DC Comics Developing Legion of Super-Heroes TV Show for HBO Max

[Superlad93]

Literally giving the Legion of Super-Heroes adaptation to the doofus who made Mon-El a Kryptonian bigamist and made Cosmic Boy a bloody one-percenter!

I'm hype too!! Mon-El was an awesome little ****, and Cosmic Boy's got such a journey ahead of him.

[Frontier]

I was just thinking "would this be Mon-El's animated debut?" though I think he had a cameo in JLvsFF.

Mon and Shadow Lass or bust.

[J. D. Guy]

Bendis got me to read the Legion and I LOVED it! Dude can’t do wrong to me. I’m definitely watching this.

Likewise, for me. That said, I'm iffy on "adult animation" in general, so for now I'll keep a peripheral eye on this one. But the fact that they're going with Bendis' Legion, which I feel was an awesome world with awesome characters that ended before it could really finish begin, earns a lot of goodwill for that alone. Indeed, I'm rather rooting for it, considering its a franchise with a history of an unpleasable fanbase stoked by Brian Michael Bendis' incessant hatedom.

[Superlad93]

Mon and Shadow Lass or bust.

More than likely it'll be Mon-El and Shadow Lass...and Phantom Girl....and whoever else.

Bendis Mon-El and New Krypton were so, so fascinating to think about. Similar to Hickman's Krakoa, Mon-El comes from a race that has had to fight to get off the endangered species list. Thus, very clearly, the text strongly implies that it's built into Kryptonian culture to mate and make babies. It's literally survival for them (thus why Mon has three kids so early in life (likely when he was like 17 or 18 given that he's older than Jon and the kids are but so old)). To other parts of the galaxy, this is strange. But to New Krypton and Mon, this is life.

The interesting part comes with the fact that Mon-El is a world class *******. But even this comes from forces outside of him. He's been told his whole life that not only is he of the line of Krypton's favorite family, the Els, but that he's also Jon Kent's direct descendant. Plus, he's the great grandson of the leader of Krypton/it's founding family, House Zod. You couple those cultural differences with everyone basically Bakugoing him his whole life, and that makes for a volatile dude.

But the interesting thing on top of this that can be done here with this show is to actually give Mon-El a consensual polyamorous relationship. He has a duty to his race and his culture, but there's more respectful and consensual ways that take into account feelings beyond just mating for reproduction that he can learn and understand.

If they handle this right, Mon-El could be the character on the show you love to hate and then kind of just love.

[Agent Z]

Personally I would’ve preferred the Retroboot and gone with Clark but I always said that Bendis Legion was likely going to be the Legion they went with. After all he already did the racebending for him .

If the “more adult” means more explicit sex and not just peoples limbs getting torn off then I’m all for it. The soap opera aspect will serve the team well I believe, and the team of the future having more LGBT members will probably widen their appeal.

Look at the other animated media: they’ve never adapted stories panel for panel (unless you’re Batman) and I don’t expect them to do that here either. They’ll use Bendis as the base but I fully expect them to blaze their own trail if this gets beyond Season 1.

S&L and this have Jon as a teen, the DTV is likely going to be the only Jon adaption with him as a kid. On the whole the trend is very much towards having Jon as an adult/teenager, not a little 10 year old.

Heh I don’t think it will be Invincible, but I do think the execs are on board for this because of the success of Invincible. Jon is easy to explain and Invincible showed that there’s a demand for coming of age stories featuring the son of “Superman”.

If I had a dollar every time someone asked for more sex in superhero stuff... I'd have two dollars. Which isn't much, but it's weird it happens more than once.

[Vordan]

Given the fact that 5G was in part created to be multimedia adaptable, I'm going to assume that at the very least they were quite open to the idea of seeing what they could do with him.

I was starting to question if any chance of that plan was going to be put into practice given they passed on Yara’s show and so far haven’t shown any sign of doing anything with Jace. But Jon has always been a bit of a special case.

I'm assuming first off we'll be seeing a lot more of Bendis' Legion in the coming years. And that we'll be seeing them crossover or pop in and out of Jon's Superman book. This will likely bond Jon with the Legion as an idea for the foreseeable future. In terms of love interests? They may make his love interest come from the future to stay will him, and that'll be the back and forth bond for the IPs?

