The era of superhero dominance may or may not be coming to an end, but it’s certainly transformed. Marvel is no longer as dominant as it once was, and we’re not getting six of seven superhero movies every year anymore.
While there are plenty of reasons to have nostalgia for the peak of Marvel’s powers, there are also some projects that only exist because they were able to ride that superhero wave. One such show is Legion, which is loosely adapted from a comic book storyline and features a lead character that only die-hard comic fans know about. The three-season series follows David Haller, a man who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a child, and who has slowly come to realize that the voices in his head might be real. Here are three reasons you should watch it on Hulu.
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It’s wilder than any superhero story you’ve seen
Created by Noah Hawley, Legion was unafraid of taking incredibly bold swings in the world it built and in its storytelling. Not all of those swings are successful, but Legion is the rare show that feels more like its own thing than like any sort of comic book adaptation.
Sure, there are the occasional references to X-Men or whatever, but really, this is a show that brings you inside the head of someone who sees and hears a lot of crazy things, and Legion is unafraid of showing you those things in a pretty unvarnished way.
It’s a love story and a villain origin story
Another thing that has been woefully absent from superhero stories over the past decade is true blue romances, but that’s exactly what we have with Legion. Much of the story is focused on David’s relationship with Syd, a fellow patient at the mental institution where he currently resides.
Even as the series is very much about their relationship, though, it’s also the rare superhero show to focus its attention primarily on a person who is slowly transforming into a villain. David has immense power, and by the end of the series, you’ll come to understand exactly why he becomes the terrible person he does.
It features Dan Stevens at his best
Dan Stevens has had one of the more fascinating Hollywood careers in recent memory. He’s proven that he can carry any project like The Guest, but is often relegated to smaller supporting roles (which he’s usually excellent in) in such genre fare as Abigail and Cuckoo. In Legion, though, he’s the star, and he commits to every scene with a strange blend of intensity, humor, and charisma.
Legion asks some pretty extreme things of its ensemble, but Stevens leads the way, creating a version of David that is wild, but also internally coherent. Stevens’s greatest triumph is in turning what could be a fairly unlikable character into someone you can watch and sympathize with.
All three seasons of Legion are streaming on Hulu.
