Black British Heroes: Supacell Season 1 is Super Cool

By Redmanwriter on July 20, 2024

Julien Neaves, Editor

Plot: When five black people from South London discover they have superpowers they are targeted by a powerful clandestine organisation.

Context: Back in 2006 Sci Fi drama Heroes premiered and with its grounded take on superpowers, intriguing characters and cleverly interwoven story, its first season become a global hit. Unfortunately, there was a slight drop in quality in the second season, the two-part third season was terrible and the fourth and final season was very good but by then most of the fans had checked out. The franchise was revived in 2015 with Heroes: Reborn which was decent but still not good enough to reinvigorate the franchise.

Don't make me angry bruv. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry, innit?

Now why did I spend an entire paragraph talking about a dormant Sci Fi franchise in a review about 2024 Netflix superhero series Supacell? The reason is that new show reminded quite strongly of Heroes, especially its excellent first season. Both shows are grounded takes of superpowers and feature fleshed-out characters whose lives intersect in interesting ways. They even feature similar superpowered abilities, though in fairness these are powers that featured in various comic books decades before Heroes graced the small screen. The main difference is the cast in the new series is predominantly black (the Heroes cast was multiracial) and the story is set in England and not primarily in the US. Now one would assume that Supacell, created, written and co-directed by Rapman, would feel derivative but every aspect is of such a high quality that it truly elevates the material.

The cast here is simply phenomenal, and everyone brings their A game. Tosin Cole is superb as hardworking delivery driver Michael, and he is so much better than his bland role as companion Ryan Sinclair in Doctor Who that I did not even recognise that was where I knew him from. Adelayo Adelayo is also great as Michael's sweet social worker girlfriend Dionne, and I found it easy to get invested in their relationship. I also thoroughly enjoyed Nadine Mills as assertive nurse Sabrina, Calvin Demba as witty young drug dealer Rodney, Eric Kofi-Abrefa as Andre, a financially struggling father, and Josh Tedeku as intense gang leader "Tazer." It was delightful seeing their lives begin to intersect and the circumstances which brought them together. And they all felt like real people with real lives and struggles which made me concerned about each of them, including the highly abrasive Tazer, when the superpowered shenanigans begin.

She is strong, she is invincible, she is WO-MAH-AHN!

And speaking of superpowers, the visual effects and action sequences here are ridiculously good. I am talking nerdgasm-inducing good. I'm keeping this review spoiler free, so all I will say is that my jaw dropped during scenes in multiple episodes. If you've seen it, you know exactly what I am talking about. On the audio side, Rapman is also a rapper, so it is unsurprising that the soundtrack is bursting with bangers.

The only issue I had with the fantastic first season was that the final episode featured a couple of plot contrivances, and the battle choreography could have been a bit tighter. But otherwise, I love this show and with its brilliant mix of action, drama, humour and Sci Fi it is easily one of the best series I have seen on Netflix. There has been no official word of a second season (Rapman says he has plans for at least three) and I really hope it continues because Supacell Season 1 is 12 flavours of awesome sauce.

Editor Jules' Score: 8.5 out of 10

Have you checked out Supacell Season 1? How would you rate it? And you can check out more super-powered reviews below:

Julien "Editor Jules" Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by the Cryptkeeper, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like "13 flavours of awesome sauce". Read more.