'Powerless' TV Series in the DC Universe Release Date and Preview At San Diego Comic-Con 2016

Jul 22, 2016 10:37 AM EDT

We live in a world that is crowded with superhero movies and television shows, it is interesting to see a new show called Powerless which takes a comical point of view in its DC superhero universe.   This is not to be confused with the FX series of Powers, and this is what is known about Powerless with its release date on television, as well as the preview at San Diego Comic-Con 2016. 

According to CNET, a preview of the pilot appeared at Comic-Con.  While it doesn't say what the fan reaction to it was, it doesn't look like there is great fan outcry like there was with the all-female Ghostbusters film.  The reviewer laughed out loud for the preview of the pilot, so that is a good sign. 

The show has an excellent choice of cast with Vanessa Hudgens (of High School Musical fame) as Emily Locke along with Danny Pudi (who played the constantly referencing character of Abed on Community) as Teddy.  Together, Emily and Teddy work for Retcon Insurance, and they just started working with their new boss Del, played by Alan Tudyk (famous for his work as Wash on Firefly, not to mention being in most of the new Disney CG animated films). 

Retcon Insurance are the guys that you call when superheroes and super-villains have a fight and your house gets destroyed.  No doubt they are busy after Man of Steel, but this show takes place in the fictional Charm City in the superhero-heavy fictional DC Universe.

The focus will be on the non-superhero characters, but the report is that the credits include two characters from the first incarnation of the Super Friends cartoon.  This would be Wendy and Marvin, who were two teenagers that hung out at the Hall of Justice and helped the heroes, along with their canine companion Wonderdog (this was before the age of the Wonder Twins).  I wasn't able to find Wendy and Marvin's character names on the show's imdb page, but I did find a credit for Atlin Mitchell playing the Crimson Fox, who is a DC character who was a member of the European branch of the Justice League. 

Powerless won't be appearing in the Fall, but it will be showing up mid-season, so sometime in 2017.  What is interesting is that even though this takes place in the DC Universe, it isn't going to be a show that ends up taking place in the CW universe of shows like Arrow, The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl (assuming that she joins up with that team, which she probably will after "Flashpoint").  Instead, this is going to be a separate world all on its own, and a comedy on NBC, which looks to be more in the vein of The Office rather than The Avengers.