NBC’s Superhero Series ‘Powerless’ Gets Bought Out By Wayne Enterprises

The upcoming NBC office comedy series, Powerless, seems to have had at least one change made since it was originally screened back in July at the San Diego Comic-Con. Set within the DC universe, the concept was to have been an insurance company that has the unenviable job of dealing with the fallout of superhero vs supervillain battles.

Now a newly released series synopsis seems to read a bit differently on the spin:

In a world where humanity must cope with the collateral damage of Super Heroes and Super-Villains, Emily Locke (Vanessa Hudgens) begins her first day as Director of Research & Development for Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises that specializes in products that make defenseless bystanders feel a little safer. Full of confidence and big ideas, Emily quickly learns that her expectations far exceed those of her new boss (Alan Tudyk) and officemates, so it will be up to her to lead the team toward their full potential and the realization that you don’t need superpowers to be a hero.

So that would now have it be a gizmo-based show dealing with making things to help save lives of the hapless bystanders when the fur starts flying. I wouldn’t be at all shocked if the storylines  included picking up some of the bits of tech left laying around after the battles are over.

The other point of interest is that it’s now noted as being and R&D arm of Wayne Enterprises; which would make Batman their boss. That part doesn’t really read as much of a big deal other than giving a bit more of an initial hook for an audience.

Reviews from SDCC had it being generally funny, with piles of DC references thrown in – right down to the clocks around the office being set for the times from everywhere from Gotham and Metropolis to Themyscira and Atlantis. Plus, the original name of the company was RetCon Insurance – come on, how funny is that?

So we’ll have to see how the changes play out – did they do a full reshoot, or are they just changing up the later episodes after the pilot. Another factor which could have led to the changes is that Marvel along with ABC is bringing their own office comedy dealing with the aftermath of the superhero battles called Damage Control to the screen. But while Damage Control is actually based on a late ’80s comic, and was announced earlier than Powerless, ABC seems to have stalled out in production with no solid information about it since early this year.