Is The Return of the Superhero Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read
Quick Answer
If you want a long, escalating shonen power-ladder battle-comedy with an overpowered, lazy protagonist and a harem of celestial sword spirits, The Return of the Superhero delivers that in big, satisfying doses early on, even though the back half thins out into filler and the One Punch Man comparisons are hard to shake.
Quick Verdict
“Sprawling superhero power-ladder comedy that's at its sharpest early and loses bite as it stretches toward 488 chapters.”
Best for: Readers who want a long-running, escalating power-system battle-comedy with a reluctant overpowered hero and a harem of sword-spirit companions.
Not for: Readers who've already read One Punch Man and want something that doesn't constantly invite the comparison.
- Type
- Manhua
- Genres
- Action, Comedy
- Status
- Completed
- This review
- Minor Spoilers
- Author
- Wuliao Kankan Tian
- Artist
- Hai Luo
- Publisher
- Tencent Comics / Bilibili Manga
- Platform
- No confirmed official English release
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Format | Manhua (shōnen), 488 chapters |
| Run | 2017–2023 · completed |
| Community score | AniList 6.7 |
Overview
The Return of the Superhero follows Zero, the first superhero humanity ever produced and, by most accounts, one of the strongest beings in the world. After five years of fighting, he vanished, quietly retiring from hero work entirely. The story picks up with him being pulled back out of that retirement, wielding a set of Celestial Swords with named power forms and traveling with sword-spirit companions who take human form, as the world's problems refuse to stay solved without him.
What it does well
The series gets a lot of comedic and dramatic mileage out of the gap between how powerful Zero actually is and how little he wants to use that power. His laid-back, borderline-lazy demeanor plays well against the escalating threats the story throws at him, and the Celestial Sword system, distinct named forms like Judgement and Severance, plus sword-spirit companions like Jue Xian and Zhu Xian, gives the fights a visual identity that's more specific than a generic shonen power ladder. The earlier arcs, in particular, earn real praise for combining genuine satire of hero-genre tropes with darker, higher-stakes storytelling than the lighthearted premise initially suggests.
Where it falls short
The elephant in the room is One Punch Man: readers consistently bring it up as a reference point, and the series doesn't always carve out enough of its own identity to escape that comparison. The larger structural problem is pacing across a genuinely massive 488-chapter run; what starts dark and satirical gradually gives way, according to multiple reader reviews, to more moralistic, lower-stakes storytelling padded with filler as the series stretches on. And practically speaking, English-language access is a real hurdle right now: there's no confirmed, currently active official translation, with only partial fan scanlations covering a portion of the full run.
Verdict
The Return of the Superhero is a sprawling, ambitious power-system battle-comedy that's genuinely sharp in its early arcs, an overpowered, reluctant hero premise executed with real satirical bite and a distinctive sword-based power system. It loses some of that edge as it grows toward its full 488-chapter length, and the lack of an official English release makes it a harder recommendation right now than its strongest chapters deserve, but readers willing to track it down will find a substantial, complete superhero saga with a donghua adaptation to match.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- The core hook, the world's first and strongest hero dragged out of a lazy retirement, gives Zero's overpowered status a built-in comedic tension between how strong he is and how little he wants to use it.
- The Celestial Sword power system (named forms like Judgement, Punishment, and Severance, plus a cast of sword-spirit companions who take human form) gives the escalating fights a distinct visual identity beyond generic energy-blast battles.
- Early arcs balance a surprisingly dark, satirical take on hero-society tropes with genuine comedy, and at least one reviewer specifically praised how it parodies the genre it's part of.
- It's a complete, massive 488-chapter saga with a proper ending and even a 12-episode donghua (Chinese animation) adaptation if you want a shorter taste of the story first.
Weaknesses
- Comparisons to One Punch Man come up constantly in reader discussion, and the series doesn't always do enough to distinguish itself from that shadow.
- Later arcs lean more moralistic and filler-heavy, with lower stakes and fewer consequences than the sharper, darker early chapters promised.
- There's no confirmed official English release — the semi-official Bilibili Comics app that once carried it has shut down, so English readers are currently limited to incomplete fan scanlations.
Similar Titles
The most obvious comparison point: an overpowered, reluctant hero navigating a satirical hero-society setting.
Similar long-running Chinese web-novel-to-manhua power-system battle comedy with a large ensemble cast.
Shares the escalating-power, large-scale fantasy-action structure, if with a more serious tone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Return of the Superhero finished?
Yes. It ran from 2017 to 2023 in China and is complete at 488 chapters.
Is there an anime for The Return of the Superhero?
Yes, a 12-episode donghua (Chinese animation) adaptation titled Yingxiong Zailin aired in 2020, covering the earlier part of the story.
Where can I read The Return of the Superhero in English?
There's no confirmed, currently active official English release as of this review; it was originally serialized on Tencent Comics and Bilibili Manga in China, and the Bilibili Comics app that once carried an English version has since shut down.
Is The Return of the Superhero a BL or yuri story?
No. It centers on male lead Zero (Lin Jie) and a heterosexual harem of female companions, including sword spirits Jue Xian and Zhu Xian, with no same-sex romance anywhere in the story.
Does The Return of the Superhero stay good all the way through?
Reader opinion is mixed on this: the earlier arcs are generally considered sharper and darker, while later chapters are more often described as filler-heavy and lower-stakes, so expect some unevenness over the full 488-chapter run.
