Prime Video has knocked it out of the park with the animated comic book adaptation Invincible, and Netflix might have found its answer to competing with that show. Invincible has done the unthinkable by presenting a TV-MA series with buckets of blood and some gory and intense violence, and it has become a massive hit for the streaming service. The fact that the animated series is even more violent than creator Robert Kirkman’s other popular series, The Walking Dead, makes the success of Invincible even more impressive, as it started its fourth season this month. Now, Netflix is looking for similar success.
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Netflix has ordered an adaptation of the Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming comic book series Powers as an adult animated treatment. The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Bendis is writing the pilot and Oeming is working with the visual development for the series.
What Can Fans Expect From Powers on Netflix?
While this will be an adult animated series, don’t expect Powers to look like Invincible in tone or design. While Invincible is an ultra-violent animated series that features people getting their skulls punctured and blood by the gallon flowing freely, Powers has more in common with something like Sin City. In Powers, two detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, work on cases involving “powers,” which are people with superpowers. Christian actually used to be a superhero before he lost his powers and became a cop.
If the series follows the trajectory of the comic book stories, it will likely start with “Who Killed Retro Girl,” which was featured in the first six books of the series. This is when Christian first met Pilgrim as they were assigned to work the case of a murdered young superhero named Retro Girl, who was found dead outside a school while pregnant with Christian’s baby. It is these more adult-oriented storylines that should make this a solid TV-MA animated series.
If the series is a success, it could move onto other storylines, which include “Roleplay,” which follows the murder of students who roleplay as superheroes, “Little Deaths,” which involes the death of a renowned superhero that nigth die into his controversial sex life, amnd “The Sellouts,” which saw all powers declared illegal by the U.S. Government. In all, the first run had 37 issues, consisting of seven storylines. Powers is currently on its fifth volume, which Brian Michael Bendis started in September 2025.
As for the style, the Powers comics were drawn in an almost retro style with a dark city that had danger on every corner. Christian and Pilgrim are one-part Law & Order detectives, and one part film noir gumshoe cops. This should allow the adult subject matter in the cases to also lead to some graphic depictions of the murder scenes, although nothing that nears the comic level of brutality of Invincible.
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