Taylor is a big enough name at this point, he signed an exclusive after all, that I’m hesitant to say whether or not he’d have to tie into the upcoming animated show. Of course he may not even be on the book anymore by the time this show gets made (assuming of course it does manage to cross the finish line). If he is he’ll probably have enough clout to opt out of any synergy, but I certainly welcome strong ties between the Legion and the Superman franchises.

Now I'm imagining Jon as DCAU Batman with the amount of people who want to get into his pants .

I still feel like that would be doable with an all ages cartoon, but hopefully the quality and storytelling warrant it.

Can’t wait for Jon to swipe Catwoman from Batman

[J. D. Guy]

My biggest question right now is what does this art style look like? It's an "adult-animated series" so my guess is that it's not going to look like My Adventures With Superman. And I doubt they'll be reusing the Young Justice style. Maybe they just full on try and emulate Invincible?

It would be absolutely HILARIOUS if this show makes Rogol Zaar super popular with non comic book fans lol I mean, clearly Bendis and the crew will be trimming down his story form his run and abridging it or full on changing it in places, but if Zaar does make it in and he's fleshed out in ways that Bendis didn't get the chance to, it would be funny if he got super popular.

Also, guess Jay's days as Jon's boyfriend are numbered, right? I mean, regardless of who Jon dates in the 31st century it's not going to be him. It'll be Saturn Girl or even Lightning Lad. Regardless, this is going to dictate what the general audience views on Jon's love life, and thus it'll likely reverberate back onto the comics and either that character will date Jon, or character similar to them will.

As someone who's really grown to like Jay and who has seriously murky feelings about the prospect of Jay getting "replaced" before he can even finish establishing himself, let alone finish building a relationship with Jon as boyfriends, I hope that wouldn't be the case. (They could still find a way to incorporate Jay, anyhow, besides.)

But with that said, I don't think that would be an issue. Not anytime soon, if ever. I don't know the specifics of the info revealed so far, so I don't know how far along into production the show is, or if production has even begun. It could be awhile, up to a whole year or more from now, before the first episode even drops.

[Vordan]

If I had a dollar every time someone asked for more sex in superhero stuff... I'd have two dollars. Which isn't much, but it's weird it happens more than once.

Lol hey at least with the Legion it’s a good fit! Bunch of super hot hormonal teenagers all living together, they definitely are going to sleep with each other, and romance can be used to flesh out characters and also worldbuild. I don’t want porn but something at the level of YJ where they don’t shy away from establishing that yes, these characters have sex, is something I welcome. All part of my plan to establish Jon as the Superman Who Gets Shipped

[Last Son of Krypton]

20 minutes a week of Bendis' speak. The world isn't ready.

[Superlad93]

But Jon has always been a bit of a special case.

He's DC's Miles, in the sense that he's a legacy of on of their biggest IPs and as it in him to stand shoulder to shoulder if the OG version and share the name full time. They just had to figure out how to present him.

Taylor is a big enough name at this point, he signed an exclusive after all, that I’m hesitant to say whether or not he’d have to tie into the upcoming animated show. Of course he may not even be on the book anymore by the time this show gets made (assuming of course it does manage to cross the finish line). If he is he’ll probably have enough clout to opt out of any synergy, but I certainly welcome strong ties between the Legion and the Superman franchises.

I don't think he's big enough to actually opt out of something like that especially if it's Jon's big media break. But ultimately I hope he gets the boot in favor of Aaron, Ewing, or Fraction by that time.

But with that said, I don't think that would be an issue. Not anytime soon, if ever. I don't know the specifics of the info revealed so far, so I don't know how far along into production the show is, or if production has even begun. It could be awhile, up to a whole year or more from now, before the first episode even drops.

You'll likely get your chance to see Jon and Jay's relationship do its thing for a bit. But given the fact that Jon is only 17 and they're EXREMELY unlikely to throw their hands up and go "well, guess this is who Jon'll be with forever", it's going to end. All the more likely it ends shortly before this show defines who Jon is for a generation of non (but potential) comic book readers. Jay's likely going to go down as Jon's Gwen Stacy since, again, Jon's only 17.

[J. D. Guy]

Maybe they’ll just turn the Legion into a harem dating show for Jon (I do hope they have him be in multiple relationships with other Legionnaires and explore 31st century sexuality). Jay being Jon’s one true love would be boring as **** for precisely the very reason that Jon falling in love with a “reporter” the same way Clark did is unbelievably lame. I don’t want Jon to copy his dad’s love life. People have been speculating that Jay might turn out to be Jon’s first villain but we’ll see.

