My Top 10 Superheroes And Why They Made the List

Everybody has a superhero list. Mine probably isn’t the one you’ll find on a typical ‘10 Greatest Superheroes of All Time’ article.

I was born in the 70s, so my idea of a superhero was formed by Super Friends, Saturday-morning cartoons, television, and the explosion of animated shows that came along during the 1980s.

My definition of a superhero may not be exactly the same as everyone else’s, but I think every hero on this list earns the title. These aren’t necessarily the most powerful or important superheroes. They’re simply my favorites.

1. The Doctor

“But when they made this particular hero, they didn’t give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn’t give him a tank or a warship or a X-Wing Fighter, they gave him a phone box from which you can call for help. And they didn’t give him a superpower, or pointy ears, or Heat Ray, they gave him an extra heart. They gave him two hearts and that is an extraordinary thing. There will never come a time when we don’t need a hero like the Doctor.”

— Steven Moffat

No contest.

The Doctor is my favorite superhero, even though Doctor Who isn’t normally considered a superhero show.

That Steven Moffat quote captures much of what puts the Doctor at the top of my list. His greatest weapon isn’t a gun, super-strength, or even the TARDIS. It’s intelligence, compassion, curiosity, and the ability to walk into what looks like an impossible situation and find another way.

He can be funny, eccentric, and occasionally arrogant. He has very little patience for tyrants or people who think their power gives them the right to control everyone else.

And when somebody really manages to piss him off, you suddenly remember why beings across the universe are afraid of this strange person wandering around in a police box.

There will never come a time when we don’t need a hero like the Doctor.

2. Batman

“Holy ______, Batman!”

Adam West is my Batman.

I grew up with the colorful, wonderfully over-the-top Batman of the 1960s television series. The Batmobile, the Batcave, Robin’s endless “Holy _____, Batman!” exclamations, and those glorious fight scenes filled with comic-book onomatopoeia:

BAM! POW! BIFF! ZAP!

And let’s settle something: Batman absolutely has a superpower.

Money.

Bruce Wayne doesn’t have alien DNA. He wasn’t bitten by anything radioactive. He doesn’t have a magic ring. He’s an extremely intelligent, highly trained billionaire with enough money to build virtually any gadget the situation requires.

Need a Batcomputer? Build one. Need a Batboat? Buy one. Need a Batcopter? Apparently Bruce already owns one.

Need shark repellent?

Of course there’s Bat-Shark Repellent in the helicopter.

That’s a superpower.

Later versions of Batman became much darker and more serious, and some of them are excellent.

And while we’re settling things: the best Joker is Cesar Romero. Period. Not Jack Nicholson. Not the Demented Slurper that was Heath Ledger’s “Joker.” Not even Mark Hamill. Romero’s painted-over mustache, cackling energy, and gleefully ridiculous criminal schemes are the Joker permanently stored in my head right alongside Adam West’s Batman. But when someone says “Batman,” the version permanently stored in my head is Adam West: standing beside the Batmobile, utility belt ready, prepared to defeat the villain with intelligence, a ridiculously specific Bat-gadget, and several well-placed:

BIFF! BAM! POW!

3. Superman

“We knew him only as Superman.”

— The Death and Life of Superman, Roger Stern

Like a lot of kids who grew up in the 70s and 80s, Christopher Reeve was my Superman. The 1978 movie and its sequels were a big part of how I knew the character.

But I think the reason Superman stayed near the top of my list goes deeper than the movies.

One of my favorite Superman stories is Roger Stern’s The Death and Life of Superman. Superman’s death matters because the story forces everyone to confront what the world has actually lost.

It wasn’t simply somebody who could fly, bend steel, see through walls, or stop bullets.

It was someone with almost unimaginable power who chose not to place himself above everyone else.

That’s what makes Superman Superman.

He could dominate humanity. Instead, he identifies with humanity. His powers give him the ability to put himself above everyone else, yet his character leads him in exactly the opposite direction.

As a kid, of course, I thought flying and super-strength were damn cool.

As an adult, I think the restraint may be the greater superpower.

4. Green Lantern

“In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might
Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!”

I’ve always loved Green Lantern, going back to seeing him as part of the Super Friends universe when I was a kid.

But what really puts Green Lantern this high on my list is the idea behind the power ring.

It’s powered by will, but its possibilities are powered by imagination.

The ring can create hard-light constructs based on whatever the person wearing it can imagine. A weapon, a shield, a vehicle, a giant hand—if you can imagine it and have the will to make it happen, the ring gives you the ability to turn that thought into something real.

That’s an incredible superpower.

It also means the person wearing the ring matters. Give two people identical Green Lantern rings and they won’t necessarily use them the same way, because they don’t have identical imaginations.

As a kid, I thought that was cool. I still do.

Of all the superhero powers on this list, the Green Lantern ring is one I’d most like to have—although I think the ultimate combination would be wearing the Suit from The Greatest American Hero, having the instruction manual, wearing a Green Lantern ring, and piloting the Black Lion!

At that point, the Guardians of the Universe might reasonably ask me to calm the hell down.

5. The Greatest American Hero

“I lost the instruction book.”

— Ralph Hinkley

Ralph Hinkley is an ordinary high school teacher who gets handed an extraordinary gift: an alien supersuit capable of giving him incredible powers.

There’s just one small problem.

He loses the instruction manual.

