The series follows the Powers Division, a section of the police that deals with crimes involving superhumans. The primary character is former hero Christian "Diamond" Walker (Sharlto Copley), who gets assigned a new partner, Deena Pilgrim (Susan Heyward) as they investigate a series of deaths linked to a new drug called Sway, as well as dealing with some old faces from Walker's past, including Retro Girl (Michelle Forbes), Johnny Royalle (Noah Taylor) and "Big Bad" Wolfe (Eddie Izzard).
The series is available in full for free on Playstation Network. Season 2 began airing May 31, 2016. The show was cancelled after season 2.
Powers contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: What brings Johnny Royalle and Calista together.
- Action Girl: Normal: Deena; Superhuman: Retro Girl, Zora and Calista after getting her powers.
- Adaptation Expansion: All over the place, but particularly Johnny Royale, who goes from being a guy quickly killed off in the comic to a major figure in the TV series (and capable of a variety of tricks with his teleportation, including trying to extract specific molecules from someone).
- Back from the Dead: Krispin in season 2 episode 8. Apparently he's a Power.Christian: People don't just come back from the dead.Supershock: You sure about that?(cue Answer Cut)
- Badass Normal: Christian and Deena in spades, being powerless cops who police people with powers.
- Berserk Button: Christian assaults Johnny Royalle in front of cameras for stealing his "lucky tie". And in Season 2, he throws Conrad Moody out of the window after he taunts him with a recording of Retro Girl's death.
- Beware the Superman: Theoretically the goal of Kaotic Chic is to raise awareness of how reckless Powers can be. Kinda goes off the rails when they start murdering people.
- BFG: Triphammer built two of those in Season 2, one is used by Deena against the Heavy, the other by Krispin against Supershock.
- Brought Down to Normal: Christian used to have powers, but they were stolen by Wolfe.
- Morrison says his powers ran out in 1962, when he was trying to escalate the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Clothes Make the Superman: Triphammer is nothing more than a very intelligent man in powered armor.
- Comes Great Responsibility: Walker gives Calista this speech in season 2 when she takes up Retro Girl's moniker.
- Dead Person Conversation: Between Krispin and Marigold's ghost after he comes back from the dead.
- Dirty Cop: Deena's father was one, as he stole a large amount of money during an investigation.
- Disney Villain Death: Conrad Moody, for orchestrating Retro Girl's and Triphammer's murder.
- Driving Question: In the first episode of season 2, the question is "Who killed Retro Girl?"
- Empowered Badass Normal: Happens in the fifth episode of Season 1 for Christian, and Season 2 finale for Deena. Temporarily.
- Expy: As with the comics.
- Triphammer (Iron Man)
- Diamond (a fusion of Batman and Superman)
- Retro Girl (Golden Age Supergirl)
- Faking the Dead: Johnny Royale was presumed dead at the start of the series. Turns out he's still alive.
- Foreshadowing: When Cobalt Knight is found murdered, a flashback in the same episode shows Supershock killing Hitler in the exact same way.
- Friendly Enemy: Christian and Johnny Royalle are shown to have been friends, and despite Christian wanting to put Johnny behind bars for drug dealing, they go together with a plan to kill Wolfe after his escape attempt. This quickly turns into a game of Xanatos Speed Chess between them and the Powers Division.
- Government Conspiracy: In season 2, Heavy, the guy who killed Retro Girl is actually a rogue CIA operative, which they are very eager to cover up, even if it means letting Retro Girl's killer go free.
- Handicapped Badass: Triphammer and his successor, Martinez, are both amputees. Bonus points for Martinez being a veteran.
- Healing Factor: Wolfe's primary ability is to regenerate from almost any wound. By the end of season 1 it was so strong that it could stop Johnny from teleporting Wolfe's head off.
- In Season 2, Krispin turns out to have gained one.
- Heroic BSoD: Calista gets one in Season 2 - after Supershock assaults her, she walks into the Powers Division and locks herself in a Drainer cell, willing to give up her powers.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Walker tricks Supershock into flying himself and Walker into the sun, killing them both.
- Jurisdiction Friction: In season 2 the FBI is called in to investigate Retro Girl's murder and eventually take over Powers division.
