Supernia: Superheroes through the ages

There has been a huge saturation of superhero media, so what would make this different? Well, what if you have a story that has superheroes dealing with issues throughout the years with no sliding timescale? What if things change over time with permanent consequences for the existence of superheroes both good and bad? Unlike comics, there would be no retcons or updating the heroes for new generation, but heroes that slowly change the world until it is a world very different from our own. This is what would hopefully make an action comedy fantasy story like Supernia so much more different from other superhero media.

All of this could start with a kid from another world crashing down to Earth like Superman back in 1938. This person crashes down and adapts to Earth while learning to be a great hero. Around the same time, you have certain people rediscovering magic from granny witches in Appalachia and certain intellectuals creating gadgets that can be used to help fight crime. All of this leads to a different interesting timeline that is similar to other superhero stories, but changes with having superhumans play an active role in how the Earth is shaped from that point on.

For one, you can have some comedy but more action and dramatic moments as some heroes work for the Allies in World War II. While the Nazis work to develop superhumans, they fall behind in a way that leads to the Second World War ending somewhat early with an earlier Nazi defeat than in our timeline, a more democratic Soviet Union with a potential ousting of Joseph Stalin, and a strengthened version of the League of Nations. All of this and other changes related to superheroes and supervillains stay in the timeline and lead to a very different world from what we have over time.

While the tone can have parody, it can also work by making a more optimistic world - a world where powerful beings ultimately make a somewhat better society than what we have today. One of the things about modern superhero media is that superhumans are not able to use their technology for any permanent useful change. With the exception of alternate timeline stories, any interesting inventions made by DC heroes and Marvel heroes usually get retconned away so things never change in a positive way. However, this story can show heroes actively helping in disasters and working to help build cities better and create systems to make it easier to rebuild after superhero battles. All of this can lead to interesting story potential and drama, but also help with the comedy - it is hard to have comedy when you have a bunch of cities always being destroyed with millions dead, but it is much easier when you have effective superheroes save the day for the most part and use their abilities to reduce the cost of repairs from billions to a couple of thousand dollars with their tech and powers.

Various threats from different genres can affect the heroes. You could have an Earthbound nation run by villains for one season, a powerful gangster with some abilities for the next, a villain from World War II wanting a mystical artifact to recreate a fascist regime, or some creature out of a cosmic horror story in another.

The best part is that the story can move forward through time with new threats and challenges for mankind and this unique universe before it ends in a generally good place by the end. My idea is that the show should end when the story moves forward in time to around an alternate timeline version of the early 2000s. From there, the audience can see how far superheroes have pushed the world into a better place before everything and end on a satisfying note for all the characters.