Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.tvline.com
Disney+
Like Batman and Robin or the chocolate and peanut butter in the candies you’ve probably been snacking on throughout this spookiest of seasons, superheroes and Halloween are a perfect dynamic duo. The holiday’s traditions — costumes, masks, villainous supernatural entities, and the gathering of one’s friends — naturally lend themselves to dramatic double entendre within the superhero subgenre. For any comic book fan looking to program a marathon tailored specifically to this pairing, we’ve found the 10 best examples of all time.
We want to note upfront that we made the decision to not include any episodes from “Creature Commandos,” “Swamp Thing,” or “Agatha All Along.” As appropriate as these series are as a whole for Halloween viewing, they don’t have a single Halloween episode — furthermore, they’re all so heavily serialized that watching any of them in isolation would be relatively unsatisfying. We’re also not including the Marvel Special Presentation “Werewolf by Night,” which is closer to a TV movie than a Halloween episode. As for the 10 episodes that made the cut for our list, we’ve selected a wide variety of tricks to satisfy every fan, whether they appreciate cheap, campy thrills or a story that uses Halloween to explore superheroes in a way no other setting can.
10. Thirst (Smallville)
The CW
“Smallville” Season 5, Episode 5
“Smallville” had the right idea for its Halloween episode. While the show was limited rights- and character-wise regarding actual horror villains from the DC Universe, they wisely chose vampires — a broad faction of monsters well-established in the comics — as the seasonal freaks of the week. They even gave the episode to writer Steven S. DeKnight, a veteran of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” (as well as the future showrunner of “Daredevil” Season 1). Unfortunately, the end result — Season 5’s “Thirst” — is a little too campy to be taken seriously, even by “Smallville” standards.
Told from the perspective of aspiring reporter Chloe (Allison Mack’s character, who is attempting to pitch this story to a Daily Planet editor played by Carrie Fisher), “Thirst” follows Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) as she unknowingly joins a vampire sorority so she can secure housing for her first semester at Metropolis University. It sounds like an “Archie” setup, and the tone matches — the head sorority sister, “Buffy Sanders” (Brooke Nevin), is a goofy, one-dimensional caricature of a college mean girl. Given that she’s the primary antagonist, the whole hour lacks real drama. (There’s a subplot between Michael Rosenbaum’s brilliant Lex Luthor and James Marsters’ Brainiac that feels like an entirely different show.)
Ultimately, the episode plays like a weird redux of the infamous Red Kryptonite episode. But for cozy lean-back entertainment with a superhero twist, you can do much worse than “Smallville.”
9. Blade (Ultimate Spider-Man)
Disney XD
“Ultimate Spider-Man” Season 2, Episodes 21 and 22
DC doesn’t have a monopoly on vampires — just ask Blade. The Daywalker himself was introduced to the “Ultimate Spider-Man” universe as the marquee guest star of their Halloween two-parter, “Blade” Howling Commandos.” The 2010s animated Spider-Man series is ranked in the middle of the pack compared to its peers – it’s decidedly aimed at a younger audience, but has enough going for it with regard to its animation, voice acting, and use of comic book lore to be entertaining for die-hard fans. On a Halloween night in, it will satisfy the vibe perfectly fine.
“Blade” focuses on setting up the title character (guest star Terry Crews) and his arch-nemesis, Dracula (“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” alum Corey Burton). There’s some great cemetery atmosphere at the beginning, and the two new characters are given plenty of time to shine, but the second half is where the hour really gets into the holiday spirit. After their first encounter with Dracula, Spider-Man (Drake Bell) has to call in a little help from the Howling Commandos, here a team of full-on movie monsters, including the Living Mummy (Oded Fehr), Frankenstein’s Monster (Kevin Michael Richardson), and Werewolf by Night (Ross Lynch). Having them replace Spidey’s usual SHIELD team (who are still present in a different capacity) is a great way to make the second episode feel like even more of a special event than the first.
8. All Doll’d Up (The Flash)
The CW
“The Flash” Season 5, Episode 5
This is the one of the few Halloween episodes on this list that didn’t actually get to land in spooky season. Season 5 was just getting started in October 2018, and the writers understandably spent their first four episodes developing major storylines and introducing new characters. The fifth episode, “All Doll’d Up,” was perfect for Halloween. It could’ve hypothetically aired within a week of the holiday, but the CW opted to delay it to avoid competing for ratings with the midterm elections in the U.S.
But now you have an opportunity to enjoy “All Doll’d Up” as it should’ve always been enjoyed. The star of the hour is Rag Doll, a creepy-looking metahuman who contorts his body in impossible, disgusting ways. The actor who plays the villain is Troy James, a real contortionist from “America’s Got Talent” who was able to practically accomplish Rag Doll’s seemingly inhuman physicality in some scenes. He frequently lends his talents to horror projects, such as “Channel Zero,” “Nightmare Alley,” and “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.”
