Season 2 of the PlayStation Network series Powers drops at 12:01PM PT on Tuesday, May 31. The series – based on the graphic novels by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming – will take on the “Who Killed Retro Girl?” story arc that launched the original comics nearly two decades ago.It is only fitting that Bendis and Oeming were also both on hand for the Season 2 red carpet premiere for Powers in Hollywood last week, which is fitting, since for Season 2, the creators as well as new showrunner Remi Aubuchon worked together to find ways to make the show look aesthetically more like the source material.
“Remi’s words were ‘Mike draws with the shapes and this in-your-face style of storytelling, so we’re going to do that on a television show that’s still a television show’,” Bendis recalled when we spoke to the creators, who are also Executive Producers on the series, adding that all new hires to the series were given the goal of achieving that look, and what you see on the show is the final result. A major design that closely matches the artwork of Michael Avon Oeming is the look for SuperShock, introduced this season and being played by Michael Madsen.
How did Bendis first react to seeing Madsen as SuperShock?
“I was there. It was very cool,” Bendis said. “I was on the phone call with Remi to convince [Michael Madsen] to come join us. We were like ‘this is who SuperShock is; he’s the biggest superhero in the world, he’s a mystery…’ and before I even said this, he goes ‘I’ve wanted to play a superhero for years!’ And then when this Marlboro Man of a superhero showed up,” he reminisced.
“He’s more SuperShock than SuperShock ever was in the comic,” Oeming added. “There’s something about what Madsen brings to it, and when he’s in this costume that our costume designer created… it was mindblowing. It was the most exciting thing that I’ve experienced on the show so far, I think.”
“It’s the costume most closely resembling the comic books. It actually looks like a drawing of Mike’s. It’s pretty cool,” Bendis praised.
The costumes aren’t the only place where the look of Powers will be changing. “It’s a visual aesthetic that’s so different from the first season. I’m dying for people to see how different the show looks and feels. For people who liked the first season, you’re still gonna get all of the stuff you liked. We had an amazing cast, but we really worked some magic on what the show will look like, and that’s very exciting,” Bendis said. “Most of my favorite shows, it just ends up, had a good first season, but that second season is what you remember,” he explained, recalling The Shield, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Seinfeld, and more. “It’s that second season when they come flying out of the gate. That was our motivation going forward. Let’s do that!”
Bendis is much more involved in the show’s second season and was in the writers’ room for the whole year. He’s also credited with two scripts that he also produced. “Episode 2 is me. You’ll be able to tell because there’s a giant sex club orgy in it, which is one of those things that’s easy to write and for Mike to draw, but to actually have hundreds of people engaged in, was quite different,” he said. Episode 9 is also coming from Bendis, and he is excited for fans to see both.
The Powers Season 2 premiere is called “Caracas, 1967,” and in it, the world is turned upside down by the seemingly impossible and horrifying murder of Retro Girl (Michelle Forbes). Pressure is on the Powers Division to bring the perpetrator to justice, but when Christian Walker (Sharlto Copley) is pulled off the case for being too close to the victim, and may be a suspect himself, he must go off-the-books to avenge the woman he loved. You can see a trailer below; stay tuned for more Powers Season 2 interviews in the coming days!
