Jimmy Olsen Lands Solo Superman Series Centered on One of The Flash’s Strangest Villains
James Gunn’s Superman is spawning a TV spin-off that thrusts Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen into a showdown with Flash villain Gorilla Grodd.
File this under: DC doing the kind of weird I actually want. James Gunn's Superman is already spinning off a TV series built around Jimmy Olsen, with Skyler Gisondo stepping back into the bow tie. Per THR, this one sounds like a newsroom caper with supervillains lurking around the edges.
The setup
'American Vandal' duo Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda are creating the show, which follows Jimmy Olsen and the rest of the 'Daily Planet gang' digging into stories that brush up against bad guys in capes and armor. It is very much a Planet-centric piece — and, importantly, it does not include David Corenswet's Clark Kent or Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane as part of the main ensemble. THR says they are out, which tracks given they are busy with the Superman sequel, 'Man of Tomorrow.' Everyone else in the newsroom seems to be fair game. And personally, I would not be shocked if Clark or Lois popped in for a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo at some point.
Season 1 swings big (and hairy)
The first season reportedly zeroes in on Gorilla Grodd. If you are new to Grodd: he dates back to 1959's 'The Flash' #106 from writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino. He is a hyper-intelligent gorilla with psychic abilities whose ambitions start with taking over Gorilla City and scale up to, well, everything. He is one of DC's cult favorite oddballs, and using him here tells me the show is not afraid to get strange.
Why Jimmy makes sense for this
Jimmy Olsen has headlined plenty in the comics, most famously 'Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen,' which has popped in and out of publication since the 1940s. Classic Jimmy stories are basically: boy reporter stumbles into sci-fi nonsense and pays the price in the funniest possible way — sometimes he gets temporary superpowers, sometimes he winds up a 50-foot man-turtle kaiju. With that kind of legacy, Grodd as the first target is a perfect fit: unapologetically eccentric.
- Star: Skyler Gisondo, reprising Jimmy Olsen from James Gunn's 'Superman'
- Creators/Showrunners: Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda ('American Vandal')
- Premise: Jimmy and the Daily Planet crew investigate stories tied to supervillains
- Who is not in the ensemble: David Corenswet's Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane (they are on 'Man of Tomorrow')
- Season 1 foe: Gorilla Grodd (psychic, world-domination aspirations, first appeared in 1959's 'The Flash' #106 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino)
The vibe (and why I am in)
This is exactly the kind of Superman-adjacent storytelling I want: funny, slightly unhinged, and poking around the corners of the DC Universe most movies ignore. Gisondo can carry it — he is fresh off a big run on 'The Righteous Gemstones' and knows how to thread absurdity with sincerity, which is basically the Jimmy Olsen skill set.
More details when they land. For now, consider me optimistic about a show that lets Jimmy chase psychic gorillas while the big blue guy is off saving the world.