While superhero film and TV projects have proliferated since the genre exploded in the 1990s, comic book adaptations only started to be a regular presence in the awards season conversation in the last 10 years. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day now playing in theaters, it’s worth remembering  how costumed crimefighters have fared at the Golden Globes, with at least 19 projects garnering 32 nominations and six wins. And most other mainstream awards shows followed.

The first superhero film to receive a Globes nomination is, fittingly, also widely seen as the first modern superhero movie, period: 1978’s Superman. Starring Christopher Reeve as the Last Son of Krypton and Gene Hackman as arch-villain Lex Luthor, the movie was nominated for John Williams’ soaring, triumphant score. To date, it’s the only project headlined by the Man of Steel to earn a Globes nomination, but Williams’ main theme has so imprinted itself on the character that it’s been utilized in two subsequent film reboots: Superman Returns (2006) and Superman (2025).

DC Comics’ other signature character, Batman, has fared far better at the Golden Globes — and certainly his greatest enemy has. For his gonzo turn as the Joker in 1989’s Batman, Jack Nicholson earned a nomination for best actor in a musical or comedy, the earliest any actor in a superhero movie received major awards recognition for their performance. Decades later, two other actors won Globes for tackling the same role: Heath Ledger for best supporting actor in 2008’s The Dark Knight, and Joaquin Phoenix for best actor in a drama in 2019’s Joker (which also won a Globe for its score, and nominations for best director and best picture, drama).

Marvel made its first big splash at the Golden Globes, when the hard-R rated Deadpool (2016) earned nominations for best actor in a comedy for star Ryan Reynolds, and best picture, musical or comedy — making it the first live-action superhero film to be nominated for one of the Globes’ top prizes. The following year, Black Panther earned three nominations, for original song, score, and best picture, drama. And at the 2023 ceremony, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Angela Bassett won supporting actress for her searing turn as the grieving Queen Ramonda — the first actor to take home a Golden Globe for a Marvel production. (The film was nominated for original song, as well.) Since then, two more Marvel Studios films have earned nominations in one of the newest categories at the Globes, for cinematic and box office achievement: 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.

Animation has also proven to be a fertile medium for superhero fare. Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004), about a family of superheroes in a world that no longer wants them, was nominated at the Golden Globes for best musical or comedy. In fact, that’s the last time any animated movie has appeared in that category, after the introduction in 2006 of the best animated feature category. That’s where 2018’s Incredibles 2 was nominated, along with the visually groundbreaking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which won, making it to date the only superhero movie to win an overall prize at the Globes. That film’s sequel, 2024’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, was nominated for three Globes, for animated feature, score, and cinematic and box office achievement.

Given the expansive budgets required for comic book adaptations, television has been a trickier forum for superhero fare, but some projects still have won Globes recognition. The inaugural season of the NBC series Heroes earned two nominations at the 2007 ceremony, for best drama and for supporting actor for Masi Oka. It would take another 15 years for a superhero TV show to appear at the Globes, when the Disney+ limited series WandaVision won nominations for its stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. That show’s spin-off, the 2024 limited series Agatha All Along, earned a nomination for star Kathryn Hahn. Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe for his transformative performance as the titular gangster in the 2024 HBO limited series The Penguin; the show was also nominated for best actress, for Cristin Milioti, and for best limited series, anthology series, or TV movie.

All told, more than half of the total nominations superhero projects have received at the Golden Globes have been for ceremonies in this decade, as strong an indication as any that voters, like audiences, have come to see the genre as a consequential part of our pop-culture lives.