The Jupiter's Legacy comic, which is by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, is overall a pretty solid deconstruction of Golden Age superheroes. While the comic doesn't necessarily get as deep as it could and sometimes proves a bit derivative, there's a lot of really interesting, solid stuff in it that made Netflix's adaptation of the property seem genuinely promising. However, the first season of Netflix's Jupiter's Legacy proves an anemic adaptation that fails to capture what's enjoyable about the source material.
Jupiter's Legacy opens with Sheldon Sampson/Utopian (Josh Duhamel) explaining the importance of using one's powers responsibly to his children, Chloe and Brandon Sampson, going so far as to dust off an old chestnut even the current Spider-Man movies have avoided: "With great power comes great responsibility." Soon after, Utopian jets off to help someone in need, reneging on a promise to get ice cream with his kids. This opening scene does a lot to establish what's going on in Jupiter's Legacy, painting Sheldon as both deeply idealistic and a pretty bad father.
From there, an adult Brandon Sampson/Paragon (Andrew Horton) is nearly beaten by a supervillain, only surviving the encounter because Utopian comes to his son's rescue. However, Utopian ends up quite disappointed that Brandon wasn't able to handle that supervillain on his own, which leads to some strife between the two. Following that confrontation, the Union, which is the world's version of the Justice League, fights a shocking battle that kicks off an anemic debate on the role of superheroes in the modern world.
On one side of the debate is the Utopian, who subscribes to a politically neutral, anti-killing Golden Age notion of heroics. On the other is the younger generation of heroes and Utopian's own brother, Walter Sampson/Brainwave (Ben Daniels). That group is looking for a change that would have heroes adapt to a more modern standard of social responsibility and ethics.
And while Utopian is meant to be something of a moral center for Jupiter's Legacy, the show is entirely uninterested in putting his ethical code -- which includes, among other things, a bizarre prohibition against stopping state-sanctioned genocide -- to the test. Instead, Jupiter's Legacy is happy to have its character spend the majority of their screen-time parroting talking points in an almost constant violation of the classic writing axiom to show rather than tell. Everyone in Jupiter's Legacy is more than happy to state their position on the debate without ever bringing anything special to that conversation.
What makes this failure even more baffling is that Jupiter's Legacy creator Steven S. DeKnight was showrunner for Netflix's Daredevil Season 1. In that series, DeKnight and his team balanced a strong emotional story with Matt Murdock's own struggles about whether murder would turn him into the very thing that he feared. However, by the end of Jupiter's Legacy Season 1, the series has delved no deeper into any of its big questions than it did in the very first scene of the show. This leaves the show feeling much more similar to the much-maligned Iron Fist Season 1 than Daredevil, and that's genuinely disappointing.
Running parallel to that main plot is one involving how the original six members of the Union got their powers in the 1930s. Thematically and structurally, the past plotline is a lot clearer, and there are several strong character moments. However, despite being definitely better, the '30s storyline ends up getting hampered by the present timeline and decompressed storytelling. There's virtually no thematic overlap between the two timelines, which is particularly glaring when characters constantly opine about how supervillains weren't nearly as awful in the Golden Age. By never really showing a Golden Age supervillain in action, Jupiter's Legacy leaves viewers with absolutely no comparison points as to whether the Utopian's view of the past is accurate or if he's just always found another way to deal with deadly situations.
Thanks to the present timeline, it's also entirely clear what's going to happen in the past timeline, sucking out any sense of suspense or intrigue. And while in some cases knowing exactly what happens can help shift the focus more on to character development, that's not the case in Jupiter's Legacy Season 1. The past timeline never gets far enough to really do more than hint at just how characters changed into the people they are in the present timeline.
Those looking for action in Jupiter's Legacy will also find themselves sorely disappointed. There isn't much in the series, and aside from some good action set pieces in the finale, what's there doesn't work particularly well. A lot of the battles feel unnecessarily slow and clunky. This leaves Jupiter's Legacy heavy reliant on stilted dialogue and a plot that hardly covers what would happen in three episodes of a better show.
The main thing that keeps Jupiter's Legacy Season 1 from sinking straight to the bottom is the acting. Every actor brings a charm that helps to make the bad writing bearable for a time. However, by the end of Season 1, there's not a lot they can do to keep Jupiter's Legacy from being a meandering, anemic attempt at a deconstructionist superhero tale.
Netflix's Jupiter's Legacy stars Josh Duhamel as The Utopian, Ben Daniels as Brainwave, Leslie Bibb as Lady Liberty, Elena Kampouris as Chloe Sampson, Andrew Horton as Brandon Sampson, Mike Wade as The Flare, Anna Akana as Raikou and Matt Lanter as Skyfox. Season 1 is available on Netflix now.
Jupiter's Legacy
The first generation of superheroes has kept the world safe for nearly a century. Now their children must live up to their legacy in an epic drama that spans decades and navigates the dynamics of family, power and loyalty.
- Release Date
- May 7, 2021
- Creator
- Steven S. DeKnight
- Cast
- Josh Duhamel , Leslie Bibb , Ben Daniels , Andrew Hampton , Elena Kampouris , Mike Wade , Matt Lanter
- Main Genre
- Superhero