Even if you don’t know the name Brian Michael Bendis, chances are you know some of the characters he’s created. Miles Morales, the Spider-Man you loved from Into the Spider-Verse? He was first in the pages of Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man. Dig the Jessica Jones series on Netflix? She was first in Bendis’ Alias comic, one of my all-time favorites. He also created Echo, who can be seen right now in Hawkeye and will soon have her own Disney+ show. Bendis has also written a lot of shit, but he has been a force in the world of Marvel comics for a couple of decades. That makes the news of his first major series project being a DC Comics property somewhat ironic.
Bendis revealed that he has been hired to bring the Legion of Superheroes to HBO Max as an animated series geared towards adults. It makes sense to have Bendis on this as he wrote the most recent version of the team in a comic that concluded back in January.
The Legion of Superheroes is a team in the 30th and 31st century who idolize the heroes of today. In the original version they worked alongside teenaged Clark Kent/Superman. Founding membership included Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad, but the roster has swelled into the dozens. The “controversial” bisexual Superman, Jon Kent, recently spent time in the future as part of the team.
“Facts: its very early goings but I can tell you This will be an adaptation of the ‘Legion of Superheroes’ that Ryan Sook and I have been working on the last few years,” Bendis said. “And just like that series, on sale now, it will harken back to so many classics while at the same time doing what Legion does: pushing all the ideas of superheroes forward in every direction. I think ‘Legion of Superheroes’ is among the greatest franchises in the history of comics and I’m as honored to be curating them as I was ‘Spider-Man.’”
This could be really cool, and I’m surprised it’s taken this long for Bendis to get a gig like this. Ava DuVernay is currently adapting Bendis’ most recent creation, Naomi, into a series on the CW.