SuperMansion focuses on a supergroup that is made up of heroes that, while appearing to be similar in composition to that of the The Justice League or The Avengers, end up being far from the idyllic collection of champions that those other teams boast.
The group is led by the aging Titanium Rex (Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle). Harking from a society deep underground, Rex of House Titanium is a Superman-knockoff, but with a far more lecherous history than the Man of Steel. Another member of the League of Freedom is American Ranger (Keegan-Michael Key, Key & Peele, MADtv), a WWII super soldier who was frozen in time until a few months before the start of this series. There is also Black Saturn (Tucker Gilmore), a Batman spoof that mooches off of his parents' money and Jewbot (Zeb Wells), an advanced android that recently decided it was Jewish. Rounding out the team is Cooch (Heidi Gardner), a hyper-evolved house cat and Brad (Tom Root), a drug-fueled Hulk/Bane type character.
While there is an overarching story to the season, most episodes play out as one-off adventures where the viewers get some interesting background information on a character, or a villain of the League of Freedom shows up to attempt some ill-conceived plan. The series starts off when Sgt. Agony (also played by Keegan-Michael Key), a military accountant, decides he has had enough of the LoF's overspending and audits the team. After some creative accounting, the team is allowed to continue operating, but the need to keep their operation afloat becomes a running theme in the series.
Thankfully, Rex and American Ranger realize they have a potential ally in Ranger's former sidekick, Kid Victory (Scott Thompson, The Kids in the Hall), now a member of Congress and a part of the committee that approves the League's budget. Unfortunately, what Ranger doesn't realize is that Kid Victory has come out of the closet and the man's lifestyle doesn't seem to fit the superhero's views of propriety.
I'm going to say, at this point, if the idea of American Ranger not accepting Kid Victory's sexual preferences and even going so far as to disowning the former sidekick is offensive to you, then you should just stop right there. This is, by far, the least offensive aspect of this series. Don't let the stop-action animation of SuperMansion lull you into thinking this is anywhere near family-friendly. The show takes advantage of the fact that it isn't on a typical TV station and is very adult themed. Not only are sex and drugs frequent topics throughout, there is full frontal nudity on both male and female characters and attempts to offend almost any race or creed that comes near it. That being said, if you aren't easily offended, then a lot of the show's low-brow humor can be pretty funny.
About halfway through the season, a new character, Lex Lightning (Jillian Bell, 22 Jump Street, The Night Before), appears. As the illegitimate daughter of Titanium Rex, Lex has many of her father's powers, and she hopes to learn how to control them under the team leader. She quickly becomes a staple at the SuperMansion as the team's intern, and all of the male superheroes (besides Rex, of course) start to consider her a potential love interest.
While the show's superheroes make for an interesting bunch with many foibles to have fun with, a superhero team wouldn't be much good without a collection of villains, and it is here that the series gains some solid guest stars. These include Clark Duke (Sex Drive) as Groaner, Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, Fury, Daredevil) as Rat-A-Pult, Donald Faison (Scrubs) as Quiplash, Chris Pine (Star Trek) as Robo-Dino, Famke Janssen (X-Men) as Frau Mantis, Ron Perlman, (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as Blazar, Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Blood Moon and the late Anton Yelchin (also of Star Trek note) as Dudley, Black Saturn's kid brother.
SuperMansion: Season 1 isn't for everyone, far from it in fact. Expect to be offended and expect to cringe away from some of the jokes or topics discussed, but if this warning doesn't make you refuse to watch the show, then you will most likely find SuperMansion to be a fun spoof on the standard superhero formula.
