Only a few years ago, Netflix released its version of The Boys and Invincible, though it flew largely under the radar when compared to Amazon's massive superhero phenomena. The Boys and Invincible are two juggernauts for Amazon Prime Video, with The Boys firmly cemented as one of the most successful franchises in the platform's history, and Invincible regularly capturing the number-one global spot on the service. Both superhero properties have transcended their niche comic-book to become astronomically lucrative gems.
The Boys and Invincible's success relies heavily on their relentless deconstruction of classic superhero tropes. On the positive side, their subversion injects genuine stakes and psychological realism into a saturated genre. Invincible explores the collateral damage of godlike beings colliding in populated cities, while The Boys offers a dark satire of corporate greed and media manipulation. On the negative side, their cynical lens can occasionally backfire, as constantly leaning into hyper-violence and deviance runs the risk of alienating viewers with repetitive misery.
Still, the subgenre of dark superhero storytelling continues to be a goldmine for live-action titles like The Boys and Invincible, as well as Netflix's overlooked Jupiter's Legacy.
Based on Mark Millar and Frank Quitely's long-running comics, Jupiter’s Legacy is a sweeping multi-generational superhero epic centered on an aging superhuman dynasty. The disillusioned businessman Sheldon Sampson, deeply affected by the Wall Street crash of 1929, visits a mysterious island that grants him and his companions godlike superpowers. As "The Union," they swear to never kill or interfere directly in human society. Fast-forward eighty years, and Sheldon has become the revered patriarch The Utopian, and his aging contemporaries grow increasingly frustrated by their own impotence, while the entitled, second-generation superhuman youth, including Sheldon's children, struggle to live up to their parents' legacies.
Like Garth Ennis's The Boys, Jupiter's Legacy deconstructs superhuman aristocracy, stripping the Silver-Age illusion of altruistic protectors to expose the toxic vanity and power trips of famous superheroes. While The Boys focuses on Homelander and the Seven as manufactured corporate assets controlled by Vought International, Jupiter's Legacy presents a more tragic look at inherited fame, where the younger generation of heroes treat their godlike gifts as nothing more than a pathway to privilege. They also share skepticism regarding strict "no-kill" morality. In Jupiter's Legacy, the coup against Sheldon echoes the backstabbing and political subversion seen in Vought's boardroom machinations.
With The Boys coming to an end after five seasons, another Prime Video superhero show is ready to take its place for many seasons to come.
While it shares its cynical edge with The Boys, Jupiter’s Legacy finds its heart in the same crushing weight of parental expectations and bloody family dynamics as Robert Kirkman's Invincible. The intensely complicated relationship between a seemingly infallible father figure, like The Utopian and Omni-Man, and a son struggling to forge his own identity in that massive shadow, like Brandon Sampson and Mark Grayson, forces the young men to measure their worth against a godlike parent who refuses to compromise. However, where Invincible pivots toward the son's redemptive journey, Jupiter's Legacy takes a tragic turn, with Brandon's deep-seated insecurities evolving into dangerous bitterness.
Although Jupiter's Legacy tries to tackle the same themes as The Boys and Invincible, Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely's comic fails to capture what made them massive streaming phenomenons. Whereas its Amazon contemporaries immediately hooked audiences, Jupiter’s Legacy chooses a disappointingly sluggish approach, with its runtime split between a slow 1930s origin story and a modern-day family drama bogged down by repetitive philosophical debates about "The Code." Compared to Mark Millar's fast-paced comics, the 2021 show features more passive protagonists and noticeably less momentum.
Had the production of Jupiter's Legacy been delayed until after The Boys and Invincible concluded their respective runs, the series could have studied exactly how to balance hyper-violent spectacle with rich character-driven drama. Since the flawed superhero trope isn't a novel hook, Jupiter's Legacy could have leaned harder into its generational, Shakespearean scale and streamlined its dual-timeline structure to deliver a much sharper, punchier season. That said, Jupiter's Legacy is more than worth watching for fans of dark superhero stories like Invincible and The Boys.
Which do you like more, The Boys or Invincible?
