2010: The Year of Superhero TV

Superhero fans are in for a TV treat this summer... Or are they? Smallville has shown that the is a definite audience for TV superhero dramas, or "superamas". With its tenth and final season on its way, the stage is clearing for all manner of superhero replacements. Over the next few months three US TV stations each have their own superamas on the way. The main three are The Phantom (Syfy), The Cape (NBC) and No Ordinary Family (ABC). One of these is a continuation of an existing legend, The Phantom, but the other two are TV originals. Let's take a look at how the trailers and premises shape up.


The Phantom

The original character began in a daily newspaper strip in 1936. The epitimous protagonist was the 21st Phantom in a family line fighting crime from a headquarters in a fictional African country. The Phantom has no superhuman powers but, much like Batman, relies on superstition and myth to strike fear into his enemies. Unlike Batman, the Phantom carries sidearms and isn't afraid to use them. The new series is based on the 22nd Phantom, Chris Walker. Based in the city rather than the jungle, this version has a mysterious group suddenly showing up and revealing that Chris Walker was adopted and demanding that he take up the mantel of his birth father as a masked vigilante. Needless to say, after initial reluctance, events force his hand and his life is changed forever.

Interesting Phantom Phact: The Phantom was the first fictional character to wear a skintight costume and show the trademark eyes with no visible pupils.

Thankfully, he loses the skintight lycra in favour of more functional high-tech gear that uses nanotechnology to make him resistant to heat, blades, falls, impacts and small sidearms and make him 2.5 times stronger.

Must... use... POWERS! Summary:

• Trailer highlight: [Looking at the original phantom costume] "I'm not wearing that,"
• Will it do or say anything new or interesting? Doubtful
• Will it be fun? Probably
• Will it get boring after the first season? Almost definitely
• Expect: Parkour, guns and a cheeeese

Syfy Phantom Trailer:


Nothing could be as bad as the last time:

Oh, Billy Zane, you crazy fool...

The Cape
Vince Faraday, the last honest cop on a corrupt force, is framed for a series of murders and presumed dead. Taken in by a weird underground circus, he's for some reason trained to be the superhero in his son's favourite comic, The Cape. He's given a special cape made, ridiculously, of pure spider-silk, which apparently makes it "stronger than kevlar but thinner than filament". With his training and new persona, he sets out to regain the faith of his family and restore justice to the city.

Must... use... POWERS! Summary:

• Trailer highlight: "What are you, like, 12?"
  "You're the one wearing long underwear and a cape" [clearly in order to stay relevant in the "real world", superamas have to make fun of their costumes]
• Will it do or say anything new or interesting? The trailer suggests one cliche after another
• Will it be fun? Not so far
• Will it get boring after the first season? More like, will it make it to a full season?
• Expect: TV-grade special effects, 2D characters, formulaic stories

NBC The Cape trailer:


No Ordinary Family

Another police officer takes his totally normal (dysfunctional) American family on a trip to Brazil and their plane ends up crashing in the Amazon River. Unbeknownst to them, something in the river has given them each unique superhuman powers. Did I say, "unique"? I meant obvious. The father gains strength and invulnerability, the mother speed, the daughter mind-reading and the academically failing son becomes super-intelligent. Sound familiar? The powers may be different but they are basically the Fantastic Four and The Incredibles rolled into one. Oh and of course the father has the obligatory wise-cracking black friend? All that said, I don't think it matters that the premise is unoriginal or that the producers even care, casting Ben Grimm himself (Michael Chiklis) as the father of the Powells. No Ordinary Family definitely looks like a lot of light-hearted fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. For this reason, it's my pick of the three and I think it'll go for a good few seasons.


Must... use... POWERS! Summary:

• Trailer highlight:
  "You turned my garage into a..."
  "That's right: A lair"
  "I have a lair..."
  "With wi-fi"
• Will it do or say anything new or interesting? Although it's been done before, there's still a lot of scope to this formula
• Will it be fun? Almost certainly
• Will it get boring after the first season? Doubtful. I see it running for at least 3 seasons.
• Expect: Fantastic Four / The Incredibles / Modern Family mash-up

ABC No Ordinary Family Trailer:


I've told you my favourite of the bunch but out of the three, superhero fans are bound to find at least one welcome break from the normal rubbish on TV!