Irredeemable and Incorruptible comic books to be adapted by Netflix

Jeymes Samuel, the filmmaker behind Netflix’s all-star Western The Harder They Fall is teaming up with the streaming giant to adapt Boom! Studios’ comic series Irredeemable and its spinoff, Incorruptible.

Created by veteran comics author Mark Waid and illustrated mostly by Peter Krause, Irredeemable is based around a guy called The Plutonian (a Superman-type) who was once the world’s most beloved superhero but has since grown bitter and jaded, partially due to the fact that everyone has always respected him out of fear rather than actually liking who he is.

The hero eventually snaps and starts murdering people (like a lot of people) and all of his former friends and enemies try and come up with ways to stop him.

The spinoff series, Incorruptible, flipped the script and followed supervillain Max Damage as he responded to the Plutonian’s evil by gradually transforming himself into a superhero with the aim of stopping the former hero, but with the added pressure of doing so before his own degenerative powers caused him to lose his mind.

The comics ran from 2009 to 2012 and were key early successes for Boom!. Irredeemable ran for 37 issues and sold more than 1.5 million copies while Incorruptible lasted 30 issues and sold more than one million copies.

This is Netflix’s second go at putting out a series that deconstructs the superhero trope. The streamer did it once with Jupiter’s Legacy but found no success there. Amazon’s The Boys remains a go-to favourite for viewers of this genre. HBO Max’s Peacemaker starring John Cena almost immediately took the world by storm. It’s going to take a lot for Samuel and Netflix to meet or even surpass the same success.

Samuel, Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter and James Lassiter will be producing the adaptation. Kemp Powers (One Night In Miami) will serve as its writer.

Irredeemable and Incorruptible are just some of Boom!’s TV deals. Prior to this, its BRZRKR comics by Keanu Reeves’ was announced to get the live-action and anime treatment from Netflix too.