JUPITER’S LEGACY
UTOPIAN VIVION
SFX GETS FACE-TO-CAPE ON SET FOR JUPITER’S LEGACY AS MARK MILLAR’S UNIVERSE COMES TO NETFLIX
WORDS: BRYAN CAIRNS
NO ONE EVER ACCUSED Mark Millar of thinking too small. The Scot is the mastermind behind such comic books as The Ultimates, The Authority and Superman: Red Son. Other creator-owned titles belonging to his Millarverse – Wanted, Kick-Ass and The Secret Service – were all adapted into feature films. And, lest we forget, he also penned Civil War and Wolverine: Old Man Logan, which served as the inspiration for the blockbusters Captain America: Civil War and Logan.
Millar, however, imagined even bigger – if that’s at all possible – with Jupiter’s Legacy. Calling the upcoming Netflix TV series “Star Wars for superheroes,” he says that his lofty goal was to craft “the greatest superhero story of all time.”
IT’S MILLAR TIME
“I know that sounds like such a Stan Lee thing to say,” Millar tells SFX. “But I had 10 years at Marvel. I wrote Superman: Red Son at DC, The Ultimates and Civil War at Marvel. I had all this big stuff at Marvel. I did Kick-Ass while I was there as well. I’ve worn a lot of big superhero boots.
“I thought, ‘Okay, if I’m leaving Marvel, I have to go larger.’ I came up with a story that has 10 times as many characters as any Marvel book I had ever written. It starts from 1929 and runs all the way to the end of time, covering countless generations going into the future of superheroes.
“But as ever, whenever you’re doing something big like that, you have to ground it and give the viewer or reader an entry point, which is a family,” he continues. “Everyone can relate to the family. Imagine if someone like Superman and somebody like Wonder Woman got married, how hard would it be to be their children? As the two most beautiful and famous people on the planet, who everybody loves, they are beyond movie stars because they save millions of lives. Everybody loves them.
“Look out, we’re about to hit an origin story!”
Grace, Sheldon and Walter: ready for bingo.
Chloe sulks in shoulder pads. The kids of today, eh?
“Why I oughtta…” “Ha ha!”
“Didn’t see that coming, didya?”
“And then you’re this 18-year-old girl with your 20-year-old brother. How can you possibly live up to this legacy after 100 years of these guys?”
Based on the comic book of the same name by Millar and illustrator Frank Quitely, Jupiter’s Legacy is the first TV project stemming from Netflix’s 2017 acquisition of Millarworld Limited and all its properties.
The ambitious saga chronicles a generation of superheroes, beginning in the Roaring ’20s when they acquired their powers and banded together to form the super-squad the Union of Justice.