Every unresolved plot in Jupiter’s Legacy answered. Netflix’s superhero series debuted in April and was based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely. Costing the streaming service quite a bit of money, it seems Jupiter’s Legacy didn’t exactly meet expectations in the first month of release. Netflix cancelled the series rather quickly, leaving plenty of loose plot threads from season 1.
Jupiter’s Legacy jumped back and forth between 1929 and the early 1930s to the present day, focusing on the six original members of the Union of Justice, an elite team of superheroes, and their offspring. The series largely focused on the conflict between the superheroes and the strict moral code set up by Sheldon Sampson (aka, The Utopian), the idealist leader of the Union.
The superhero series ended on a major cliffhanger that revealed Walter (aka, Brainwave), Sheldon’s brother, as the mastermind behind the breakout of the villain Blackstar and the creation of his clone. With Skyfox still missing and tension within the Union mounting, Jupiter’s Legacy left a lot of stories unresolved, many of which can be answered by the show’s source material.
Where Is Skyfox And Why Did He Leave The Union?
One of the biggest mysteries of Jupiter’s Legacy season 1 are the whereabouts of Skyfox. He is only seen in flashbacks to the past and there’s a glimmer of tension between him and Brainwave, but the superhero series never reveals why George left the Union and where he’s been hiding out ever since. His location is even a mystery to his son Hutch, who has been trying to find him for a long time. Skyfox appears in the season 1 finale, but he’s an illusion created by Brainwave to easily shift the blame of what’s happening with the villain Blackstar to him.
In the comics, Skyfox, who was already distancing himself from the Union’s strict moral code, left the Union after getting into a fight with Brainwave, who had brainwashed George’s girlfriend into falling in love with him instead. He was placed in prison for a while before escaping and abandoning Hutch as a child after his efforts to help the public were rejected. George winds up hiding away in Russia, where he is later found by Hutch and Chloe by way of a meta-gene scanner. They ask for his assistance in taking down Walter and Brandon and he eventually joins them. Whether this storyline would have eventually played out in Jupiter’s Legacy season 2 is unclear, but there would have probably been more revealed about Skyfox’s backstory and history with Walter.
How Did Other Superheroes Get Their Powers?
In the past, the original members of the Union of Justice journeyed to a remote island where they were bestowed their powers by ancient and mysterious aliens. It seems like they were the only ones with powers for a long time, but there are several more superheroes in the present day. All of them seem to belong to the same age group as Chloe and Brandon, with many of them in the Union already or are otherwise seeking membership into the elite team. Jupiter’s Legacy never answers the question of how they got their powers. The only thing there is to know for sure is that they didn’t acquire them from the island. It’s possible the next generation of superheroes are descendants of the captain and his crew who were hit by some of the alien energy, but fans may never know for sure now that the show has been cancelled and the comics don’t really provide much of an answer, either.
What Happened To Fitz?
In the present day, Fitz Small is in a wheelchair and, while he still aids the Union with various missions, he does so from behind the scenes rather than out in the field. However, Fitz wasn’t always paraplegic and the scenes set in the past confirm as much. While it seems clear that Fitz may have somehow been injured in the field as The Flare, the details of how he sustained his injury are a mystery. It’s possible Jupiter’s Legacy season 2 would have offered some backstory regarding exactly what happened to him and when, as well as how it affected him and his family at first.
In the comics, Fitz sustains his injury during a battle with superpowered beings from a parallel universe. While he is paralyzed, the superhero eventually gains back strength in his legs. However, the injury changes the dynamics with his family. Fitz’s second wife leaves him while he’s still in the hospital and he resumes his relationship with his first wife, Joyce. In the series, Fitz's paralysis is changed so that it’s permanent as he passes on his superhero legacy to his daughter Petra, who doesn’t appear in the comics.
What Happened In The Intervening Decades?
Jupiter’s Legacy jumps from the 1930s to the present day throughout season 1 and there are many discussions about upholding the older generation’s thinking — namely, Sheldon’s ideals and the Union’s moral code — and the new generation of heroes' ideology. Things have obviously changed, but the series doesn’t really touch upon what may have happened in the intervening decades to get to the present day’s conflicts. Interestingly, it's in the 90-year span the Union has been around where the answers to the present day conflicts may lie — including what happened to George and how the new superheroes got their powers, among many others.
The comics turn some of the focus to the 1960s, in particular, which provides information on what the Union members were up to after establishing themselves and how they interacted with the public in terms of rescues, how the government viewed them, and the ways in which Walter and George wanted to take part in societal discourse. The comics’ focus on the years after the Union got their powers includes much more of the backstories of Richard, Fitz, and George, which the series leaves out.
What Was Brainwave's Real Plan?
The end of Jupiter’s Legacy season 1 reveals that Brainwave was the mastermind behind Blackstar’s clone, framing Skyfox, and the wedge being driven between Sheldon and Brandon. Season 2 would have likely expanded on what his endgame goals really were. The comics confirm that Brainwave wanted The Utopian out of the way because he felt his brother’s strict moral code — which included no killing and getting involved in political affairs or wars — was holding the Union back. Walter believed that having superpowers means they had a responsibility to society that went beyond saving individuals on a daily basis from minor things.
Brainwave wanted to offer advice to political leaders and essentially have superheroes rise to powerful positions, which included a plan for the Union to be an official government division. Walter’s resentment and betrayal of the Union is clearer in the comics and he convinces Brandon to turn on his parents, too, murdering both of them before aligning himself completely with his uncle. Walter’s plans eventually lead to an evil regime that is uncontrollable and ruled by him, with Brandon invading a country just because he can. The series seemed to be leading up to all this, but was only at the early stages, having revealed Walter as the big bad pretty late in season 1.
