Super Troopers
Brian Michael Bendis spills on his comic making t he screen
The first word on PlayStation’s Powers adaptation.
With all the costumed
crime fighters on TV, someone needs to keep them in check. That’s where Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim come in. The lead characters in the PlayStation Network’s 10episode adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Marvel/ Icon series Powers, are homicide detectives in a society full of dangerous superhumans.
“The idea behind the show is, ‘ what would police officers be like in a world where there are superheroes, where the laws of physics are being broken and where every crime has it’s own unique set of evidence they have to chase?’,” explains Bendis, who is also acting as executive producer alongside showrunner Charlie Huston. “There’s an early scene where they have a dead person whose heart has literally exploded to liquid but they don’t know how.”
While caped crusaders are at the forefront of Arrow and The Flash, Walker and Deena will remain at the very human heart of Powers. “We’re fully immersed in the cop genre,” says Bendis. “And you know what I love? I love a bullet with a trail of evidence that leads you right back to the person who shot the bullet. With this, it’s maddening. But what’s cool is that we get to come at this fiction with this new angle, which is that these very smart and damaged police officers have to use every tool in their toolbox to figure out these crimes. Between Deena and the generation of police officers in her family and Walker having been a Power in the past, the two of them know a lot of stuff so they’re a perfect match for each other – as long as they don’t kill each other first!”
While the choice of Sharlto Copley ( District 9) as Walker has been greeted positively, some concern was expressed after Susan Heyward ( The Following) landed the part of Deena. “Much like in the comic book, Deena is a real gigantic part of the show and the casting was very important,” says Bendis. “I knew that some people were surprised that we race- bended the role but it won’t be so surprising when you actually see her. She’s Deena through and through and she won it against people who looked exactly like Deena.”