It isn’t just James’ resume that makes the episode a credible Halloween offering. His powers are depicted in such a way that “The Flash” gets as close to body horror as the censors would allow, and every element of the episode from the eerie music to the tense direction telegraphs horror.
7. Fright Knight (Danny Phantom)
Nickelodeon
“Danny Phantom” Season 1, Episode 13
As is the case with “Swamp Thing,” “Creature Commandos,” and “Agatha All Along,” you could technically choose any episode of “Danny Phantom” and argue it’s a justifiable watch on Halloween. If you’re unfamiliar with one of the best Nickelodeon cartoons of all time, it follows a high school boy (David Kaufman) who becomes half-man, half-ghost after being exposed to an alternate dimension where undead spirits roam freely. It is the preeminent superhero “horror” show, even if it isn’t all that scary.
If you’re only going to revisit one “Danny Phantom” episode this Halloween, it should be “Fright Knight,” the series’ official Halloween installment. The story takes place during the lead-up to the holiday, with Danny forced to help make a haunted house scary in order to avoid detention. He takes a shortcut to the Ghost Zone and, while searching for terrifying props, unintentionally summons a ghostly knight (Star Trek alum Michael Dorn).
As far as Halloween villains go, Fright Knight himself is one of the least festive on this list, at least when it comes to his design (the pumpkins are a nice touch, though). The episode as a whole stands out for incorporating both the holiday and the theme of fear into the plot, which more than makes up for the lack of scares. If you’re looking for something totally kid-friendly or nostalgic, Fright Knight’s reign of terror will be an amusing part of your Halloween marathon.
6. Grundy’s Night (The Batman)
Cartoon Network
“The Batman” Season 2, Episode 11
Speaking of series that fit the Halloween vibe throughout, “Batman: The Animated Series” strangely doesn’t have a clear, dedicated Halloween episode for us to recommend. There’s hardly a bad time to revisit the iconic show, and any one of its episodes will fit the mood of the evening (“Almost Got ‘Im” is essentially a Batman ghost story, and even has some passing Halloween lip service). For the best seasonal fit, however, you’ll have to go to the series’ underrated reboot, “The Batman.”
The 2000s series focuses on a younger iteration of the Dark Knight (voiced by Rino Romano), and takes notable, inventive liberties with his rogues’ gallery narratively and stylistically to differentiate itself from the previous show. In “Grundy’s Night,” classic undead Batman foe Solomon Grundy (Kevin Grevioux) is recast as one of Gotham City’s urban legends brought to life. Many citizens, including Bruce Wayne, refer to this particular Halloween as “Grundy’s Night,” and some even dress up as him — others, like poor Alfred Pennyworth (Alastair Duncan), believe there’s more truth to the legend than they realize.
If it sounds straightforward, “The Batman” actually has a twist or two that new fans of the series will appreciate. At the same time, there is a simple pleasure to watching Batman run around Gotham on Halloween night, in costume with the rest of the city as he tries to capture a literal zombie.
5. All-New Halloween Spooktacular! (WandaVision)
Disney+
“WandaVision” Episode 6
We agonized over whether or not to include “WandaVision.” Like “Swamp Thing,” “Creature Commandos,” and “Agatha All Along,” this Disney+ miniseries is serialized, and some readers will understandably have mixed feelings about jumping into the middle of the story. At the same time, we’d argue it’s the closest to being episodic — the changing time periods and metafictional devices give every A-plot the feeling of a standalone story. And because “WandaVision” is meant to evoke a range of sitcoms, it at least pretends to adhere to the genre’s episodic structure with its plot-within-a-plot — which is, in this case, about a family going trick-or-treating.
It’s impossible not to include a Marvel Cinematic Universe option that is so enthusiastically committed to Halloween (despite airing in February 2021 — potentially a side effect of COVID delays). In “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!,” Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) has gone full “Malcolm in the Middle” by pulling her kids into a mockumentary family comedy. The whole family gets dressed up in “unwittingly” comic-accurate costumes that pay homage to the characters’ original designs or tease what they’ll soon become. Most of it feels like you’ve been invited to an MCU Halloween party. Yet, while it parodies the tropes of Halloween sitcom episodes, it blends in moments of genuine unease that prove the show comes by its wickedness earnestly. As an added bonus, there’s arguably no better time to revisit this episode of “WandaVision,” given its minor implications for Marvel’s “VisionQuest.”
4. A Knight of Shadows (Justice League)
Cartoon Network
“Justice League” Season 1, Episodes 20 and 21
While “Batman: The Animated Series” might not have a clear pick for this list, “Justice League” gave the DC Animated Universe arguably the closest thing it has to a pure Halloween episode. Airing at the end of September 2002, the two-parter “A Knight of Shadows” is a narratively ambitious installment. It has everything you could want for a fright-night watch — vampires, evil sorcerers, curses, aliens, monsters, and a vengeful demon. Michael T. Weiss guest-stars as Jason Blood, a character first introduced in “The New Batman Adventures.” In this episode’s opening scene, it’s beautifully established that he was once a knight who betrayed King Arthur for the love of Morgaine le Fey (Olivia d’Abo) — only for her to betray him, and for Merlin to bind his spirit to Etrigan the Demon.
