Anime Like Smallville
If you loved Smallville's Sci-Fi & Fantasy and Action & Adventure storytelling, these anime deliver a similar experience — selected for art style, narrative depth, and emotional impact. Each includes where to stream it now.
★ Top Picks
Supergirl
Twenty-four-year-old Kara Zor-El, who was taken in by the Danvers family when she was 13 after being sent away from Krypton, must learn to embrace her powers after previously hiding them. The Danvers teach her to be careful with her powers, until she has to reveal them during an unexpected disaster, setting her on her journey of heroism.
Krypton
Set two generations before the destruction of the legendary Man of Steel’s home planet, Krypton follows Superman’s grandfather — whose House of El was ostracized and shamed — as he fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from chaos.
DC's Stargirl
Courtney Whitmore, a smart, athletic and above all else kind girl, discovers her step-father has a secret: he used to be the sidekick to a superhero. "Borrowing" the long-lost hero’s cosmic staff, she becomes the unlikely inspiration for an entirely new generation of superheroes.
Naomi
Follow a teen girl’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes
Black Lightning
Jefferson Pierce is a man wrestling with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a New Orleans neighborhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community.
Heroes
Common people discover that they have super powers. Their lives intertwine as a devastating event must be prevented.
Batwoman
Kate Kane, armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city's criminal resurgence. But don't call her a hero yet. In a city desperate for a savior, Kate must overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham's symbol of hope
Extraordinary
In a world where everyone develops a power on their 18th birthday, Jen didn't. She's turning 25 and is still waiting to get hers. Adrift in a big, confusing world and armed with nothing but a bit of hope and a lot of desperation, Jen begins her journey to find her maybe-superpower. But in doing so, she might discover the joy of being just kind of ok.
More Anime Like Smallville
Marvel's Cloak & Dagger
Two teenagers from very different backgrounds awaken to newly acquired superpowers which mysteriously link them to one another.
Doom Patrol
The Doom Patrol’s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities — but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find.
Peacemaker
The continuing story of Peacemaker, a vainglorious superhero/supervillain who believes in peace at any cost — no matter how many people he has to kill. After a miraculous recovery from his duel with Bloodsport, Peacemaker soon discovers that his freedom comes at a price.
Misfits of Science
A superhero fantasy television series featuring super-powered humans and their madcap adventures.
Superman & Lois
After years of facing megalomaniacal supervillains, monsters wreaking havoc on Metropolis, and alien invaders intent on wiping out the human race, The Man of Steel aka Clark Kent and Lois Lane come face to face with one of their greatest challenges ever: dealing with all the stress, pressures and complexities that come with being working parents in today's society.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) puts together a team of agents to investigate the new, the strange and the unknown around the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.
Heroes Reborn
The supernatural phenomenon begins again with a fresh crop of inspiring heroes who take on the ultimate struggle between those with extraordinary abilities and those with nefarious motives to hunt and harness their powers. Epic adventures await these newly empowered allies as they cross paths with some of the original characters, unlocking the mysterious fate of the universe and their place within it.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, former Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, embarks on a crucial mission to confront allies turned enemies and face the wrath of the Empire.
The Gifted
A suburban couple's ordinary lives are rocked by the sudden discovery that their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.
The Outpost
Talon, the lone survivor of a race called the Blackbloods, sets off to the edge of civilisation to track her family's killers. On her journey she discovers she has supernatural powers which she must learn to harness in order to achieve her goals.
The Umbrella Academy
A dysfunctional family of superheroes comes together to solve the mystery of their father's death, the threat of the apocalypse and more.
Why These Anime Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Smallville (2001): Sci-Fi & Fantasy and Action & Adventure themes, comparable animation style, and similar narrative pacing. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface anime most likely to resonate with fans of Smallville.
See full details for Smallville (2001)