Superhero movie and series fans have another new entry into the ever-growing list of new content to stream. Not long ago, we wrote a mid-season review of Amazon Prime’s Invincible. Today, we’re back with another recently released non-Marvel or DC superhero series - Jupiter’s Legacy from Netflix. We’ll try to keep this largely spoiler-free, so read on, even if you haven’t seen the series yet.
What’s it about?
The 8 episode series is based on the story of a group of superheroes called The Union. The series uses a mix of scenes from ‘now’ mixed with a look back at the origin of the heroes, which dates back to 1929. So, each episode pushes the current story forward, while tying it back to the slow reveal of how the main characters came to gain their powers.
The modern world is filled with superheroes and super-villains. The heroes invariably belong to The Union, a group created by the ‘original’ superheroes, which now includes various teams of younger superheroes (often the children of the originals). Those original heroes are all still very much in action, despite having received their powers over 90 years ago.
The main story takes place as the older generation of heroes is paving the way for the next generation to step into their roles. In particular, this involves the children of Sheldon and Grace Sampson. Sheldon (The Utopian) is the leader of The Union and its most powerful hero. We see the challenges of growing up as the children of the world’s greatest superhero parents on their two kids - Brandon and Chloe.
The Union adheres to a strict code that they put in place back in 1929, one of the main points of which was to never take a life. No doubt this was a challenging code to live up to throughout history, but as the supervillains became more powerful and dangerous, it will become one of the most important aspects of the show’s plot.
Who are the main characters?
- The Utopian / Sheldon Sampson - The world’s most powerful superhero and leader of The Union.
- Lady Liberty / Grace Kennedy-Sampson - One of the co-founders of the Union, married to The Utopian and mother of Brandon and Chloe Sampson.
- The Paragon / Brandon Sampson - Son of Lady Liberty and The Utopian and heir apparent to the leadership of The Union at some point in the future.
- Chloe Sampson - Daughter of Lady Liberty and The Utopian, who has walked away from the family business and is instead a supermodel.
- Brainwave / Walter Sampson - Sheldon’s brother and another founding member of The Union.
- The Flare / Fitz Small - One of the founding members of The Union, who is now retired after being injured. His daughter is now a member.
- Skyfox / George Hutchence - Another founding member of The Union and Sheldon’s closest friend back in the 1920s. Now The Union’s enemy number 1.
- Blackstar - Supervillain who begins the series in a supermax detention facility for supervillains.
- Hutch - A hustler and criminal, who also happens to be the son of Skyfox.
What’s the verdict?
It took an episode or two for the show to grow on me, but once it did I found it fairly interesting and entertaining. It has a slightly different tone than some of the other current superhero movies and series. There is a bit of a Superman aspect to it, but as the show progresses, it brings up some interesting questions about the importance of morality for extremely super-powered beings. It does share a bit of a common thread with Amazon’s The Boys, where we get to see how having superpowers might impact a person’s character - for good or bad.
While certain questions and plot points are wrapped up at the end of the final episode, there are MANY unanswered questions and stories to delve into in future seasons. While we do end up getting the complete origin story of The Union by the end of the season finale, it largely creates even more questions than it answers. If the series is popular on Netflix, it certainly seems poised for a multi-season run, based on the content from the comic book series it is based on.
So, the verdict here is that if you love a good superhero show and want to see one that tries to delve into some of the complex moral issues involved, then this show is right up your alley. Add it to your list!
