'Powerless': What we know about the upcoming NBC superhero comedy

Forget TV shows focusing on superheroes – 'Powerless,' starring Vanessa Hudgens, centers on the ordinary people living alongside the caped crime fighters.

|
Chris Large/NBC/AP
'Powerless' stars Vanessa Hudgens (center), Danny Pudi (l.), and Christina Kirk (r.).

More about NBC’s upcoming superhero comedy “Powerless” was revealed at the network’s upfront presentation, in which TV network staff discuss their future shows in the presence of advertisers and the media.

“Powerless” stars Vanessa Hudgens of “Grease: Live,” “Community” actor Danny Pudi, and Alan Tudyk of “Zootopia.” The TV show takes place in the world of DC Comics characters, a group that includes such familiar heroes as Batman and Superman, but the program centers on characters who do not have superpowers but who instead are living alongside these caped heroes. 

According to a clip shown at the NBC upfront, protagonist Emily (Ms. Hudgens) works at an insurance company that is sometimes forced to grapple with the damage caused by these superheroes.

“Powerless” is set to debut in the middle of the traditional TV schedule, so it will likely air in 2017 rather than as part of the crop of new fall shows later this year.

The comedy will be the newest tongue-in-cheek take on the superhero genre. Superhero tales have come to dominate Hollywood, with Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” and Warner Bros.’s DC Comics movie “Batman v Superman” becoming two of the highest-grossing films released so far this year. 

But one has beaten them both so far to become the highest-grossing film of 2016 (though either "Captain" or "Batman" could catch up): “Deadpool,” a superhero movie that parodies the genre, with protagonist Deadpool making fourth-wall-breaking comments and referencing other superhero films (when told he’s going to see “X-Men” character Professor Xavier, he asks whether the character is being played by Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy, both of whom have taken on the role in the past).

And a slightly different take on the superhero film is also arriving this August with the Warner Bros. movie “Suicide Squad,” which is a story of the villains, not the heroes. 

Meanwhile, the insurance company setting of “Powerless” also echoes themes in Marvel’s newest hit “Captain America: Civil War,” in which the government requires superheroes to be controlled by the UN after damage from superheroes during battles against villains leads to civilian casualties.

"Powerless" is the newest twist on the genre with which many moviegoers and TV watchers have become familiar.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 'Powerless': What we know about the upcoming NBC superhero comedy
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2016/0517/Powerless-What-we-know-about-the-upcoming-NBC-superhero-comedy
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe