TV Review - Jupiter's Legacy

Mark Millar is a comic book writer who has worked for years for Marvel and DC Comics, writing for characters like Batman and Superman. He has since created his own original characters. Films have been adapted from those characters or concepts, films like Wanted (2008), Kick-Ass (2010) and Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). This is the first TV series based on Millar's characters. Yet, it's arguable how original the characters and concepts here are. Yes, Millar published the comic on which this series is based back in 2013. Unfortunately, like with so many things, a lot of other projects beat this one to the screen. Millar is also riffing on archetypes, which are familiar, namely that of Superman, as well as other characters from DC Comics, so again the originality of what he's doing here is arguable. It's not that his story here has to be some groundbreaking thing. A lot of what he's doing here might be incredibly familiar but it is accomplished rather well.

Essentially, the series is about a union of superheroes whose leader wants them all to abide by a specific code. That code is that the superheroes don't kill and they don't interfere with any country's politics. At the same time, the series is about that leader having to deal with raising children who are now adults. He tries to instill his code onto that younger generation. Yet, he gets push-back, as we see the problematic nature of passing along old world values onto a newer crop. Obviously, there are a lot of compelling things inherent, including that of vigilantism, police reform, government authority and the tension between the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. I applaud the series for tackling these themes and issues in mostly a deft way. Unfortunately, I feel like the series falls short in several ways or loses sight of its main themes. Millar and the man who developed the series, Steven S. DeKnight (Spartacus and Smallville), might argue that delving into that stuff is something that's planned in the next season, but I can only judge for what's available now.

Josh Duhamel (Safe Haven and Transformers) stars as Sheldon Sampson, the son of a steel magnate living in Chicago, 1929, just before the Stock Market Crash, which launched the Great Depression. Sheldon has this belief about his father, an illusion that's shattered once the market crashes. This leads him on an incredible journey that eventually turns him into a super-hero named The Utopian who has all of the same abilities as Superman. He's not alone though. The same journey that grants him super-powers, also grants powers to five other people specifically and several others who are in proximity.

The series then jumps ahead in time to the present, presumably 2021. The show basically skips over nearly 100 years worth of these characters with super-powers. We jump to when Sheldon is basically an old man. He still has his powers and is still in great shape. He simply has a lot of gray hair. He's also married to a fellow super-hero and they have two children who are now adults that have the same powers as them.

Leslie Bibb (Iron Man and Talladega Nights) co-stars as Grace Kennedy, a newspaper reporter who helps to expose the truth about the company of Sheldon's father. She gets fired from her job for sexist reasons at the start of the Great Depression. She decides to go along with Sheldon on his mysterious journey. She ends up being transformed as well into a superhero named Lady Liberty. Eventually, she marries Sheldon and they create a super-hero family not unlike in The Incredibles (2004). She's not as stubborn as Sheldon when it comes to his code. She believes in it, but she's starting to see the argument that the current world can't be addressed in such absolutes as Sheldon wants. She's also not as strict a parent to their children as Sheldon.

The inciting incident is when a super-villain named Blackstar, played by Tyler Mane (Halloween and X-Men), escapes from prison and attacks the team of super-heroes known as the Union, which is akin to the Justice League or the Avengers. The fight involves the Utopian and Lady Liberty who has pretty much the same powers as the Utopian, as well as a group of others who have incredible powers. Yet, we're supposed to accept that a half-dozen or so of these super-heroes struggle to stop Blackstar, even though we're meant to believe that they captured him before. What's frustrating is that after the fight, the Utopian lists all the things that could've been done to stop Blackstar, things that he himself doesn't do. I suppose we have to suspend disbelief and buy that all these heroes are struggling to defeat an enemy they've already defeated.

Andrew Horton co-stars as Brandon Sampson, the son to Sheldon. He has similar powers as the Utopian but not fully or all of them. Yet, he's pretty strong. He's there to help fight Blackstar. We have to suspend disbelief about the Utopian and everyone struggling to defeat Blackstar, so that Brandon can be put into the position where he has to make a choice of whether he's going to kill Blackstar or whether he's going to let his father die. According to the Utopian's code, no superhero is allowed to kill, even if it's to stop a super-villain.

The dilemma that is faced is the same as the dilemma at the end of Man of Steel (2013) where Superman has to decide whether to kill Zod in order to save innocent lives. Here, it's more personal. Brandon has to decide to kill Blackstar in order to save his father's life, the life of someone he loves, as well as countless other innocent lives. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) tried to adjudicate that issue or really delve into the ramifications of it, but it wasn't that successful at it. This series advances that conversation and really digs into the question of more powerful figures using deadly force. It's a question that could be applied to real-world scenarios like the Black Lives Matter issue and even the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Ben Daniels (The Crown and The Exorcist) also co-stars as Walter Sampson, the older brother to Sheldon who was involved in their father's company. He also accompanies his brother on his journey, which also turns him into a super-hero, known as Brainwave. He can fly but he doesn't have the super-strength that his brother and sister-in-law have. He instead has a psychic power that's akin to Charles Xavier or Professor X from the X-Men (2000) film. He not only can read people's minds but he can also control them to a degree or at least get inside their heads. He's the one who disagrees with his brother the most but always goes along with him.

The pieces therefore are present for what could be a really great debate. I just watched John Oliver talk about "Stand Your Ground" laws, which this series could have had a similar debate or discussion, but one where we get to see the nuances and disparities. However, aside from a heated talk between Sheldon and Brandon, as well as a couple of battles where at least one has what could be called a straw man, this series doesn't really explore that issue. A large chunk becomes about going back to 1929 and showing the step-by-step journey of how Sheldon and the others got their super-powers. As a person who generally is tired of origin stories, having a large chunk of this series be the origin story was frustrating and tedious. Literally, half the episodes in this season are devoted to that origin story where frankly one or two episodes would've sufficed.

Elena Kampouris plays Chloe Sampson, the daughter to Sheldon and Grace, and the sister to Brandon. She's the cliché, rebellious teen who has grown up to be a model for fashion magazines who also does drugs and parties way too much. So much of this first season is focused on her and her destructive behavior that feel like a waste of time as well. She gets involved with the son of another super-hero who has gone missing. We also spend an inordinate amount of time with that missing person's son, which felt like a waste of time too. Yet, one could argue that it shows how some children of super-heroes choose not to follow in their parents' footsteps, which is fine. I just think that the series spends too much time with it.

I suppose I'm a little burned out on that aspect of this series because I've already seen it now several times in various shows over the past couple of years. Shows like The Umbrella Academy (2019), Stargirl (2020) and Superman & Lois (2021) have all done the teenage or grown-up children of superheroes, either trying to live up to or disappointing their parents. I just felt like I had seen that whole aspect before and this one wasn't doing anything supremely different or compelling. Plus, it also doesn't help that this series has a similar plot line to Stargirl involving a character in that series that's also named Brainwave.

Rated TV-MA.

Running Time: 1 hr. / 8 eps.

Available on Netflix.