Netflix has revealed more details and the first trailer for the anime adaptation of the Jupiter's Legacy spinoff, Super Crooks, which will debut on the streaming service before the end of 2021.
Super Crooks was written by Mark Millar and artist Leinil Francis Yu, and was originally released as a four-issue miniseries by Marvel in 2012. Netflix originally announced that it was producing a series based on the comic in 2019, but it wasn't until June 2021 when Netflix revealed that the show was being produced as an anime series helmed by director Motonobu Hori.
During Netflix's TUDUM event, Millar revealed that he originally planned for Super Crooks to be a low budget, live-action movie. "I planned this as a kind of low-budget, European movie, because it was originally set in Tenerife, near Spain," Millar said. "But over the years, it kind of morphed into becoming an anime series." Millar expressed his excitement at seeing one of his works adapted to anime for the first time. "I'm a massive animation fan, and I'm in love with Japan," Millar said, adding "I can't really think of many examples of traditional American superhero characters done in a Japanese style. And it's so cool, it's just amazing because it's two things I love being smashed together, which I think is really interesting."
Hori says he had fun working on an American comic for once. "When Japanese people make things, they end up adopting a more Japanese anime style," Hori said. "But we didn't intentionally try to change things. In the end, we were depicting the fun in Mark's work as best as we could."
Prior to Super Crooks, Hori was best know for directing the Netflix exclusive anime series Carole & Tuesday, a role which he shared with Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe. Takafumi Hitani, who previously worked with Hori on Carole & Tuesday, will also serve as a character designer on Super Crooks. Dai Sato, an anime industry veteran who previously worked on hit shows such as Cowboy Bebop and Eureka Seven, will be the new series' scriptwriter. The series will be produced by animation studio BONES, which is best known for shows such as Fullmetal Alchemist and My Hero Academia.
Hori revealed that the events of the original comic book would only make up the last 3 episodes of the 13-episode long series, while the rest of the series will be based on new content written by Millar specifically for the show. Set in the same universe as Jupiter's Legacy, Super Crooks tells the story of Johnny Bolt, a small-time super villain with electricity-based powers. Johnny has just completed a lengthy prison sentence, but is quickly forced back into a life of crime when his former mentor pulls him into a new scheme to rob the world's most dangerous supervillain.
Source: Netflix
