Could Legion Of Superheroes be made into a T.V. show?

[Assam]

I just can't take character's whose powers include eating everything or bouncing around seriously. Way too campy and Golden "Agey" for my taste.

Well you're just no fun at all. Also, the Legion started in the Silver Age, not the Golden Age.

As for Lar, well he's a 21st century character and I'd rather have a hypothetical LOSH series focus soley on the 31st century and build up that world and it's characters/locations/politics...etc

Except...he isn't? He comes from the 'present' but he isn't the only one to originally hail from there and while he's spent some time there certainly, 95% of the time he's in the future with the Legion and he's a Legion character first and foremost.

[El_Gato]

Well you're just no fun at all. Also, the Legion started in the Silver Age, not the Golden Age.



Except...he isn't? He comes from the 'present' but he isn't the only one to originally hail from there and while he's spent some time there certainly, 95% of the time he's in the future with the Legion and he's a Legion character first and foremost.

True but those power sets just seem like something straight out of the golden age lol.

And ok you got me on Lar lol. I'll tolerate his presence as long as I get my personal favorite Legionaires: Timberwolf, Dawnstar, Wildfire and Shadowlass!

[Jim Kelly]

I'm not sure if it's something to be proud of or if it's just sad, but I can name every Legionnaire, their real names and the planets they all come from off the top of my head.

Maybe not every Legionnaire for me, but most. The reason I used their real names was to hint at a more grounded take on the characters--they might have codenames in my scenario, but we get to know them by their real names and those are the names they would use most of the time.

I just can't take character's whose powers include eating everything or bouncing around seriously.

The Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes feature in ADVENTURE COMICS took over its slot in the comic from Tales of the Bizarro World. And John Forte was the artist on both (although he left the Legion when he became terminally ill), while Jerry Siegel was the writer for the Bizarro feature and he split writing duties with Edmond Hamilton on the Legion.

So I think that humour just naturally transferred over from one feature to the other--it was something the readers got used to having in ADVENTURE. And it was always an aspect of the Legion even when other writers and artists came on board.

I see a lot of current TV shows--especially science fiction and anthology programs--that have similar absurdist elements. It's not really an antiquated thing. A lot of the humour in LSH was self-referential so it's meant to be a wink to the readers.

Of course, there are many incarnations of the Legion, so a TV program wouldn't have to use Jerry Siegel's oddball style. But Bouncing Boy--Chuck Taine--is one of my favourite Legionnaires. He sort of stood in for the teen readers at the time of the original run--who themselves may have had body issues and feelings of inferiority. The fact that he came from Earth, his regular guy name and how he got his powers (drinking what he thought was soda pop) all point to him as an everyday person.

[Assam]

And ok you got me on Lar lol. I'll tolerate his presence as long as I get my personal favorite Legionaires: Timberwolf, Dawnstar, Wildfire and Shadowlass!

Nice picks for your faves. None of them are in my top 10, but hey, I love nearly every member of this team.

I've been re-reading some older Legion stories recently for the first time since I was a kid, and it's now incredibly clear to me why Drake became so popular so quickly: At the time of his introduction, he had more personality than the rest of the team put together. They'd play catch up in time certainly, but he was way ahead of the curve.

Maybe not every Legionnaire for me, but most. The reason I used their real names was to hint at a more grounded take on the characters--they might have codenames in my scenario, but we get to know them by their real names and those are the names they would use most of the time.

How very 5 Years Later-esque. I'd probably do the same thing.

But Bouncing Boy--Chuck Taine--is one of my favourite Legionnaires. He sort of stood in for the teen readers at the time of the original run--who themselves may have had body issues and feelings of inferiority. The fact that he came from Earth, his regular guy name and how he got his powers (drinking what he thought was soda pop) all point to him as an everyday person.

Chuck was definitely one of my favorites as a kid.

[Jim Kelly]

I remember reading the first story with ERG-1 in it and being really impressed, as much by the art as the story. I wasn't too happy when they changed his name to Wildfire, because that seemed unoriginal and not specific to the character. I still would have him called ERG-1, if I had anything to say about it.

