Jupiter’s Legacy review: Netflix superhero drama needs some super-speed – CNET [CNET]

Marvel movies disappearing for a year, there’s no shortage of superheroes. The latest superpowered drama to hit the small screen is the ambitious Netflix series Jupiter’s Legacy, packed with characters who have powers of flight and super-speed — and yet ironically it struggles to soar because it moves too slow.

Based on a series of comics by writer Mark Millar and artist Frank Quitely, Jupiter’s Legacy arrives in a crowded field. On the small screen alone we’ve recently seen new episodes of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Batwoman, Black Lightning, Invincible, The Boys, the Snyder Cut… Can Netflix’s latest caped crusaders stand out? Find out yourself as all eight episodes of Jupiter’s Legacy volume 1 are available to stream on Netflix today, May 7.

Donning the cape is Josh Duhamel as Sheldon Sampson, a square-jawed Superman-style hero calling himself The Utopian. He’s a loving but stern patriarch of both his family and the Justice League/Avengers-esque Union of Justice, with an uncomfortable crossover between kin and caped coalition. Leslie Bibb is his wife, Grace, also known as Lady Liberty, and a deliciously slippery Ben Daniels is his brother Walter, endowed with tricksy mental powers.

Living in their super-shadows are super-children Chloe (Elena Kampouris) and Brandon (Andrew Horton). Brandon’s adopted his own super-identity in a tormented attempt to live up to his father’s example, while Chloe is a hot mess who’s gone the other way with a superhuman drug habit and nothing but contempt for daddy’s code.

Episode 1’s showstopping punch-up promises all the color and costumes of a comic book, plus the grit (and gore) you don’t get in a Marvel movie. But family drama is the real focus of the show: Sure, there are a few superpowered battles and some inventive action dotted through the season, but after the opening installment whole episodes go by with barely a swirl of a cape. If the noisy city-smashing carnage of DC and Marvel movies isn’t your bag, then this could be the superhero show for you.

Enlarge Image

Enlarge Image