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'Powerless' trailer pits DC superheroes against ordinary people

What's it like to go about your day when superhero battles rage above your head? Check out the trailer for this new superhero sitcom.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
NBC

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird. No, it's a plane. No, it's a giant chunk of rubble falling toward your head.

Superhero battles may look spectacular, but for ordinary people a clash of superpowered beings is fraught with danger and property damage. That's the premise for new sitcom "Powerless", which has dropped its first trailer.

The comedy follows the employees of Wayne Security, a company presumably owned by Batman's millionaire alter ego Bruce Wayne. The wacky crew helps protect the people of Charm City against the fallout from punch-ups between DC comics superheroes, with no doubt hi-laaarious consequences. Vanessa Hudgens, Danny Pudi and "Rogue One" robotic star Alan Tudyk lead the cast.

"Powerless" has been extensively reworked since the pilot was first revealed at last summer's Comic-Con. In its original form, the show was set at the amusingly named Retcon insurance company and was essentially a workplace sitcom with added mentions of superheroes. The characters have been altered, and, judging by the gags in the new trailer, the actual series will have more super-humour.

Superheroes work on screen in Marvel's grim'n'gritty Netflix shows and DC's light-hearted TV adventures, so it'll be interesting to see if caped crusaders work in an out-and-out sitcom too. "Powerless" debuts on 2 February on NBC.

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