SuperHeroHype spoke with Captain Planet writer David Pepose about the upcoming comic book reboot. In this interview, Pepose opens up about his plans for modernizing the classic cartoon.
Captain Planet and the Planeteers introduced its titular hero and “five special young people.” Empowered by magic rings given to them by Gaia, the Planeteers stood as Earth’s first defense against those who would despoil it. However, when they found themselves overwhelmed, they could combine their powers to summon Earth’s greatest champion, Captain Planet.
Matt Morrison: I presume you were a fan of the original cartoon from the 90s. What was it about the concept that resonated with you?
David Pepose: I grew up watching Captain Planet, but it wasn’t until I looked back at the series as an adult that I saw the incredible potential behind the concept. It is a concept that’s inherently multicultural and diverse, in a way that hasn’t been this organic since the days of Giant-Sized X-Men. It deals with the pressing issues of today, in terms of both environmental disasters and the human greed that helps fuel them.
You said you’d been trying to get this book made for a decade. Was Dynamite Entertainment’s recent partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery the catalyst for this reboot?
I’ve asked a lot of publishers about Captain Planet over the years. When Dynamite sent out their press release announcing that they’d picked up the Captain Planet license at SDCC, I was already at the show. I immediately emailed publisher Nick Barrucci and editor Joe Rybandt and demanded to shoot my shot. Between my work with Dynamite on Space Ghost and my clear enthusiasm for Captain Planet, I think that got me the all-clear to run on this series.
Captain Planet finds a new context for Gaia and the Planeteers
In the first series summary, Gaia is described as a priestess rather than the spirit of the Earth. Is that accurate? Is she no longer the actual Greek goddess? If so, why the change?
For me, whenever I’m working on a relaunch like Captain Planet, I need to establish what are the ground rules and limitations for these characters. In other words, how do I effectively challenge them and keep them from being overpowered? And in particular, for a book like this, how do I keep our all-too-human Planeteers on the backfoot, rather than giving them any easy options to escape being the underdog?
With those considerations in mind, one of the first things I pitched was giving the Planeteers’ mentor Gaia a new kind of context. Rather than her being an all-powerful demigoddess who might double up on Captain Planet’s role of helping the Planeteers out of a jam, I wanted to reframe her as a human being in the vein of the Dalai Lama. Gaia is now a generational figure who acts as the vessel for the planet’s life-giving energies.
To me, that served as a win-win on a number of levels. For starters, it puts Gaia more on the same level as the Planeteers, which can allow for some really interesting character dynamics down the line. But even more importantly (and we’ll dig into this a bit more in Issue #2) it really reinforces the central mantra of Captain Planet – “the power is yours.” You ultimately can’t summon a genie and magically make your problems go away. There has to be a human component to all this and Gaia serves as an effective starting point and go-between.
The original Planeteers are back, but you indicated there would be greater depth to them?
Even more than my run on Space Ghost, I consider Captain Planet to be fully an ensemble-led series. For starters, we’ve got Kwame, a former soccer star from Ghana who became a farmer after his career was derailed by a knee injury. I pitched him as Cyclops meets Sam from Ted Lasso.
Meanwhile, we’ve recast Wheeler as a hotheaded auto worker from Detroit. Beyond his complicated feelings about the environmental movement vis-a-vis his career, Wheeler’s our point-of-view character for much of this series.
Linka is one of our biggest shifts from the original cartoon, given how much has changed since her debut in 1990 from “the Soviet Union.” She’s by far the most liberal of the group, headlining her own underground eco-activist punk band in Russia in the vein of Pussy Riot. She’s our team scrapper, not unlike Wolverine or Illyana Rasputin.
With Gi, who hails from South Korea, we’ve leaned into her background as a marine scientist. More than anyone, she knows the stakes, but she chooses to stay hopeful. She’s the bubbly kid sister of the group and heart of the team.
Speaking of Heart, Ma-Ti rounds out the group. Historically speaking, Ma-Ti’s always been treated as a punchline since most people don’t understand the power of Heart. But it’s really tactical telepathy, as he’s able to summon animals and reach inside people’s minds. As far as his backstory, Ma-Ti is an indigenous person from Brazil whose people were forced from their land to mine for lithium. But when he encounters the power of Heart, it cleanses his mind of all anger and violence. This turns him into an avowed pacifist — who could absolutely wreck you.
Is Captain Planet going to be more of a presence in the book beyond a deus ex machina?
Definitely. I see Captain Planet on a similar plane as characters like Superman or Shazam, albeit with powers in the vein of Metamorpho. When you boil him down to his absolute core, Captain Planet is somebody who doesn’t want to see anybody die. There’s a confidence to him, but there’s also this reassuring aura to him that has been really fun to write.
And that redesign! Eman Casallos did such an amazing job planting his own distinctive flag for Cap’s design, leaning into Captain Planet being this composite being literally built from the five elements. And the hot dad beard? That’s the one bit of global warming I’ll accept!
[Laughs]
Can we expect some degree of camp — dad jokes and bad puns as the villains are defeated?
For me personally, it’s all about trying to treat Captain Planet and his supporting cast with the respect they deserve. There’s certainly some moments of humor just watching the Planeteers as their strong personalities clash. But I wanted to approach this book like an epic adventure, really planting this firmly in the world outside our window in the year 2025. But at the same time, I suppose there’s always at least some degree of camp (or meta-camp?) whenever you’re doing a serious reboot of a classic cartoon.
Captain Planet villains and final thoughts
Talking of camp, the original cartoon had some of the most gloriously over-the-top villains ever. Are they going to be scaled back? Even more outrageous? On par with the original?
I honestly miss the days where we used to be able to say Captain Planet villains weren’t subtle enough.
[Laughs]
It feels like reality has gotten a lot less subtle over the last few years, and so it hasn’t taken much recontextualizing for Captain Planet’s villains to reflect the world today. We’ve got ruthless billionaire Lucian Plunder as the big bad of our origin storyline. He’s a guy with all the money and technology and power, but with none of the ethics.
We’ve also got Argos Bleak, a Blackwater-style mercenary who serves as Plunder’s right-hand man. And we’ll have a few other characters spinning off of Plunder’s immense wealth, including Dr. Blight and her artificial assistant MAL. For me, it hasn’t taken much to bring these villains to a place that they feel grounded and of our world. Sadly, real-life villains have only become more obvious as time has gone on, so Cap’s villains feel all-too-timely these days.
Any final thoughts for our readers?
This book has been even more fun than I could have even hoped for! Especially working with Eman Casallos. He’s got a style that fits somewhere between Gary Frank and Steve Dillon, but with flourishes of Doug Mahnke and Frank Quitely as well. I just consider myself lucky that I get to work with him, sensational colorist Jorge Sutil, and top-tier letterer Jeff Eckleberry to bring this epic story to life!
Captain Planet #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on April 23, 2025.
