Netflix’s Project Power has hints of Marvel Comics’ Mutant Growth Hormones

Project Power is very similar to stories from Marvel Comics

The pills in the new Netflix movie Project Power are similar to Mutant Growth Hormones in Marvel Comics.

This writer had no idea what Project Power was going to be going in, especially since trailers can be deceiving. Thankfully, the movie was entertaining. Everything from the acting to the story was done well.

No one should be shocked that Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were amazing. After researching Dominique Fishback, we shouldn’t be shocked that she was a perfect pick for this role. The movie flowed, the story was good, and some of the camera angles and shots for the action were creative. That said, there was one thing comic book fans may have noticed. The pills used in Project Power are similar to Mutant Growth Hormones in Marvel Comics.

Mutant Growth Hormones (or MGH) is a drug that gives people without powers superhuman abilities. MGH is made from the DNA of mutants. It wasn’t just a drug for parties and clubs. The drug was also used by criminals. It helped them gain a needed edge when they were attacked by superheroes.

Diamondback used it going up against the Defenders (Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Iron Fist). Instead of using MGH, it was IGH (Inhuman Growth Hormones). Same concept here, except it was made from the DNA of Inhumans. It gave him enough strength to go up against them and almost win. If all of this sounds familiar, it should. It’s similar to what happened in Project Power.

Warning! Spoilers for Project Power coming up.

In Project Power, Art (Jamie Foxx’s character) was experimented on and hit with radiation while he was in the military. Later, he had a daughter. Due to everything Art went through, his daughter gained abilities when she was born. Art noticed the change when he realized she never got sick.

Once the wrong people found out about this, they kidnapped and experimented on Art’s daughter’s DNA. They found out that they could use her DNA for something nefarious. They put her DNA in pill form and it gave people powers. This isn’t the only similarity when it comes to the powers. There’s also the randomness that comes with what powers you get.

Just like in Marvel Comics, you never knew what powers you were going to get. Sometimes you have superhuman strength, you could fly, or other fantastic things. There’s also the cost of the long term physical damage. Just like in Project Power, getting a power doesn’t mean that there won’t be long-lasting effects. In the beginning, we see the guy on fire with burn marks on his skin. A result from the pill giving him the power to set his body on fire. Other times, it was more tragic than just physical deformity. If your body can’t handle MGH, you’ll die. In Marvel Comics, it looked like many results of a drug overdose. In Project Power, you’d explode.

Let this writer end this by saying that this isn’t a knock on Project Power. As Nas said, “No ideas original/there’s nothing new under the sun.”

There’s no guarantee that the creators of Project Power stole the idea from Marvel Comics. Even if they did, does it matter? Marvel Comics has characters that are similar to others as well.

For example, look at the Brood. The Brood are an alien race of bug-like creatures that lay eggs in their host and gain their abilities and powers. It’s very similar to the Xenomorphs in aliens. Now that Marvel will have the rights to the Xenomorphs in comics, this point may be moot. Either way, you can’t deny that Project Power and Marvel Comics Mutant Growth Hormones aren’t similar.