- Legacy Hero: Calista takes the name of Retro Girl after Retro Girl's murder.
- Light 'em Up: Zora has the ability to shape light, mainly by creating a number of purple-ish cubes. This also allows her to fly somehow.
- Me's a Crowd: Simons has the ability of self duplication.
- Morality Chain: As a result of his Sanity Slippage, Janice was this for Supershock. She visited him every day to keep him from going totally off the deep end.
- Mysterious Backer: Kaotic Chic apparently has one. Who is willing to kill both Krispin and Marigold, and eventually succeeds.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Wolfe escapes the Shaft only because of the Xanatos Speed Chess between Johnny Royalle, Christian and the Powers Division, all hinged on Christian wanting to regain his powers.
- No One Should Survive That!: Christian, when Heavy brings down an apartment block on him.
- Out with a Bang: Olympia dies while having sex.
- Power Loss Makes You Strong: Christian's motivation to become a cop.
- Power Nullifier: Triphammer develops this technology.
- Power Parasite: Wolfe can absorb the abilities of other Powers. He later gains the ability to drain them at a distance when Johnny Royale uses his brain matter to make Sway and distributes it to a huge number of Powers.
- Product Placement: Rather obviously, electronics shown in the series are made by Sony.
- Race Lift: Deena is black in the series, her comics counterpart was a blonde Caucasian.
- Really 700 Years Old: Wolfe is stated to be over a century old, and Retro Girl has been around since at least World War I. So has Morrison.
- Retirony: Subverted and lampshaded with Adlard, who is stated to be getting close to retirement, but surprisingly survives the massacre at the Shaft in "Paint It Black", prompting several jokes at his expense in the next episode, "Raconteur of the Funeral Circuit".
- Series Continuity Error: Season 1 depicts Christian and Johnny Royalle as young twenty-somethings becoming well-known powers by stopping Wolfe during the Sanction Lounge massacre in 1994, with Christian having trouble flying, while Season 2 has Christian noticeably older, able to fly and already in costume in 1998, with Triphammer's diary stating that he was around as Diamond at least since 1985.
- Season 2 has it, even more strangely, with Morrison, who admits to have been busy helping The Beatles record an album when JFK was assassinated, yet, in the next episode, reveals to have been captured by Russians and hauled off to gulag a year prior, only escaping in 1968.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: The Heavy, complete with a Badass Longcoat and a wide-brimmed fedora.
- Shoot the Dog: Calista blows up her abusive father when he forces her to help him rob a bank in Season 2.
- Shoulder Cannon: Martinez uses one to confront Supershock in Season 2 finale.
- Signature Item Clue: Retro Girl was found with a lump of red substance in her hand. The Powers Division's analyst, Fuller, identifies it as ABS, a sort of plastic that toys are usually made of. Having this info, Christian deduces what the item was before it was crushed an action figure of Retro Girl in the red bodysuit she wore when found.
- Super Registration Act: Following Retro Girl's murder a former hero-cum-senator starts trying to pass a bill to make the use of Powers a federal offense. It comes up again at the end of season 2 after the truth about Janice having covered up Supershock's Sanity Slippage comes out.
- Teleportation: Johnny Royale's ability. He can teleport himself, and others as well. He also has the ability to selectively teleport parts of things he's taking with him. Such as someone's head.
- The End... Or Is It?: The Stinger for the series' final episode shows Christian Walker unconscious in a featureless white area, with two voices discussing how long he was "out there".
- The Stinger: Every episode of Season 2 has a short post-credits scene.
- Trouble Entendre: As he is dragged away by the FBI, Heavy gloats to Christian that "he almost got the whole set", confirming his suspicions about the instigator of Retro Girl's murder.
- Unexplained Recovery: happens to Deena, quite grotesquely, in Season 2 finale.
- Wham Episode: The season 1 finale when Retro Girl is murdered, apparently by Kaotic Chic.
- Wicked Cultured: Morrison in Season 2.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Supershock is regarded as the strongest Power to ever exist. Turns out he lost his mind years ago, and honestly believes that every bad thing that happens in the world is a result of his old archenemy...including Supershock himself going around killing Powers.
