Why NBC Cancelled Its Batman-Adjacent Comedy Series Powerless

On the journey towards today's full-blown "superhero fatigue" (something James Gunn and Peter Safran hope to solve with their DC Studios vision), there was a brief period where everybody was bemoaning the way comic book movies seemed as if they were required to absolutely level entire cities during their final acts. 2013's "Man of Steel" was perhaps the worst offender, with its final showdown between Henry Cavill's Superman (who never got a great Superman movie) and Michael Shannon's General Zod resulting in untold damage to the city of Metropolis and almost certainly killing hundreds of civilians. A year prior, the Avengers had similarly ransacked New York in an attempt to save the city from Loki's alien hordes.

In 2017, somebody decided it was time to focus on the faceless civilians who routinely suffered as a result of all these superheroic showdowns, and "Powerless" was born. The sitcom, set in a version of the DC universe, starred "High School Musical" veteran Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke, the new director of research & development at Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. The Charm City-based company produced products designed to protect everyday citizens from the destruction taking place around them and avoid becoming collateral damage in some climactic battle between good and evil. Products included an "anti-rubble umbrella" and a "wear bag" that acted like a giant airbag suit to protect against impacts from superhero battles.

It wasn't a bad premise in and of itself, though there was the nagging feeling that none of this needed to be shoehorned into the DC IP or connected to Batman and the Wayne family. Still, the fact that "Powerless" was indeed tied to such a big property was likely part of the reason the show got greenlit in the first place. Lamentably, though, it wasn't enough to keep the sitcom going for very long, as "Powerless" was cancelled before its first season even ended.

DC's small screen offerings have been reinvigorated of late by HBO's excellent "The Penguin," a dark series that arguably could have been its own movie. "Powerless," however, was a very different show that couldn't quite get the ratings it needed to stay on air. The first and only season started on NBC on February 2, 2017, with Alan Tudyk starring opposite Vanessa Hudgens as Vanderveer Wayne, Wayne Security boss and cousin to Bruce. This, aside from the Wayne Security subsidiary itself, was the show's main connection to Batman, but otherwise "Powerless" couldn't be further from the tone most fans would associate with Gotham's lone avenger. In fact, you've gotta ask what gap in the Batman market the show was trying to fill with a zany "Mindy Project"-style workplace sitcom tangentially related to the world of the Dark Knight. Either way, NBC seemed to like the idea and ordered a full season of "Powerless." Alas, viewers wouldn't even be able to make it through that season before the series was pulled.

Judging by the ratings, however, there weren't many viewers to speak of. After two months on the air, it was clear that "Powerless" wasn't quite the hit NBC had been hoping for, and on April 25, 2017, the network pulled the final three episodes from its schedule. The pilot episode had brought in an already lackluster 3.10 million viewers and that figure had dropped to 1.81 by the sixth episode, which aired on March 30, 2017. As such, NBC's decision to pull the remaining installments made some sense. Still, with no explanation from the network at the time and no indication as to whether the last three episodes would be made available, it was all a bit mysterious.

Then, in May of that year, "Powerless" was officially cancelled, with TV Line reporting at the time that the show had struggled in the ratings since its February debut (with the most recent episode having drawn just 2.1 million viewers). That was a slight improvement on episode 6's 1.81 million, but still represented a 30% drop from the previous installment, all of which was enough for NBC to pull the plug.

There have been some interesting attempts to expand Batman lore via a TV show, with "Pennyworth" being one example. The Epix turned Max series, which changed its title to "Pennyworth: The Origin Of Batman's Butler" midway through its run, lasted for three seasons and was a moderate success. "Powerless," on the other hand, wasn't. While the show did have a small and passionate fanbase who evidently enjoyed this more lighthearted excursion into the fringes of the DC universe, some of the humor was questionable at best. One gag had Bruce texting his cousin to ask him to stop using his HBO GO password, which, aside from being an obvious plug for Warner's former VOD service, surely isn't the kind of thing most fans want from their Bruce Wayne. That said, one of the unaired episodes from later in the first season featured the star of the 1960s "Batman" series, Adam West, who portrayed Chairman West in the 11th episode, "Win, Luthor, Draw," and also narrated the pilot, "Wayne or Lose." Regardless of the series' overall quality, it would have been cool to see the man back in a DC production, even one as far removed from the action as "Powerless."

In 2024, showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker spoke to ComicBook.com about their experience with the erstwhile series, saying they tried to lean into a "Silver Age kind of zaniness" with the show. They also recalled how their series took place on a world entirely separate from DC's live-action movies, which the showrunners referred to as "Earth-P." Despite this, they still had to go through a lot of "executive emails" to check which characters and elements of wider DC lore they could use. Schumacker ultimately summarized the series as "a tough one" and "a puzzle" to figure out.

There was one upside to NBC withdrawing its support mid-way through the season, however. Schumacker explained that before "Powerless" was officially cancelled, NBC were "definitely no longer inclined to prioritize the show," which allowed the pair to take creative liberties. As Halpern recalled, "It was the classic case of once we got s****y ratings they left us alone because they didn't care anymore. And we could just make the show we wanted to make."