Review: Jupiter’s Legacy Season 1

Based on the Mark Millar / Frank Quitely comic book of the same name, Jupiter’s Legacy sees is the first in what could be a longline of adaptions based on Mark Millar’s work from Netflix following the acquisition of the Millarworld brand back in 2017. However, anyone looking for something along the lines of Kick-Ass or Kingsman may be disappointed with what’s on offer here.

From start to finish Jupiter’s Legacy is a pure superhero story through and through and sees Josh Duhamel (Transformers / Las Vegas) take the lead as a Superman-esque hero known as The Utopian while a host of not so familiar faces round out the supporting cast.

At this point, it’s hard to find something fresh in the superhero genre that hasn’t been done countless times before but when you have shows like The Boys that completely subvert expectation, it means that when something like Jupiter’s Legacy comes along you expect more from it than what you get.

Bouncing between modern day superhero antics and a 1930’s origin story, Jupiter’s Legacy fails to keep your attention as one of the timelines is infinitely more interesting that the other. While the modern day timeline clearly aims to deliver a tale of superhero intrigue and conspiracy on the same levels as Watchmen, it is the 1930’s origin story that is the heart and soul of the show and in truth the only part that feels truly original.

My biggest issue with the show is that it just takes too long to become interesting. Sure, the last two episodes are the best of the season but I don’t want to waste 6hrs watching a show before it gets good. To be perfectly blunt, Jupiter’s Legacy would have been better served by being adapted into a 2hr film instead of the 8hr bloated mess we have here.

By no means am I saying Jupiter’s Legacy is as bad as something like Marvel’s Inhumans but it isn’t great and I’d struggle to recommend it to anyone if I’m being honest. However, I do think it’s a good thing that Netflix decided to release the show just after The Falcon and the Winter Solider wrapped and before the release of Loki as otherwise I doubt it would have even stood a chance.

I was ready to love Jupiter’s Legacy, I really was. I’ve been a huge fan of Mark Millar for years and I can’t help but feel Nemesis could maybe have been a better starting off point for Netflix to introduce the Millarworld properties to a new audience. I can’t deny Jupiter’s Legacy had the potential to be something special, but on this occasion Netflix failed to deliver it.

by Edward Laing