New to TV: Powerless

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s just another superhero show. But have no fear, it’s a superhero show with a twist!

Powerless is NBC’s latest television show set within the DC Universe, which has been officially designated as “Earth P”. We all know the stories about various superheroes through the countless movie and television adaptions, but this show tells it from the perspective of those who have to cope with the collateral damage caused by the constant battles between the heroes and villains.

The show follows Emily Locke (played by Vanessa Hudgens) who moves to Charm City for a new job as the Director of Research & Development for Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises that specializes in products that make defenseless bystanders feel a little safer. The young and endearingly optimistic woman with big ideas soon realises her expectations far exceed those who work at Wayne Security.

Emily’s new officemates include her new boss Van Wayne (Alan Tudyk, Firefly), Teddy (Danny Pudi, Community), Jackie (Christina Kirk, A to Z) and Ron (Ron Funches, Undateable) who all lack the enthusiasm to protect the citizens of Charm City. So it will be up to Emily to lead the team toward their full potential and the realization that you don’t need superpowers to be a hero.

When the pilot episode originally showed at San Diego Comic Con last year, it was a different iteration as to what will be premiering. Although the pilot was well-recieved by viewers, after showrunner Ben Queen left, changes were made to the series. The major change was the characters’ workplace, which was previously an insurance company names Retcon. But now set at Wayne Security, Tudyk’s character was also changed to become Bruce Wayne’s cousin, Vanderveer Wayne.

But don’t expect to be seeing any of the big DC superheroes in the show. “One of the things that’s kind of fun about our show is that we’ve got kind of the B-list superheroes and super villains. You’ll never see Batman there.” says Hudgens.

Executive producer Patrick Schumacker told ComingSoon.net about the superheroes which will be featured within the show.

“We decided early on that the Global Guardians — who are a slightly more obscure group of characters — would be the resident heroes of Charm City. As far as actual superheroes, you’re going to see, aside from Crimson Fox, a character called Olympian, who is kind of a Greek god. You’re going to see Natalie Morales as Green Fury, aka Fire of Fire and Ice. Natalie’s going to be in a few episodes as Fire.”