WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the broadcast premiere of Marvel's Inhumans.


As promised, the broadcast premiere of Marvel's Inhumans included footage that wasn't seen in the drama's IMAX debut. In fact, based on tonight's back-too-back episodes, two entire subplots were omitted from the theatrical run: the background and motivation of Ellen Woglom's new character Louise, and Maximus' dealings with the Inhuman Genetic Council and his captive, Crystal.

In Inhumans' IMAX premiere, Louise appeared only in one, brief scene. When the lunar rover she pilot was destroyed by Gorgon, she reacted with shock, but that's all we saw in theaters of the new character. In the broadcast premiere, however, we learned more about her.

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For instance, Louise is the only member of her team to recognize Gorgon's foot as a hoof, which led her to develop theories about the lunar rover's crash and subsequent disappearance. In a frank discussion, her boss reveals that Louise is widely considered to be brilliant, if a little nutty. With a heavy dose of dramatic irony, Louise discovers that four Inhumans left the moon and landed on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu -- even though she doesn't quite understand what her findings mean.

When Louise offers this theory to her boss, he "relieves her of her duties," and she seizes the opportunity to take some time off. The next time we see her, she's packing up her office and forlornly looks at a photo of an older man whose identity isn't revealed, then picks up a necklace with a charm shaped like a rocket. She then quickly grabs her bags and leaves.

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In her final scene of the premiere, Louise gets in the back of the cab. As she sits down, the TV screen on the back of the seat in front of her changes to breaking news out of Hawaii. A video is shown of Black Bolt flipping a police car using only his voice. Louise seems to put two and two together and then heads off on a journey that will lead her to Hawaii and the royal Inhumans.

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Like Louise, Maximus (played by Iwan Rheon of Game of Thrones) receives some additional screen time in the broadcast premiere. What's more, he brings the Genetic Council -- an important part of Inhuman society -- into the show.

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On the TV series, as in the Marvel comics, the Genetic Council oversees Terrigenesis, the process that activates the Inhumans' genes and unleashes their extraordinary abilities, and determines their place within their society. As such, it's no surprise that Maximus takes umbrage with them, going so far as to have one of the council members killed in the additional footage.

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In his first additional scene, Maximus invites the council member to a private meeting just before his coup, and explains his plans for his brother Black Bolt. The council member immediately objects, saying he must inform the others of Maximus' intended treason. In response, Maximus gives Auran the go-ahead to murder the council member, which she does as he looks away. This scene also confirms that Maximus' young friend from the mines is, indeed, a clairvoyant.

After the coup, Maximus meets with the remaining members of the Genetic Council, reveals how their missing colleague met his end, and threatens to do the same to them, should they resist him. They're left cowed into submission, at least for the moment.

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However, Maximus doesn't only threaten the Genetic Council. Speaking to Crystal, whom he captured and confined to her apartment, he makes it clear he will harm the teleporting dog Lockjaw -- who was knocked out by one of Maximus' stooges -- if she doesn't bow to his wishes. As Crystal and Lockjaw were established as having a special bond, that prospect immediately horrifies her.

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Perhaps the most important additional scene is the last. During his conversation with Crystal, Maximus brings up their families' histories, which have changed significantly from the source material. He mentions that her parents -- and thus, Medusa's parents -- once rebelled against the royal family's reign. What's more, his parents -- and so Black Bolt's parents -- were the ones who had Crystal's parents killed. That suggests there is a lot of history for the show to explore moving forward, particularly where their parents seemed to be at least friendly with one another in the comics.

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In adding several scenes to its broadcast premiere, Inhumans effectively fleshes out more characters and aspects of Inhuman life. What's more, the scenes set up new storylines for the show to explore: Louise's inevitable discovery of the Inhumans, the next act of the Genetic Council, and the dark, bloody history between Black Bolt and Medusa's families. We'll just have to wait for the next six episodes in the series to see those subplots unfold.


Airing Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, the eight-episode first season of Marvel's Inhumans stars Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Iwan Rheon as Maximus the Mad, Serinda Swan as Queen Medusa, Ken Leung as Karnak, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal, Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon, Mike Moh as Triton and Sonya Balmores as Auran.