[Osiris-Rex]

How in the hell do they screw up the color green?!? He looks like he has the Coluan version of liver failure. Good grief.

Probably because green skin doesn't work with green screen. If they painted him green he would look like the invisible man on camera. And liver failure makes the skin look yellow, not blue.

[Osiris-Rex]

After seeing how bad Brainiac 5 will look on the Supergirl series, I’d say no to a Legion show right now.

You are an unrelenting fatalist. This was on a Season of Supergirl that was obviously thrown together at top speed and to pick 2 other design failures Martian Manhunter and Red Torpedo. Far worse than Brainiac. His look seemed to be lifted from the show Continuum if I have the right series.

I think the CW shows have done far better adaptions with their limited budget, so I think it is a shame they couldn't really get Brainy right.

I don't know if you could even pull it off GoT-style since that's a low-fantasy show vs. the Legion which would be very high Sci-Fi, and probably require more effects and work then GoT does.

But a Legion series would probably be, in some ways, as ambitious as GoT.

What?

I agree Red Tornado's design was pretty bad, but I've always though Martian Manhunter's design was pretty good and comic-accurate.

People have wildly high expectations of what can be done on a TV show budget. Look at the effects and costumes of shows like Batman 66, Wonder Woman 77, Lois & Clark 1990s. TV has become vastly
superior to them. The costumes and effects on Supergirl exceed what even movies could do in those days. But it is just unrealistic that a TV show is going to have 2017 Star Wars levels of effects and costumes.
And no, no one is going to spend Game of Thrones money on a Legion of Superheroes show. So if Supergirl isn't good enough, then yeah, don't watch. Because you aren't going to get anything on TV any
better anytime soon.

[Sutekh]

Probably because green skin doesn't work with green screen. If they painted him green he would look like the invisible man on camera. And liver failure makes the skin look yellow, not blue.

They already use green for Martian Manhunter, so I imagine that they went with another color for the same reason that Drax, in the Guardians movie, isn't green, because they didn't want a bunch of totally unrelated green-skinned people.

[Jokerz79]

That's Brainiac 5? It looks like an SNL skit no seriously the look on the actors face holding the mug it looks like something from SNL. It's sad when you're on par with this



At least that scared me as a kid and it was 35 years ago.

[alton]

That's Brainiac 5? It looks like an SNL skit no seriously the look on the actors face holding the mug it looks like something from SNL. It's sad when you're on par with this



At least that scared me as a kid and it was 35 years ago.

So to get back to a discussion a little closer to what I think was the original OP. Just because Supergirl created a Brainiac look you didn't like no LoSH TV series should be created until you give wardrobe approval. Doesn't anyone on these DC threads just watch TV for the entertainment aspect? Quite frankly I would not have included Brainiac 5 in the initial 3 seasons because I want an LoSH show not a Legion show. I stumbled across a pile of Legion 90-94 era and thought they were pretty much crap but I did enjoy the more recent relaunch from a couple of years ago.

[Osiris-Rex]

They already use green for Martian Manhunter, so I imagine that they went with another color for the same reason that Drax, in the Guardians movie, isn't green, because they didn't want a bunch of totally unrelated green-skinned people.

But Martian Manhunter is CGI. That's why we don't see him in his Martian from all the time, it would be too expensive. With Brainiac 5 they probably don't want to have him be another shape shifter
so to have him be in his Brainiac 5 form all the time they needed to go with another color because to always have him CGI would be too expensive.

So to get back to a discussion a little closer to what I think was the original OP. Just because Supergirl created a Brainiac look you didn't like no LoSH TV series should be created until you give wardrobe approval. Doesn't anyone on these DC threads just watch TV for the entertainment aspect? Quite frankly I would not have included Brainiac 5 in the initial 3 seasons because I want an LoSH show not a Legion show. I stumbled across a pile of Legion 90-94 era and thought they were pretty much crap but I did enjoy the more recent relaunch from a couple of years ago.

