The first set photos from Jupiter’s Legacy have surfaced, showing Josh Duhamel in costume as central character The Utopian. The Netflix series is an adaptation of the comic of the same name by Scottish legends Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, and is the first adaptation by the streaming service after it bought the former’s Millarworld imprint, with many more to come.
Debuting in 2013, the Jupiter’s Legacy comics center on a group of people who during the Great Depression became the first superheroes the world had ever seen, forming a team christened the Union in the hope of becoming the salvation of a country crippled by hopelessness and in desperate need of something to believe in again. Decades later, their squabbling over the extent of their responsibilities in the modern day leads to internal conflict, while their children struggle with the impossible task of living up to their parents’ legendary legacy despite inheriting powers of their own, leading to them eschewing heroics and leading hedonistic lifestyles.
The photos were posted to the feed of Twitter user Rincón Friki. The images of Josh Duhamel show how close the series is hewing to The Utopian’s comic book look, the white suit, red cape and boots, and gold eagle emblem and belt all being ripped directly from the comic’s pages. The long white hair and beard suggest it’s his present-day incarnation, and he appears to be facing off with a purple-masked villain whose build and clothing choice suggests they are a woman, and the regularly spaced dots on her hands and forearms is likely indicative of some CGI to be added in post-production.
As well as Duhamel as team leader and Superman variant Sheldon Sampson/The Utopian, the other members of the Union, each endowed with a grab-bag of standard superpowers, consist of Ben Daniels as Walter Sampson/Brainwave, Sheldon’s brother; Leslie Bibb as Grace Sampson/Lady Liberty, Sheldon’s wife; Mike Wade as Fitz Small/The Flare; and Matt Lanter as George Hutchence/Skyfox. Also as part of the main cast is Elena Kampouris as Chloe Sampson and Andrew Horton as Brandon Sampson, the children of Sheldon and Grace.
Jupiter’s Legacy is a superhero series that contrasts the tradition of Golden Age origin stories and their use as contemporary mythology with the pessimism and skepticism of the modern day that views their idealism as outmoded, seen in the generational divide between the honorable and righteous senior Sampsons and their disillusioned offspring. In keeping the old-school look of The Utopian – with capes in particular being outdated for all but the most legacy of heroes – it’s likely that this clashing of ideals will be carried over to the series. Coming in the wake of the brutally violent and cynical The Boys, which also deals with the premise of superheroes in a grounded present-day setting and their juxtaposition with everyday mortals, it will be interesting to see how traditional values hold up in a world descending ever further into despair.
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Source: Rincón Friki