Seems like I've mentioned this before, but Jay having deliberately-written thematic similarities to Lois does not make Jay a copy and, in turn, Jon falling for Jay doesn't make it Jon "copy[ing] his dad's love life". Even with what we know of Jay so far, you are vastly under-crediting Jay by oversimplifying him. Beyond that, it's really just petty accusation. Even the assertion of being boring follows the cadence of accusing new characters of being such by those who are had no interest getting invested in that character, and thus giving due diligence, in the first place. (Ala all the same accusations of being boring that have been levied against Duke Thomas/The Signal for over half a decade now since his inception.)

[Adekis]

He could date Shvaughn/Sean Erin who could be more genderfluid and keep phasing between female and male presentations.

Though I don't get why Jay is obviously not Jon's OTL. He's Lois Jr. and has superpowers to take care of himself. At the least, he's Jon's Barbara Gordon.

I love Erin, but come on, we all know they belong with Element Lad. The real one, not the one who looks like a drunken Bizarro!

I'm hype too!! Mon-El was an awesome little ****, and Cosmic Boy's got such a journey ahead of him.

I'm so very irritated with you right now, Superlad.

Mon and Shadow Lass or bust.

Yeah, you get it!

[Superlad93]

I'm so very irritated with you right now, Superlad.

Strange way to spell "hype", but, hey, I don't judge.

[Vordan]

He's DC's Miles, in the sense that he's a legacy of on of their biggest IPs and as it in him to stand shoulder to shoulder if the OG version and share the name full time. They just had to figure out how to present him.



I don't think he's big enough to actually opt out of something like that especially if it's Jon's big media break. But ultimately I hope he gets the boot in favor of Aaron, Ewing, or Fraction by that time.

Aaron? As in Jason Aaron? Interesting choice, I would be very hesitant about Aaron writing Jon given his missteps recently at Marvel. Guess we’ll see with Punisher if he’s still got his old spark in him.

Seems like I've mentioned this before, but Jay having deliberately-written thematic similarities to Lois does not make Jay a copy and, in turn, Jon falling for Jay doesn't make it Jon "copy[ing] his dad's love life". Even with what we know of Jay so far, you are vastly under-crediting Jay by oversimplifying him. Beyond that, it's really just petty accusation. Even the assertion of being boring follows the cadence of accusing new characters of being such by those who are had no interest getting invested in that character, and thus giving due diligence, in the first place. (Ala all the same accusations of being boring that have been levied against Duke Thomas/The Signal for over half a decade now since his inception.)

Look I have no interest in Jon ever having a one true love, I think that’s completely the wrong way to approach him. I certainly think the idea of the first boy he ever kissed being his endgame relationship is dumb and I don’t like there being thematic parallels on any level between Jon and Clark’s relationships. I didn’t like Kathy being set up as his “Lois” while also being a “Lana” either. I want Jon to constantly be in new relationships, I want him to be the Superman without a definitive Love Interest that he HAS to end up with like how Clark has Lois. Jon moving on to date other guys, like Aqualad for example, is what I’m hoping for, Jon as the Superman who is constantly getting shipped is far more interesting to me than immediately locking him into a relationship forever when he’s only just started dating.

And Duke is boring to me, Jace is a far more interesting character. Jay himself is a nothingburger so far, we’ll see if Taylor can flesh him out and make him more appealing to me. Right now however he’s just Jon’s starting boyfriend as far as I see.

[Superlad93]

Aaron? As in Jason Aaron? Interesting choice, I would be very hesitant about Aaron writing Jon given his missteps recently at Marvel. Guess we’ll see with Punisher if he’s still got his old spark in him.

The very same, yup. I think his recent missteps at Marvel have been due to the apathy of being overlooked as The Guy for them in favor of Hickman, to Ewing, and now Cates. He's effectively just spinning his wheels these days earning a check.

But the dude who wrote the capital-F Final word on the very idea of comic Thor? The dude who made an extremely compelling case and ambitious and totally sustainable set up for Jane-Thor? Yeah, you give that dude the next generation of Superman who isn't constrained to the same preconceptions as Clark, a high profile art team, and that dude gives you back some next level **** nearly 100% of the time.