Could Netflix’s comic adaptation Jupiter’s Legacy be their version of the hit show The Boys on Amazon Prime? The show, based on Mark Millar’s graphic novel series, will launch on Netflix in the Spring or early Summer of this year and will take a similar route to Amazon’s The Boys in depicting superheroes as very flawed characters, although Jupiter’s Legacy will be more optimistic in that at least more than the odd exception are genuinely heroic.
From the books, the show will also weave in real-life figures such as President Obama, J. Edgar Hoover, Katherine Hepburn and others. Jupiter’s LEgacy has also faced American Gods-style behind-the-scenes problems with the ousting of showrunner Steven DeKnight (who made the mediocre sequel to Pacific Rim), to be replaced by Sang Kyu Kim (The Walking Dead, 24: Live Another Day).
Neither are really names that fans of the graphic novels would have salivated over -- essentially journeymen rather than inspirational creatives. Casting is OK, but not spectacular (Josh Duhamel, Ben Daniels), hopefully the budget will be enough for the show not to cut corners in the way Locke & Key has…
Has The Boys stolen the show’s thunder in already having a ‘warts and all’ take on super heroics? And really, was The Boys any good? I did enjoy it, but admit it wasn’t quite the ‘must-see’ I thought it would be.
Season II drops later this year.
I wonder, are we reaching ‘peak superhero’? Probably not, but Jupiter’s Legacy needs to be damned special to break through the ennui that the genre is in danger of generating after the complete failure of Birds of Prey….
