Julien Neaves, Caribbean Head Writer
In Hollywood female superheroes are all the rage right now. The MCU had Ms. Marvel a couple months ago and we are more than a third into She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s very fun first season. DCEU was supposed to give us a Batgirl film, but then they decided not to release it to save money or something. Don’t ask. Point is, whether it is Captain Marvel on the big screen or Stargirl on the small one, female superheroes are making their presence felt.
And flying closer to home we have Trini superhero Magonolia, who wrapped her five-episode first season back in January. Well, she is getting some girl power with new hero Icy, who is the focus of the first part of the two-episode web miniseries Superheroes. Let’s jump into my review and beware of mild spoilers.
The episode flashes back to the events of Magonolia Episode 4 Destiny, where the telekinetic teen superhero saved a young woman (Kurlann Bradshaw) working at an electronics store from a bandit (Akeem St. Cyr). The woman (I didn’t get her civilian name, hence my not using it) delivered a very satisfying kick on the would-be bandit after he is knocked out by Magonolia. Well, guess what, both of these folks have superpowers!
Bradshaw’s power is cryokinetic (ability to create icy blasts and freeze things) and will become the hero “Icy”, while St Cyr has electric powers and will become the hero “Voltanic”. Maybe they are half-aliens like Magonolia and the encounter awakened their innate abilities. Or maybe their powers come from another source. It’s not made clear here so we can only theorise. But Voltanic’s display of his powers on a tower (hey, that rhymes) looked cool, and his encounter with the sassy Icy gave me a couple of chuckles. Bradshaw’s performance is easily the highlight of the episode, and her big, vibrant personality shines throughout. One note though, I thought Icy could have accidentally used her powers when first confronted by Voltanic (now a reformed bandit) as it is not explained how he knew she had powers as well. I guess you could say he “sensed it” but if that was the case it should have been made clear in the dialogue.
If you have been watching the Batchack Man The Peacemakers series then you would recognize the character of Michelle Hernandez (Angelia Bissoon) who crosses over here and acts as Icy’s friend and confidante. Small world, smaller country I always say. I liked the connection between the two series as it felt natural and not shoehorned in.
And if two superheroes were not enough, we get ANOTHER one with Celine Isaac’s Solera, with her Carnival-esque mask, tight midriff and what I presume are solar-themed powers (she doesn’t show them off but I’m pretty sure we will see them at some point). It appears that Solera will be a mentor figure to Icy which is a cool set-up (no pun intended). Women sharpening women. Noice.
All in all Superheroes Part 1 follows the usual superhero origin route—person discovers they have powers, becomes afraid, gets help from someone and starts embracing their powers. The only thing missing is Icy using her powers to defeat some level criminals, which admittedly would have injected a much-needed dose of superhero action.
But still an entertaining first episode and I look forward to seeing more from Icy whether in Part 2 or another series. And we’ll see if her fellow hero Voltanic can electrify the screen. Puns. I got ’em.
Score: 6.5 out of 10
Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, 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 “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.
You can watch Superheroes Part 1 for yourself by clicking here. And you can check out more from the Ville Ventures Universe below:
