South Africa has its first superhero, and his name is Eli King. The name rolls off your tongue like Bruce Wayne, wouldn’t you say?

Set in Johannesburg, South Africa’s first superhero—and the first mainstream African superhero series—Jongo, follows King as he acquires his supernatural abilities, deals with his father’s death, and fulfills a prophecy hundreds of years in the making. In an eight episode first season, King and his strange alien crystal will no doubt deal with a whole host of social and political issues through its science fiction bent—I mean hey, part of the series takes place at the UNESCO world heritage site (a.k.a. the site of the oldest humanoid fossil), the Cradle of Humankind. Naturally, the crystal in his possession is a hot ticket item, meaning no one is safe—especially not King and his loved ones.

The series stars Pacou Mutombo, a renowned dancer in real life that grew up reading Marvel and DC comic books, so he seems perfect for a series of this genre.

From the look of the trailer, we’re dealing with an edgy superhero origin story, and a strong-willed, charismatic central character.

The show is written and directed by Gareth Crocker, who told Screen Africa, “We knew from the outset we wanted to do something quite different from the other shows currently on air in this genre… we wanted to ensure authenticity — to produce something that people can connect with. In casting, we specifically sought out people who are closely aligned to the characters we’ve written.”

There’s no word yet on whether the series will be available in the US, but it’s already set to be a game-changer in South Africa. What do you think of the concept for Jongo? Would you check it out? Reach out to me on Twitter, or make a comment below.

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HT: Indiewire
IMAGE: Motion Story/Vimeo