2012 proves to be mighty for superheroes, and there was no one mightier than Marvel's The Avengers, who first took over the small screen on Disney XD before making a (Hulk) smash on the big screen this summer thanks to Joss Whedon, who is considered the William Shakespeare of superheroes since his days of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Both The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises are not only this year's top blockbusters, but they're also members of the worldwide billion-dollar club.
The Avengers became the inspiration for the new season of CW's Nikita, where Maggie Q's spy heroine and her team sets out to avenge the wrongs of the secret government agency known as Division. Their objective? Tracking down a group of rouge agents known as "The Dirty Thirty".
CBS' Person of Interest is influence by co-creator Jonathan Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, with Reese (Jim Caviezel), aka "the man in a suit", as Batman without a mask, and Finch (Michael Emerson) as Bruce Wayne. POI, which is in its second season, finds Reese, Finch, and NYPD detective Carter (Taraji P. Henson) and Fusco (Kevin Chapman) now working as a covert team similar to The Avengers, with the purpose of preventing violent crimes in New York.
If The Avengers are "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", then The Expendables are "Earth's Mightiest Antiheroes", the name of the DVD extra for The Expendables 2. However, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others should be christen as either Earth's Mightiest Action Heroes or Hollywood's Mightiest Action Heroes, for these guys ruled the box office throughout the 1980s and early 1990s with muscles, guns, and classic one-liners thanks to the Rocky, Rambo, Terminator, and Die Hard franchises.
Sadly, 2012 was not a year for love, peace, and soul with the passing of Soul Train conductor Don Cornelius and American Bandstand host Dick Clark, forever known as "America's Oldest Living Teenager". Both introduced us to the latest music and fashion, with Bandstand giving people a good beat they can dance and listen to -- making the Jacksons and Madonna into superstars, as Soul Train became "the hippest trip in America" by launching the careers of the late Fred "Rerun" Berry (What's Happening?), Rosie Perez, and Jody Watley.
Still, 2012 remains "Occupy" with the re-election of Barack Obama, aka "President Robin Hood" due to his attempts of correcting economic, social, and governmental injustices for the working and middle class.
And speaking of "the Hood", (Green) Arrow returns to the CW in a much darker reboot with Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, a billionaire righting his family's wrongs as a vigilante against the greedy and the corrupt.
But before there was Batman and Green Arrow, there was pulp heroes The Shadow and The Spider, who have been resurrected this year by Dynamite Entertainment, who also rebooted Zorro, the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, and the Phantom.
The Shadow, The Spider, and Zorro are now working together to restore order and justice on the streets of New York as "Masks", which is currently available in your local comic book stores.
In conclusion, it was the year of superheroes once again in 2012.
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