New Netflix superhero show Supacell is inspired by creator Rapman's own life as well as hit series Heroes and Misfits

Following the success of his 2019 movie Blue Story (the highest grossing British urban film of all-time), rapper-turned-filmmaker Rapman is back with a new project which is undoubtedly his most ambitious yet.

He has created, written, and directed new superhero series Supacall, which is heading to streaming service Netflix later this month. The story follows a group of seemingly ordinary and unconnected Black people from South London as they unexpectedly develop superpowers overnight.

But why did Rapman choose to go from making musical crime drama Blue Story to this bold superpowered tale? As he tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features The Boys season 4 on the cover, it came from his frustrations with the superhero genre which he says doesn't center on real-life people.

The filmmaker then explains how that makes his new series standout from the crowd: "I know the superhero genre, 100% that's been done to death, but Supacell is different - it's a superpower drama about normal people, real people, not people that are martyrs, not people that are going to save the world, just people that try to save themselves and their families. Just what normal people would do."

Rapman continues, revealing that he believes that's the cause behind what's become known as 'superhero fatigue': "I don’t think it’s superhero fatigue, I think the characters, you’re just caring less about them. We was invested in Tony Stark, we was invested in Thor, we was invested in the original Avengers, and then they started moving on to new ones. It’s hard for us to get to know them, because it’s so much about the spectacle, rather than seeing their journeys. We see five multimillionaires, and their biggest problem is, ‘How do we spend the money today?’ Only a few people can relate to that."

With his new show Rapman wanted to do something different then, with Supacell's characters taking inspiration from his own life and world. He feels this further pushes the ideas explored by hit series Misfits and Heroes, which are considered to be more grounded superhero tales thanks to them featuring ordinary people, in the same way Supacall does.

As he concludes: "Before the Marvel movies became a thing, Heroes came out and it blew everybody away. I felt like, 'Oh, we're getting close now to normal people with powers.' Because when I was a kid, I wished I had powers. Then Misfits came and that's, 'Oh, they have powers, but it's a bit more comedy.' We were getting closer with Misfits and Heroes, but it's not quite how it would be in my world if I got powers. I lived in South London and I was like, 'I need to tell this story. I want to tell that story.'"

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Supacell releases on Netflix this June. The above is just a snippet from our interview, available in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features The Boys season 4 on the cover and is available from Wednesday, June 12. Check out what you should be looking out for on newsstands below...

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