Ultraviolet & Black Scorpion (Disney, 2022)

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shevek
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Seemingly out of nowhere, Disney has dropped the first season of a luchador superhero series called "Ultraviolet and Black Scorpion". The plot centers a family which includes the two titular luchador heroes who must keep their secrets from everyone. Their magic masks give them powers..in the middle of the series we find out that there are actually a total of twelve masks, which makes this approach somewhat similar to Miraculous Ladybug, as well as Wildcat from the Stargirl show. Since the mother of 'Ultraviolet' is a school principal, and the leads are a tight-knit family of four, there are also similarities here to be drawn to the world of Jefferson Pierce and Black Lightning.

At least, I thought that it was out of nowhere, but there is a backstory.

The series is created by Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, who found success with Detective Pikachu, and before that, they wrote episodes of the campy 2nd edition of the superhero TV series The Tick (which we have previously discussed on this forum as being fairly enjoyable). Given those positives, Disney signed the pair to a long-term deal for both animated and live-action shows, and this show is the first result.

On my end, I'm wondering how much these guys really know about previous superhero productions, given that there is a 2006 movie starring Milla Jovovich about a superheroine called Ultraviolet, and obviously an early 2000s TV show from Roger Corman called Black Scorpion. I mean, did they know about those, but still make deliberate references in the title characters?

Also, this series seems to be Disney's effort at Latino immersion: pretty much every character in the series, both major and minor, is Latino (mostly Mexican, I think, given all the references to Mexican foods). There are also lots of Easter eggs mentioning various Latino activist heroes, for example labor organizer (Cesar Chavez associate) Dolores Huerta, and Cuban revolutionary poet Jose Marti. I did learn one very useful Spanish word, "cualquiera", which means 'anyone, anybody' or 'whatever persons'.

Anyway, the interest in the show lies in the superheroine and supervillainess characters. Ultraviolet herself is a teenager (a young actress with a fair amount of experience - she was 'Trixie' in several seasons of Neil Gaiman's Lucifer show) so nothing will be said about her. Black Scorpion is a man, and the writers seem to ground him in somewhat of a Batman parody with nods towards the humor from The Tick ('justice stays up all night because crime never takes a nap', or similar quips like that).

But there are at least two characters in this first season which could catch the eye of Forum members, especially Maskripper, who is probably already happy to see the mention of the luchador theme, right?

1) Episode 4 contains the one-time appearance of actress Bevin Bru, who appeared in the Batwoman show as an ancillary character named "Angelique Martin" (to be honest, I don't remember her). She plays super-thief Miradora (not masked, sorry!) who looks a bit like Mockingbird with her black attire and her escrima shock-stick weapons (which later get combined into one big staff). For a guest star, Bru really commits to the role - there is quite a lot of intensive combat that she does against the male hero Black Scorpion. And near the end of the episode, there is a clear peril sequence which leads to her defeat. Probably worth checking out.

2) Episodes near the end of the season introduce a love interest for the civil identity of Black Scorpion. In Episode 9, we find out that this love interest (played by actress Lorena Jorge) is also another luchadora superheroine by the name of Cascada, who can phase through walls like Shadowcat. We then get lots of closeups in Episodes 9 and 10 of Cascada battling in her tight costume, with her mask trailing colorful flying dreadlocks. The character of Cascada is an attractive, take-charge, damn-the-rules heroine with a bit of flirtatiousness, in contrast with her more straight-laced civilian identity as a school counselor. When a woman lets her true spitfire personality loose under the guise of a mask, that's usually rather attractive. I think Maskripper and others will find much to like about her.

The first 10-episode season ends somewhat abruptly with the sense that Ultraviolet's secret identity could be in jeopardy in the near future. That was a bit of a letdown - you would think that they'd put in more of a convincing cliffhanger. But anyway, it's a decent effort at a rather campy superhero show suitable for all ages but with a low-ish budget (the heroes always seem to be meeting at night on the exact same 'rooftop' set, reminiscent of a Spider-Man or Batman scenario).

Couldn't find any useable photos of Bevin Bru as Miradora, but here's her IMDB photo.
bevin bru plays miradora.jpg
bevin bru plays miradora.jpg (43.24 KiB) Viewed 490 times
Photo of Lorena Jorge as the luchadora heroine Cascada.
lorena jorge as cascada.jpg
lorena jorge as cascada.jpg (95.32 KiB) Viewed 490 times
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argento
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https://youtu.be/zo-BFEbbBqM
At minute 1:07 Bevin Bru appears as Miradora.
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