That’s the premise that made The Greatest American Hero so much fun. Ralph has this enormously powerful piece of alien technology and has to figure out what it can do through trial and error. Even flying becomes an adventure—and landing is another matter entirely.

What fascinated me then—and still does—is that we never really knew the full capabilities of the suit. Ralph discovers powers almost by accident because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

And hilariously, the aliens eventually give Ralph another copy of the instruction book—and he manages to lose that one too.

So there’s always been a question hanging over the entire series:

Just how powerful would Ralph have been if he’d actually read the damn instructions?

That’s part of why he’s still one of my favorite superheroes.

6. Voltron

“From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the universe, comes a legend. The legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe! A mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil.”

There was no way I was a kid in the 80s and wasn’t going to think Voltron was one of the coolest things ever created.

Five robotic lions were already cool. But those five lions could join together to create a gigantic robot powerful enough to defend the universe.

Form feet and legs! Form arms and body! And I’ll form the head!

Then, when things got serious:

Form Blazing Sword!

What I loved about Voltron was that none of the individual lions was Voltron. It required all five pilots and all five lions working together. The whole was enormously more powerful than any of its individual parts.

And the Black Lion was obviously the one you wanted to pilot.

7. The Autobots

“Transformers! More than meets the eye!
Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons!”

Autobots, roll out!

The original Transformers arrived at exactly the right time for me. The Autobots weren’t just vehicles that turned into robots. They had personalities, friendships, rivalries, values, and an entire mythology built around the war between the Autobots and Decepticons.

And, of course, there was Optimus Prime.

I had a collection of Transformers as a kid, and that’s one childhood collection I really wish I had kept. Many of those original toys incorporated die-cast metal along with plastic, and they had a weight and feel that I still associate with the Transformers I grew up with.

There was something incredibly satisfying about physically transforming one from a vehicle into a robot yourself. No animation, no electronics necessary. You actually had to figure out how all the pieces folded, turned, moved, and locked into place.

Then the cartoon gave those toys personalities.

Suddenly that truck wasn’t merely a truck that transformed into a robot.

It was Optimus Prime.

8. Lion-O and the ThunderCats

“Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight!”

“Thunder… Thunder… Thunder… ThunderCats, HO!”

ThunderCats was another show that arrived at exactly the right time for me.

It had just about everything I could have wanted: science fiction, fantasy, strange worlds, ancient powers, futuristic technology, larger-than-life villains, and one of the coolest swords ever created.

The Sword of Omens was much more than a weapon. The Eye of Thundera could warn Lion-O of danger, summon the other ThunderCats, and give him Sight Beyond Sight—allowing him to see things that ordinary sight couldn’t reveal.

And there was something about watching Lion-O raise that sword while it grew to full size and hearing:

“Thunder… Thunder… Thunder… ThunderCats, HO!”

You knew things were about to get serious.

Like Green Lantern’s ring, the Sword of Omens is one of those superhero items I would’ve loved to have.

Although if we’re being completely honest, as a kid I probably would have spent most of my time holding it up and yelling “THUNDERCATS, HO!” whether there was an emergency or not.

9. The Wonder Twins

“Wonder Twin powers… ACTIVATE!”

Zan and Jayna were another part of my Super Friends childhood.

Their powers were unusual because they worked as a team. Jayna could transform into animals, while Zan could transform into water in just about any form the situation required.

And yes, sometimes that meant something spectacularly useful like:

“Form of… a bucket of water!”

But I don’t care.

This isn’t a list of the objectively most powerful or important superheroes. It’s my list, and hearing “Wonder Twin powers… ACTIVATE!” immediately takes me back to Super Friends.

There was also something cool about the basic idea: neither one activated their power alone. They had to come together, touch fists, and work as a team.

And, of course, Gleek can come too.

10. Wonder Woman

“Great Hera!”

When I think of Wonder Woman, I think of Lynda Carter.

That’s simply Wonder Woman to me.

But it wasn’t just the television show or the character that I liked. I thought her powers were genuinely cool.

She could deflect bullets with her bracelets and incredibly fast reflexes. Then there was the Lasso of Truth. Get caught in that and you had to tell the truth.

Looking back at those abilities as an adult, there’s something almost metaphorically perfect about them for a kid.

Imagine being able to protect yourself from whatever people throw at you—and having the power to make people tell you the truth.

Those aren’t the flashiest superpowers on this list. She couldn’t create anything she imagined like Green Lantern, and she wasn’t flying around in a giant robot like Voltron. But there was something wonderfully direct about her abilities:

You can’t hurt me, and you can’t lie to me.

That’s a powerful fantasy for a kid.

There have been plenty of interpretations of Wonder Woman since, but the version permanently stored in my brain will always be Lynda Carter spinning around, bracelets ready and Lasso of Truth at her side.

Meanwhile… at the Hall of Justice

Looking over this list, there’s an obvious pattern. A lot of these heroes came from the television I watched growing up in the 70s and 80s, especially Super Friends and the wave of superhero and science-fiction shows that followed.

And while putting this list together, I learned something that genuinely blew my mind:

Ted Knight was the narrator of Super Friends.

The same Ted Knight I knew as Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Henry Rush on Too Close for Comfort was the voice saying:

“Meanwhile… at the Hall of Justice…”

I somehow never made that connection.

Now I can’t unhear it.

So apparently part of my childhood superhero soundtrack was Henry Rush narrating the Justice League.

Which means somewhere in an alternate universe:

“Meanwhile… at the Hall of Justice…”

“MONROE! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”