramatic irony that tends to make interaction between characters just a little more interesting, until the final when the wool is pulled away from their eyes.
Supergirl decided to go with a different approach for Kara’s boss, Cat Grant. Calista Flockhart plays the character with biting wit, and seemingly as a testament to that, it was revealed that Cat had figured out Supergirl’s secret identity just a few episodes in.
While this makes sense for the character, it robs the fans of some potentially very fun scenes, replacing them with a flat acknowledgement that didn’t really improve the show.
Saved: Sara and Ray survived (Legends of Tomorrow)
If there’s one thing you should know about The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, it’s that it gets pretty wild with timelines and causality. The show centers on a time-traveling group of superheroes and villains trying to stop Vandal Savage, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it brought a couple character back that appeared to have been deceased on Arrow.
Sara Lance and Ray Palmer were two of the founding members of the team, and the show wouldn’t have been the same without them.
It was a good choice to have them survive their respective ordeals in Arrow and bring them over to the time-traveling spinoff. Fans were just happy that there was still a place in the Arrowverse for them, if not their original show.
Hurt: The twins (Heroes)
Everyone who knows anything about Heroes knows that it started with a great first season, and then petered out extremely quickly over the next two. It’s probably unfair to point to the introduction of the Herrera twins as the place where it all went downhill, but it’s more that they represent all the problems that started in the second season.
Maya Herrera (the sibling that got more screentime) had a painful backstory and poorly explained superpowers that activated when she got too stressed. This meant that writers kept having her get stressed, which in turn meant that she and her brother came off as whiny and unpleasant to watch.
Dania Ramirez is by no means a bad actress, but this plot development definitely hurt the show in the long run.
Saved: Hank is Martian Manhunter (Supergirl)
Hank Henshaw appeared to be a normal government agent, albeit one with a focus on superpowered individuals. That’s all he seemed to be, until an episode came around where Supergirl had been brainwashed by Red Kryptonite. Realizing the only way to stop her was with super strength, “Hank” revealed himself to be J’onn J’onnz, also known as the Martian Manhunter.
As a powerful member of the Justice League, Martian Manhunter is a fan favorite and the reveal of Hank’s secret identity is undeniably fun to watch.
Sometimes this stuff isn’t complicated: give a cool character a cool moment, and fans will enjoy it. It didn’t hurt that introducing the character to the show expanded the world and moved the narrative forward, either.
Hurt: Micro’s jelaousy (The Punisher)
It’s been said before: superhero shows have to play to their strengths. The strengths of The Punisher definitely did not include family drama. Micro (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is Frank Castle’s partner on the show, who faked his own end without telling his family to protect himself and his loved ones.
This comes back to bite him when Frank goes to his house, becomes friends with his wife and son. Micro gets jealous of Frank - not to mention the way his wife looks at Frank) - and it ends up being a source of conflict for several episodes. Unfortunately, none of it’s particularly interesting, and all of it’s uncomfortable.
It feels like a lot of screen time wasted on a transparent attempt to generate awkwardness that could have been solved if Micro just talked to his wife.
Saved: Jessica Jones is immune to Kilgrave (Jessica Jones)
Jessica Jones is pretty close to the consensus pick for best of the Marvel Netflix bunch. That’s thanks both to Krysten Ritter’s gritty performance as the titular heroine and David Tennant’s role as the villainous Kilgrave, aka The Purple Man.
The Purple Man’s superpower is mind control, and he has used it to violate Jessica’s free will in the past. Kilgrave again takes an interest in Jessica in the first season of the series, and at first it’s unclear why, until it is revealed that Jessica has somehow become immune to his powers.
It’s an incredibly empowering moment in a series that had been so tough to watch.
This twist gets the ball rolling on a climactic sequence that is emotional, exciting, and bloody satisfying in the end.
Hurt: Terrigen Mist (Agents of SHIELD)
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, after starting with a lackluster first half of its first season, went on to rebound with a couple of strong plot twists in later episodes. However, season two did have one moment that set it back, and it was the introduction of the Terrigen Mist.
Terrigen is a substance that turns normal humans into Inhumans in the show, people that have evolved some kind of superpower. However, it can also turn people to stone, which was proven when S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Antoine Triplett perished as it first activated. This development kicked off a whole arc that focused mainly on Skye (a character with her share of detractors) and bumped off a character who was just starting to grow on fans.
It felt like the writers traded something good for something mediocre.
Saved: The whole Pierce family has superpowers (Black Lightning)
What’s better than a show about one superhero? A show about a family of superheroes, obviously.
Fans were already loving The CW’s Black Lightning when it just focused on Jefferson Pierce’s struggle to balance his family life, position as school principal, and vigilante, but they liked it all the more when it was revealed both his daughters were the exact same.
The reveal that Jennifer and Anissa Pierce each had their own powers and used them to fight injustice gave Black Lightning the boost it needed.
A whole show about a guy who had already retired from the hero business once could have gotten stale quickly. Jefferson’s daughters balance the show out and give it much more appeal to younger fans when they’re superheroes, too.
Hurt: David hurts Syd (Legion)
Legion has been one of the most inventive, unsettling TV experiences of recent years, but fans’ goodwill only extends so far. Season two of the show found its main character David on an increasingly villainous path, which culminated with him telepathically altering his former lover’s mind so she would still love him.
David didn’t stop at violating her mind, as he uses her new receptiveness to him to convince her to make love with him soon after. This is, obviously, harassment and assault with the aid of superpowers, and fans were horrified that this was where writer Noah Hawley decided to take the show.
This twist felt shallow, gross, and insensitive. Some fans aren’t sure they’ll return for season three.
Saved: Billy Russo is a traitor (The Punisher)
The Punisher may have had its problems as a show, but its villain wasn’t one of them. Ben Barnes played Billy Russo, Frank Castle’s old army buddy turned private contractor, in the Marvel Netflix series.
Russo begins the show seeming like an extremely handsome old friend, true to his pal Frank. He is later revealed to be a traitor with ambitions so intense they border on psychopathy. Not just that, it is revealed that Russo is doing so well currently because he was complicit in the destruction of Frank Castle’s entire family, meaning that Castle’s whole quest for vengeance has to include him.
Russo as a villain was much more interesting than Russo as a friend, and he was one of the highlights of the show.
What’s your favorite twist in a superhero show? Let us know in the comments!
