The story at the center of Raising Dion has struggling mother Nicole (Alisha Wainwright) trying to figure out how to raise her suddenly superhuman son Dion (Ja’Siah Young), all while job-hunting and mourning her dead husband Mark (Michael B Jordan). It’s a family drama wrapped up in the paranormal, and one that answers the question of what a superhero origin story might look like if told from the point of view of Martha, rather than Clark Kent. With Marvel and DC completely saturating the film market, it’s notable that smaller publishers are finding homes for their projects on TV streaming platforms. Raising Dion follows in the footsteps of Amazon’s The Boys and Netflix’s Umbrella Academy, telling a different kind of story of a rather unique and cheerful eight-year-old super boy. Let’s break down what works, what doesn’t, and what’s next for Netflix’s latest comic book bid. Raising Dion incorporates representation in a variety of ways, from featuring a majority black cast to casting Sammi Haney, a young wheelchair user who has brittle bone disease, as Dion’s best friend Esperanza (easily the standout character of the season). This diversity is treated as normal and unremarkable, but there are moments where the show’s plot diverges to address how being marginalised may affect how someone moves through the world. At one point, Dion is racially profiled by his teacher, which painfully forces Nicole to explain to Dion what racism is. A major selling point for Raising Dion is undoubtedly that it’s one of the only superhero shows centered on a black family, alongside the CW’s Black Lightning.

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