The Inhumans are finally getting their moment in the MCU sun… so to speak. Oddly, although these mysterious figures from Marvel Comics history played a role in several seasons of the television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Inhumans TV series does not appear to be a spin-off. So we guess, “It’s All Not Quite Entirely Connected All The Time, So Sue Us?”
The ABC TV series, premiering September 29, stars Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Serinda Swan as Medusa, Ken Leung as Karnak, Iwan Rheon as Maximus, Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon, and Mike Moh as Triton. The opening two installments got a special two-week IMAX run prior to the full first season’s eight-week network airing. Scott Buck of Iron Fist is showrunner, so…that happened. Anyway, let’s find out what these weird and wonderful characters are all about -- it’s time to give you the lowdown on Inhomo Supremis!
Right up front we should establish that although this is an entire race of altered humans with a history that stretches back thousands of years, most of the time “The Inhumans” refers to that society’s Royal Family, headed by the often-silent Black Bolt and his wildly-tressed queen, Medusa. Based in their remote “Great Refuge” city of Attilan in the Himalayan mountains (a place Jack Kirby once referred to in an old 1941 story!), the Inhumans emerged slowly in the unfolding Marvel saga, initially thanks to contact with the Fantastic Four. Once an island in the Atlantic Ocean, Attilan itself has also shifted position several times, including taking a huge trip to the “Blue Area of the Moon.” And while the Inhumans are usually seen as on the side of right, it’s worth noting the group deliberately created a race of super-strong, dumb, and sterile cloned slaves called Alpha Primitives. An attempt was made to free the Primitives, and Black Bolt’s cousin The Unspoken also revealed they had been created through Xerogen Crystals intended to work against human enemies. Basically, not the Inhumans’ finest moment.
But who are the Inhumans? Basically, they are the result of the alien Kree’s genetic alteration of ancient humans. After abandoning their experiment, the Kree left the Inhumans to develop a culture that was quite isolationist and conformist. But things have a way of changing…
Through a combination of Kree manipulation and the effects of the always unpredictable Terrigen Mist, the Inhumans have developed a wide and occasionally bewildering array of physical and mental powers far beyond that of normal human beings. Long-lived and possessed of augmented abilities, they are nevertheless also sometimes susceptible to weaknesses not shared by regular humans due to their rarified existence. Pollution takes its toll on their sheltered constitutions, for example, and their Mist-altered forms can be less than ideal even if they gain certain superhuman abilities. Black Bolt, for example, packs the power of a sonic boom in his voice, but it means that he must remain mute most of the time lest he annihilate everything within range. Medusa fares better, with hair that individually obeys her mental commands and exhibits extraordinary tensile strength. Then there’s Lockjaw. Once assumed to be the Royal Family’s loyal oversized pet and in-house teleportation system via the tuning fork-like appendage on his head, it was later revealed that he had once been sentient prior to exposure to the Terrigen Mists… but then that revelation was reversed (but we still like the idea that Lockjaw is a human trapped in a dog’s body).
After earlier appearances by Medusa and Gorgon in previous issues of the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans were properly introduced to the world in FF #45 (December, 1965) and quickly became a mainstay -- if not a very prominent one -- in the Marvel Universe, with a number of series devoted just to them as well as a plethora of appearances throughout other titles. Their general similarity to mutants has probably prevented them from achieving the degree of prominence they might have had otherwise, but they’ve nevertheless played a significant role in several turning points in Marvel history.
The Inhumans have gone to war with the United States, fought a Skrull imposter that took Black Bolt’s place, launched Attilan from the Moon, and generally found themselves struggling with enemies from without and within. During the Infinity storyline, it was revealed that many other Inhuman tribes had intermingled with humans over the years, resulting in countless people with the genes necessary to develop and exhibit Inhuman attributes. The story ended with a Terrigenisis Bomb going off and engulfing the world in Mist, activating many previously hidden Inhumans, later referred to as NuHumans; perhaps the most prominent of their number is the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan.
For all intents and purposes, the Inhumans are a vital and satisfyingly goofy part of the bigger tapestry of the MCU. They even racked up an Eisner Award for “Best New Series” in 1999, so that’s not too shabby for some mountain- or Moon-dwelling mutants… sorry, altered humans!
The basic premise of the Inhumans, and the incredibly varied possibilities inherent in the Terrigen Mist effect, sets up amazing potential for Inhumans-based stories in a host of media, and indeed the characters have already made a small mark in previous animated television series and video games (as well as on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).
But now that the Royal Family itself is making the leap to live-action television -- and don’t forget, they were going to get an MCU movie at one point -- will we see the Inhumans stake a claim in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe? Probably not, since it’s become very clear that despite the lip service paid to everything being connected (note the earlier joke), the movie and TV realms -- and indeed, even the separate television fiefdoms of ABC and Netflix -- are quite separate. Heck, at this point even ABC isn’t completely holding its Marvel properties together, since this new Inhumans show reportedly has no real connection to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. despite the debut of a major Inhumans-themed storyline there (albeit one that really didn’t feature any of the stars of the Inhumans comics world). The fragmentation isn’t necessarily a bad thing, to be fair -- the important thing is telling good stories with good characters and good production value -- but it’s a bit disheartening to see so much of the Marvel Universe coming to life but only in piecemeal fashion on TV after all the groundwork laid in the MCU feature films.
For more, read our review of the first episode of Marvel's Inhumans here.
Find Arnold T. Blumberg on Twitter at @DoctoroftheDead.
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