Recommendations for realistic comics like Dark Knight and Watchmen.

[Johnathan]

Yeah, those are good suggestions.

A lot of 80's and 90's indy comics obviously followed up from Miracleman and Watchmen. I would not say that THE AUTHORITY or PLANETARY were realistic, but they took realistic or real world problems and then turned them into comic book supervillains. So instead of asking "what if superheroes were in the real world," it took on the idea what if real world problems existed in a comic book universe. What if you could defeat global warming or terrorism by punching it, for example. However, THE WILD STORM mentioned above is more a combination of realism and a lot of conspiracy theory-like ideas. It's essentially Ancient Aliens, Breakaway Civilizations, and Deep State Paranoia with superpowers.

CLA$$WAR is a fairly recent take on realistic superheroes especially from a military jingoist perspective.

Rick Veitch put out a couple of real-world superhero titles - THE ONE and BRAT PACK that are a little more cartoonish but still great reads.

THE BOYS, obviously, has a bit of a real world vibe conflating celebrity culture and superheroes. ULTRA by the Luna brothers has a similar premise but a very different approach.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughn and art by Tony Harris. It's about a superhero who runs for Mayor of NYC post 9/11.

[Ozymandias]

I'm surprised Miracleman hasn't been mentioned, as it's much more in line with the title suggestions and precedes them. It effectively started the Copper Age, even if it's not widely accepted.

[Cyberstrike]

Supreme Power by JMS and Gary Frank
V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd