CREDIT: SNEAKPEEK.CA

The fall TV series season is rapidly approaching us; a time for networks to experiment with a wide variety of pilots and new series that are unlikely to last throughout the winter. This year, however, networks are looking toward a different sort of source material to gather viewers, following the Hollywood example and looking toward comic books, using TV to bring – or bring back – some of geek culture’s most iconic characters.

Arrow (CW, premiers October 7)

One of two returning series on this list, CW’s Arrow, starring Steven Amell as Oliver Queen, is easily the most successful television superhero property airing today, and is arguably providing the groundwork for the DC universe based that are going to be following in the next few seasons.

After a second season that was bigger, more dramatic and rife with more DC comic references and characters than before, season three has a lot to live up to as it looks to explore deeper into established lore (with a certain, immortal villain making an appearance) build on its own original characters, and going further into the question of just what was Oliver doing for the five years that he was missing anyways?

The Flash (CW, premiers October 7)

A kind-of-but-not-really spinoff of Arrow, CW has locked down yet another one of DC’s most recognizable heroes to bring to the small screen, and if the recent pilot is anything to go by, it will be done in the same gritty, high quality style of its predecessor.

After making his unofficial debut in the midst of Arrow’s season two, Barry Allen (Glee’s Grant Gustin), will return to Central City, be hit by science lightning, and convert into the fastest man alive. Using his cover as a forensics assistant, the geeky looking character isn’t your traditional “hero” type, but will (presumably) use his trademark mix of brains and speed in order to overcome whatever it is that producers can throw at him in his opening year.

Gotham (FOX, premiers September 22)

Even if you’ve never cracked a comic book or seen one of the movies, you’ve heard of Batman, the secret identity of Bruce Wayne, who protects Gotham City from some of the medium’s most creative villains.

Many aspects of Wayne’s life have been explored throughout the many decades of his existence, but the network is taking a different approach, abandoning the focus on Bruce Wayne and instead focusing on the development of one of his staunchest allies, future Police Commissioner Jim Gordon (played here by The O.C.’s Ben McKenzie). The series will kick off on the night that Thomas and Martha Wayne were gunned down, setting into motion the journey of one of the darkest heroes in comics. In addition to Gordon and Wayne, expect exploration in the origins of Catwoman, The Penguin and other iconic villains.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, premieres September 23)

The second returning program on the list, and representing Marvel’s extension of their big-screen universe into television, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a pleasant surprise during its debut season, managing to translate the quality that we have come to expect form Marvel Studios into a smaller, but somehow no less epic scale.

Led by everyone’s favourite non-superhero agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), the program focuses on the human element of the Marvel universe in a way that the films have not managed to do while focusing on the likes of Thor and Iron Man, looking at how the world has changed since the introduction to the world of super powered beings. Starting slow before building toward an explosive climax, the first season laid the foundation for a program that will explore aspects of the Marvel Universe that don’t have the power needed to drive a franchise of their own.