As a piece of storytelling, these episodes exemplify everything that makes “Justice League” one of the best DC shows of all time. The story is surprisingly complex and emotionally rich, with the allegiance of the tragic Martian Manhunter (Carl Lumbly) challenged by Morgaine’s promise that she can restore life on Mars. Guilt and loss are major themes that give “A Knight of Shadows” a haunted feeling in more ways than one. It’d be ranked much higher — potentially even at the top — if the Halloween references were more overt, though there is a fleeting shot of a costume party in one scene.
3. Phone Home (Legends of Tomorrow)
The CW
“Legends of Tomorrow” Season 3, Episode 4
Every other episode on this list draws its Halloween inspirations from the realm of folk and fantasy horror — magical monsters, vampires, werewolves, demons, etc. True to form, “Legends of Tomorrow” does something more unconventional with its Halloween episode, “Phone Home,” by paying tribute to the nostalgic, heartwarming supernatural stories of Steven Spielberg.
When Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) is seemingly erased from existence, the Legends discover that the fractured timeline has caused him to die as a young boy on Halloween 1988. They must then go back in time to better understand why Ray was killed and prevent it from happening — and are shocked to find the young future Atom taking care of a baby Dominator (the alien species from the “Invasion!” crossover episodes). The episode is full of cheeky nods to Amblin films, especially “E.T.”
Beyond the references, “Phone Home” earns its spot in the top five because of how it uses that Amblin nostalgia to get to the heart of why Halloween is important to us, even as adults. For many, it’s the holiday that holds some of our most cherished memories with our childhood friends — or, perhaps reminds us of a time we didn’t have a super-team to go trick-or-treating with. Season 3 is when “Legends of Tomorrow” transitions from a forgettable “Arrow” spinoff to a wonderfully weird hidden gem. “Phone Home” was one of the first flashes of its future greatness.
2. Secrets (Young Justice)
Cartoon Network
“Young Justice” Season 1, Episode 18
“Young Justice” has long been regarded as one of the best animated superhero shows of all time. Even though its Halloween episode isn’t regarded as among the show’s finest or most memorable, it’s a perfectly told ghost story that totally immerses itself in the holiday. And, like all great episodes of the series, its commitment to treating its characters and audience with maturity is total; here, it leads to an appropriately chilling take on two classic characters from the original comic book series.
At first, the episode seems like a run-of-the-mill Halloween episode, with low emotional stakes and a plot engineered for laughs (though, admittedly, a joke about Captain Marvel inexplicably abandoning the team to go trick-or-treating prior to the reveal of his identity is pretty inspired). But when Artemis (Stephanie Lemelin) and Zatanna (Lacey Chabert) decide to bail on a school dance, a patrol to blow off steam winds up becoming a hunt for a serial killer called Harm (Yuri Lowenthal). The show boldly portrays Harm as a sadistic, unrepentant sociopath who killed his own sister (Masasa Moyo) to gain power. It’s a dark choice for the villain of a kids’ show, but one that’s justified by the episode being a gateway to the ghost story subgenre. It’s a fast-paced, self-contained, creepy half-hour that spends little time on anything unrelated to the holiday.
1. The Uncertainty Principle (The Spectacular Spider-Man)
Disney XD
“The Spectacular Spider-Man” Season 1, Episode 9
“The Uncertainty Principle” reminds us why “The Spectacular Spider-Man” is still considered the best Spider-Man TV show ever made. No other Halloween episode in the superhero subgenre manages to commit wholeheartedly to the holiday’s tropes and traditions while simultaneously using them as a thematic vehicle to explore its characters. All this, while still pulling the overarching story forward in shocking ways.
On Halloween, Peter Parker (Josh Keaton) tries to have a normal night with his friends, in particular Harry Osborn (James Arnold Taylor). Peter has come to suspect that Harry’s abusive father, Norman (Alan Rachins), is secretly the mysterious new supervillain known as the Green Goblin. Halloween is as much a break for Peter as it is a way for him to keep his friend safe. But on a night where everyone else is wearing a mask, the line between Peter’s dual identities becomes blurred in ways big and small — which, as one might expect, leads to his night being ruined by an ambush from Gobby. It culminates in a truly spectacular battle worthy of the show’s name, and a major twist for the series via a literal unmasking.
Airing in May 2008, “The Uncertainty Principle” was, by all appearances, never intended to be a seasonal tie-in — yet, it was chosen to be a Halloween episode because the holiday allowed the writers to tell the best version of this story.