Kids here don't realize how expensive and how much time it takes to create something like this. They see something in a movie that spent millions of dollars and a year to film and think a TV show with
a limited budget and a week or two to film should look as good. Look at Justice League. It cost $300 million to make and over a year to film. But did Steppenwolf look 100 times better than any of the
villains on Supergirl. I think that Parasite and the White Martians looked as good, if not better, than Steppenwolf. The ratings Supergirl gets just don't justify them spending a lot of money so they make
do with what they can afford. And if people think someone is going to spend Game of Thrones money on a superhero show they are living in a dream world. These shows have a very limited audience and
no amount of special effects and fancy costumes are going to attract a big audience. Game of Thrones was a strange outlier that probably won't be repeated anytime soon.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERGIRL seems to be running through the DC IPs faster than any other CW show--even LEGENDS OF TOMORROW which was created for that purpose. It's like they're in a hurry to get through as many concepts as they can before someone pulls the plug. And since they were already going to be cancelled after the first season on CBS, they might have good reason.

But the handling of the Legion on SUPERGIRL hasn't bothered me yet. It is Kara's series not theirs, so they just exist to support the Girl of Steel. I wouldn't want to second guess what might come out of this version of the LSH. It could actually spark interest among viewers who don't have any attachment to the Legion. I would say that having Justin Hartley play Green Arrow on SMALLVILLE was directly responsible for ARROW. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

[Jim Kelly]

to have him be in his Brainiac 5 form all the time they needed to go with another color because to always have him CGI would be too expensive.

Even having him in full make-up and wig costs them money because that's hours of time before and after his scenes, in hair and make up. Thay have to pay for the people and the space. It might not be CGI dollars, but it's still a prohibitive expense if they do too many scenes with the character.

I think that if Brainy is in more than a few episodes, we wll see him change his appearance to look more human most of the time. In his case it wouldn't be shape-shifting, like J'Onn, but some kind of advanced mind tech--like what H.R. used on THE FLASH.

I don't think there's been any alien in a recurring role on SUPERGIRL who hasn't posed as a human. Even Indigo appeared as regular Laura Vandervoort for a lot of her scenes.

[Osiris-Rex]

SUPERGIRL seems to be running through the DC IPs faster than any other CW show--even LEGENDS OF TOMORROW which was created for that purpose. It's like they're in a hurry to get through as many concepts as they can before someone pulls the plug. And since they were already going to be cancelled after the first season on CBS, they might have good reason.

Though after Supergirl was moved to the CW the head of CBS made the claim that if CBS didn't have the CW that CBS probably would have kept Supergirl. It was doing better on Mondays than anything since that isn't
The Big Bang Theory. It was doing well enough in the ratings for CBS, it was just the cost of making the episode that was a factor, and with the move to Vancouver that would have been enough to tip the balance for
CBS to keep Supergirl. Now if Supergirl would have gotten a 3rd season on CBS, probably not. But who knows? Maybe it was just PR, maybe he was telling the truth.
And now that the show is on the CW it is probably good for at least a 4th season and will probably get a 5th, so I don't think they are motivated by imminent cancellation.

Even having him in full make-up and wig costs them money because that's hours of time before and after his scenes, in hair and make up. Thay have to pay for the people and the space. It might not be CGI dollars, but it's still a prohibitive expense if they do too many scenes with the character.

I think that if Brainy is in more than a few episodes, we wll see him change his appearance to look more human most of the time. In his case it wouldn't be shape-shifting, like J'Onn, but some kind of advanced mind tech--like what H.R. used on THE FLASH.

I don't think there's been any alien in a recurring role on SUPERGIRL who hasn't posed as a human. Even Indigo appeared as regular Laura Vandervoort for a lot of her scenes.

Actually Laura was in a human form for only a couple of scenes at the beginning of her first episode, "Solitude", as someone on a TV screen in Cat's office and then on Winn's laptop.
From then on for "Solitude" in her actual physical form and for all of the "Myriad" and "Better Angels" episodes she was a blue alien.

[alton]

I think that if Brainy is in more than a few episodes, we wll see him change his appearance to look more human most of the time. In his case it wouldn't be shape-shifting, but some tech.

Sure sounds way to close to Michael Jackson to me but if it works for you.....