DC Comics Sitcom POWERLESS Gets Series Order from NBC


So, will NBC bury this show with a Friday night death slot like they did Constantine?

Variety revealed yesterday that NBC has picked up the DC Comics comedy Powerless with a series order for the 2016-17 TV season.  The workplace sitcom, which was first announced in the works last August, will star Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke, Alan Tudyk as her boss Del, Danny Pudi as Teddy, Christina Kirk as Jackie, and Atlin Mitchell as DC Comics superhero Crimson Fox.  

Ben Queen wrote the pilot for Powerless and will executive produce the series with Michael Patrick Jann, who directed the pilot.  Here's the official logline for the series...

In the first comedy series set in the universe of DC Comics, Vanessa Hudgens plays Emily, a spunky young insurance adjuster specializing in regular-people coverage against damage caused by the crime-fighting superheroes. It’s when she stands up to one of these larger-than-life figures (after an epic battle messes with her commute) that she accidentally becomes a cult “hero” in her own right … even if it’s just to her group of lovably quirky co-workers. Now, while she navigates her normal, everyday life against an explosive backdrop, Emily might just discover that being a hero doesn’t always require superpowers.


Created in 1989 by Keith Giffen and Bart Sears, Crimson Fox first appeared in Justice League Europe #6 as a French superhero whose identity was shared by identical twins Vivian and Constance D'Aramis.  The twins had superhuman speed and agility and could emit pheromones that stimulated intense sexual attraction in men. Their gloves were equipped with deadly steel talons. 

The sisters ran Revson, a major Parisian perfume company (which may perhaps explain the origin of their pheromone powers).  In order to make their heroic actions easier, they faked Constance's death, so that one of them could operate as Crimson Fox while the other attended business functions.  Vivian D'Aramis met her fate at the hands of Puanteur in Justice League America, while Constance D'Aramis had her throat slit by The Mist in the pages of Starman right before the building she was in was blown up.

Powerless is expected to debut on NBC sometime this fall.

Posted on May 12, 2016 .