What Happens To Chloe & Hutch?
Chloe and Hutch entered into a romantic relationship by the end of the season despite their fathers, Sheldon and George, being enemies. Season 1 ended with Hutch revealing to Chloe his plans to find his father. How their relationship will move forward from there is a question mark because Jupiter’s Legacy won’t continue. Will they get together for good? Will they find Skyfox together and attempt to stop Brainwave’s plans? They were still at the beginning of their relationship, so it could have gone either way.
In the comics, at least, Chloe and Hutch are in a committed, long-term relationship and the pair have a son, Jason, together. He has powers like his mother and the couple eventually come out of hiding after running away to avoid being killed by Brainwave and Paragon. They join with Skyfox to stop Brainwave’s plans and bring back some semblance of balance. It’s a safe bet to assume the series would have kept them together had the show continued based on their comic book history.
What Happened To Richard/Blue Bolt & Where Is He Now?
Dr. Richard Conrad is perhaps the most elusive of the Union of Justice members. He doesn't show up until Sheldon and the others are nearly to the island and the audience never learns anything about him beyond the fact that he is a physician who was shipwrecked. In the present day, none of the other Union members bring him up so his current whereabouts and why he left the superhero world behind are shrouded in mystery. Much of Blue Bolt's story falls into the intervening decades that the show didn't include, so it's likely the writers were waiting for season 2 to expand upon his backstory and characteristics.
In the comics, Richard is a closeted gay man whose sexuality heavily affected his life in that people like then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wanted to exploit him to obtain information about the Union of Justice. Richard attempted suicide to protect the Union and their identities should his being gay be revealed to the public against his will. He was saved by Fitz, with George Hutchence blackmailing Hoover right back so as to back off Richard for good. Since Jupiter's Legacy has been cancelled, fans will have the comics to look to for answers about him.
Who Gave Hutch The Power Rod?
Unlike Chloe and Brandon, Hutch Hutchence is the child of a superhero without powers. As such, he uses the power rod, a device that responds to his voice commands and is able to teleport him to wherever he wants to go, to get by. How he came to acquire the power rod is never addressed in Jupiter's Legacy season 1. Fans may have noticed that it looks just like the power rod that belonged to Blue Bolt, but it's unclear whether Hutch stole it from him and tweaked its settings, if Richard simply gave it to him, or if Skyfox left it for his son before he disappeared.
In the comics, it's George who bestows the power rod to Hutch as a gift after his son reveals his favorite superhero is Blue Bolt. George essentially recreates the power rod by using a flashlight, creating it so that his son had something akin to a superpower to use in the field. The device can mimic all of Skyfox's abilities and it comes in handy for Hutch, who uses it quite often. One can assume the history of the power rod would have been revealed in the show eventually, especially considering its ties to Skyfox and the revelation that he was around long enough to give his son something to use.
What Is The Backstory Of Jack Hobbs & His History With Sheldon?
At the end of Jupiter's Legacy season 1, it was revealed that The Utopian's therapist was the former villain Jack Hobbs, who speaks to Sheldon from within the confines of prison. However, the series leaves out his backstory and history with Sheldon beyond his imprisonment. In the comics, Jack believed that the Union and all other superheroes disrupted the natural trajectory of humanity. Their existence was a stain on society to Hobbs and he believed it made criminals even more dangerous; and so he decided to build a weapon that removes the Union's powers and transfers them to his own henchmen.
He also throws Sheldon and the other Union members into an antimatter universe. This plan is what ultimately led to his arrest. Jack is a smart man and likely one of the only people who understands superheroes so intimately despite being a villain. Hobbs’ imprisonment actually led to an interesting friendship between him and Sheldon, with the former even convincing the superhero to do more to help people, leading The Utopian to do a lot more charity work thanks to Hobbs.
Who Is Raikou’s Mom & What Happened To Her?
Raikou, Walter's daughter, was introduced pretty late into Jupiter's Legacy season 1, but she played an integral role in the plot. What was clear is that she and her villainous dad have a contentious relationship and he wasn’t much a part of her life growing up. Raikou is especially bitter about how he treated her mother and accuses him of never having loved her. However, the name of Raikou’s mother is never mentioned and it’s unclear what happened to her or if she’s still alive. In the comics, Raikou has a half-brother named Jules, whose mother is Sunny, Walter’s wife and George’s ex. However, Raikou’s own mother doesn’t factor much into the story beyond confirming that Walter fathered another child without anyone’s previous knowledge. In the series, the other Union members are very much aware of Raikou’s existence, so it seems that is a step above the comics in that regard.
Why Doesn’t Hutch Have Superpowers Like Skyfox?
It’s the million dollar question in Jupiter’s Legacy. Chloe, Brandon, Petra, and Raikou all inherited their superpowers from their parents, but Hutch didn’t. The superhero series doesn’t reveal why that is and neither do the comics. What the comics do reveal is that George was disappointed that his son didn’t inherit his abilities and fashioning Hutch a power rod with all of George’s superhuman powers was a way to bridge the gap, giving Hutch something his father believed was his birthright. While the reasons why Hutch doesn’t have superpowers are never really explained, genetics aren’t so easily determined and it could just be that Skyfox’s abilities skipped a generation.