Superheroes become the sidekicks in Powerless, an office comedy set in the DC Universe. Vanessa Hudgens stars as Emily Locke, an empathetic insurance claims adjuster assessing superhero related damages to the ironically named Harmony city.
“She loves what she does but she struggles with feeling like she has purpose and meaning,” Hudgens explains. “It’s really about finding her own power.”
Alan Tudyk plays her supervisor, Del Heller, described as the “Lex Luthor type.” Del is seen reading Luthor’s biography in the trailer. Fortunately, the bumbling boss is his own kryptonite.
Emily’s super friends include Danny Pudi as Teddy, Christina Kirk as Jackie and Kate Micucci (Garfunkel and Oates), who steals the spotlight when she wrongly suspects her coworker is Green Lantern. Mainstream superheroes are referenced but won’t make any actual cameos. The claims adjusters have to settle for interacting with D-list superheroes such as Crimson Fox (Atlin Mitchell) and Jack O’Lantern, who appear in the pilot episode.
Powerless premieres on NBC in 2017.