Powerless (TV series)

Premise

Powerless takes place in the DC Universe and follows the adventures of Emily Locke (Vanessa Hudgens) as Director of Research & Development at Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises based in Charm City, that specializes in products for ordinary humans who are poised to be victims of the battles between superheroes and supervillains.

The storylines in the television series are not directly based on storylines in the DC comic franchise, including the Batman franchise. Rather the premise imagines stories that run parallel to the plots in the comic franchise.

Cast and characters

Atlin Mitchell has been cast in a recurring role as Crimson Fox. Adam West, who portrayed Bruce Wayne / Batman in 1960s television series Batman and its theatrical feature film, narrated the pilot episode, introducing Wayne Security. Marc McClure, who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the 1978 film Superman and its sequels and spin-off Supergirl, portrayed Emily Locke's yet-to-be named father in the pilot.

Production

In January 2016, it was reported that NBC gave the pilot order for Powerless. In February 2016, the main cast was announced: Vanessa Hudgens as the main character, Emily Locke, Danny Pudi as Teddy, Alan Tudyk as Van and Christina Kirk as Jackie. In July 2016, Ron Funches joined the cast as Ron. In August 2016, it was reported that Ben Queen had departed as showrunner.

Critical response

After the original pilot was shown at Comic Con 2016, reviews were generally positive. Eric Goldman of IGN gave it a 7.5/10 saying "it's very endearing and amusing and has me looking forward to seeing where it can go". Sydney Bucksbaum of Nerdist praised the pilot episode, saying it's "the superhero comedy we deserve" and "Fans of comic books, office comedy, rom-coms or just having a good laugh, Powerless is for you." After the Pilot episode aired at SDCC 2016, series creator Ben Queen departed the series, after which it was given a new premise and almost the entire episode was reshot.

The reviews for the second pilot episode of Powerless were mostly mixed. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 64% critic approval rating with an average rating of 5.36/10 based on 33 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Powerless has a strong premise leaving room for improvement -- and strong performances from a talented cast -- but the show's initial spark is dimmed by uneven execution and a lack of laughs." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Jesse Scheiden of IGN gave the pilot episode a 4.2/10 saying "there's a lot of potential in that idea, but very little of it is realized here" calling the script "lousy" and calling the show "generic". Yahoo's Dominic Patten called Powerless "a charming comedy with legs and a smart premise". Yahoo's Ken Tucker praised its opening credits which use classic artists like Carmine Infantino, saying "the credits aren't funny, they're just beautiful", while Sonia Saraiya praised the cast, particularly Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke calling her performance charming, and Tudyk's performance as "the standout". Additionally she said she is optimistic about the show, saying that "there’s a light, nimble humor to the show’s treatment of superpowers and heroic antics — a much needed respite".

After the first two episodes were panned by critics, the third and fourth episodes received favorable reviews. Jesse Scheden of IGN gave "Sinking Day" a 7.2/10, saying that "the show improves enough in its third episode to leave hope that the show will eventually realize its full potential". About the fourth episode "Emily dates a Henchman", Jesse Scheden gave it an 8/10 saying that "the show still isn't particularly deep, and it still struggles to take advantage of every member of the main cast, it is developing into an entertainingly goofy take on the DC Universe".