If you don't know a lot about the Inhumans, you'd be forgiven for getting them confused with the X-Men. The two superpowered species share an awful lot of surface similarities, from their colorful costumes to their general concept. The Inhumans TV show is dropping at the end of the month, but Marvel took steps to make sure that casual viewers don't confuse them with Fox's X-Men. Roel Reiné directed the pilot for the series and he recently spoke about what he thinks is the key difference between the two groups. One lives among normal, humans, while the other does not.
What's really different is the X-Men are born with their special skills; they're very problematic in the human race. With the Inhuman race, they get their skills in a special ceremony. They're closed in their own society, which itself moves to the moon. For me, that's the key difference: they have their own society.
Skewing away from a more traditional premiere, Inhumans debuted its first two episodes on IMAX this weekend, before hitting ABC for everyone to watch later this month. Roel Reiné, whose credits include Admiral and Black Sails, directed the first two episodes of the series, and he's well aware of the similarity his characters share with the more popular X-Men. Reiné told the Independent that the showrunners and himself realized that they had to differentiate the two Marvel properties. The key way that the Inhumans are different from the X-Men is that the Inhumans have their own little society separated from humanity, while the X-Men are basically stuck with us.
In Marvel comics, mutants are born with their powers, making them the next step in human evolution. The Inhumans go through a special ceremony to get their powers, which is considered a birthright. Inhumans essentially celebrate their weird powers, while mutants are shunned for them. Plus, Inhumans have their own society, with its own rules and government. It's those factors that hopefully keeps Inhumans interesting to watch.
It's funny that this difference between Inhumans and X-Men need to be highlighted because originally, many people felt like the Inhumans were just going to be the MCU's X-Men. This is still true to a certain extent, as most people with powers are Inhumans on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and humanity hates them in ways that are very reminiscent of the X-Men. We'll see if that ever changes, but comparisons between the two will always be unavoidable.
Inhumans is out right now for one week (it was originally two) in IMAX theaters before it premieres on ABC on September 29, 2017. To learn more about all the shows premiering in the new television season, make sure to visit our fall season TV release guide. For more TV news, keep it right here at CinemaBlend.
