TV Review: The Guardians of Justice
On an alternate Earth, World War Three began in 1947 with the rise of Robo-Hitler and the remnants of the Nazis, who’d finally managed to complete an array of mad science superweapons. All seemed lost until Marvelous Man (Derek Mears) arrived. A human-looking alien with seemingly limitless power, Marvelous Man defeated Robo-Hitler and dismantled the attacking armies. For the last forty years, there has been no large-scale war on Earth.
But that does not mean all is well. Threats to peace and safety abound, from the giggling killer known as Mr. Smiles to the terrorist state Anubis. A new drug called Mellow Devil is flooding the streets and American president Nicholas Nukem (Christopher Judge) seems to be chomping at the bit to finally get to use his country’s military might. To deal with all these problems and random supervillains, Marvelous Man assembled a team of superheroes known as the Guardians of Justice.
On the fortieth anniversary of his arrival, everyone is expecting an inspiring speech from Earth’s greatest hero. Instead, he seemingly commits suicide on live television. Shock and chaos ensue. Not convinced of his long-time friend’s method of death, and urged on by a shadowy agency, Knight Hawk (Dallas Page) investigates, not failing to include his fellow Guardians among the suspects.
This seven episode miniseries was created by Adi Shankar and is a multimedia experience. Live action cuts to animation, to 8-bit video game graphics, to claymation, back to live action, at headspinning speed. Heed that strobe warning! Combined with a large cast who are all doing things, it takes a while to work out who’s important to the story and who’s just there for flavor.
Parts of the story are very Eighties, like Red Talon (John Hennigan), a former boy sidekick who’s turned himself into an action movie hero. The general attitude of the alleged heroes to killing more resembled Nineties comics, and recurring media commentator Van Dawson (Hal Ozsan) is more like a Twenty-first Century bloviator.
There are some great minor concepts too, like Sepia Spider, who is a pretty spiffy riff on Spider-Man.
While the show eventually becomes a bit more coherent, I suspect many viewers aren’t going to find this mish-mash of images and scenes something they can follow I do like that it didn’t just default to “Superman, but evil” or “all superheroes are corrupt or useless” but it’s still a dark take.
While there are hints as to what’s going on, at least one aspect of the ending completely blindsided me.
Content notes: Suicide, drug abuse, child death, gore, homophobia, profanity. Not for kids or sensitive viewers.
Overall: This series really stands out from the other superheroes but dark shows I’ve seen lately, and is its own thing. Howsomever, it’s not something I’d recommend to everyone and I suggest approaching with caution if this is your first “dark” superhero series. There could theoretically be a sequel, but I don’t think it would be to my taste.
