Danger Force (2020-24) on Nickelodeon is Henry Danger Part 2: instead of one teen apprentice, bumbling superhero Captain Man gets a whole crew. I reviewed Episode 1.2, "Say My Name," which reputedly has gay characters.
Scene 1: KLVY Studio. Captain Man (Cooper Barnes) is doing damage control after accidentally releasing hundreds of criminals from prison, including super-villains The Toddler, Arson Boy, Dr. Minyak, and Dr. Guilty. Ok, those guys might be dangerous, but most incarcerated persons are being punished for minor drug possession and property crimes. He's sent his Danger Force team out into the streets of Swellville to apprehend them. But at that moment, the team arrives with pizza and wings!
Trying to save face, Captain Man argues that they at least caught The Toddler. But there's a real toddler in his bag. And they don't remember where they got him. He's pre-verbal, so he can't tell them. This is a teencom, so I'm sure the parents realize that their kid is not in danger, just misplaced.
Introduction: There are four kids in Danger Force, two girls (one who looks more like a boy, and may be nonbinary), the "dreamy" Bose (Luca Luhan, left), and a "comic relief" Miles (Terence Little Gardenhigh, below). They apparently have superpowers of their own; I thought that the original Henry Danger was a non-powered teen sidekick.
Scene 2: The kids practicing boxing while Captain Man snacks. Whoa, look at those biceps! Could I just watch Cooper Barnes flexing for 23 minutes? He's angry because they embarrassed him on tv, ao he insults their superpowers. They do seem to be rather rudimentary.
An alarm rings -- "Stranger approaching!" -- so the headquarters remodels into a classroom (rather a cool transformation). It's a delivery guy named Guy (Josh George, center), who turns out to be Assistant Swoz, checking the security system.
Next, the toddler they kidnapped runs across the stage with giant scissors, but Danger Force is more interested in the damage to their reputation caused by interfering with Captain Man's interview earlier. They've all got humiliating nicknames, except Dreamy Bose, who is now being called Gorgeous Hair Boy.
Bose: "When are people going to stop talking about my gorgeous hair? My eyes are down here!" Interesting parody of the "My eyes are up here" line.
Swoz comes in and warns them to be careful: If you say a superhero's name three times, it becomes permanent! In the 1970s, when he was just starting out, Captain Man was almost known as Angry Punch Guy. Fifty years ago? He looks mid-30s. Maybe superheroes reach a certain age and stop. He only got Captain Man by convincing the hottest DJ in town, Coyote Jack, to say his name.
Scene 3: So, a plan of action: the Androgynous Girl rushes off to the tv studio to keep the newscasters from saying their humiliating nicknames on the air. She bursts in and unsuccessfully tries to use her superpower to stop them, but they continue. Fortunately, this was just a rehearsal.
Meanwhile, Comic Relief and his sister rush off to find the most popular person in town, Natalie Mazda, who is popular because she sat next to Emma Watkins on an airplane. She's holding court at the Hip Hop Puree Restaurant. But they're not wearing their superhero costumes, so saying their names would be pointless.
Meanwhile, Captain Man and Dreamy Bose look for the toddler's mother, using a photograph that Swoz drew from her genetic map. Hetero-horniness alert: Captain Man intended to stay at headquarters, but when he saw that the toddler's mom was hot, he changed his mind.
They stop at the Puree restaurant for pureed cheeseburger, turkey dinner, and chocolate cake, and argue like a married couple. Captain Man gets pureed chocolate on his t-shirt, and goes to wash it off.
Scene 4: All of the unsuccesful team members gather at the Puree restaurant. They find the toddler's picture on a milk carton, so at least they can call a parent. Wait -- he's only been missing for like an hour. There should be an Amber Alert instead.
Ulp -- the real Supervillain Toddler (Ben Giroux, left) and his henchmen burst in! The team tries unsuccessfully to subdue them with their superpowers, and then with their muscles, and finally with Spicy Milk (a running gag that I didn't think was important).
Yow, Captain Man exits the bathroom shirtless! Almost as if the director knew that every gay man in the world would tune in to this episode. The patrons all cheer for Danger Force, but he thinks that they are cheering for his biceps. I would be.
Scene 5: Two guys enter the Puree Restaurant and grab and cuddle the real toddler, who calls them "Daddies." Unnamed, but probably Justin and Dustan (Tommy Dickie, Brandon Claybon). Gay couples on tv often have matchiing names, to evoke the old stereotype that gay men "want to date themselves."
Tommy posts humorous movie reviews: Sinners gets an A-, 28 Years Later A-, Queer B, Superman C-. I can't tell if he's gay in real life or not.
Fashion model Brandon Claybon (left) is hugging a lady in 90% of his Instagram posts.
Captain Man is dubious: "Who are you guys?" Apprised that they are his Dads, he asks "Where are the Moms? The hot one in this photo?"
They explain that she is his birth mother. Disgusted, Captain Man says "This has all been a waste of time," and stomps out. Presumably he's disgusted because he was hoping to meet a hot woman, but it's not really clear. The others are perfectly nonchalant. While saying goodbye, the toddler uses the superheroes' preferred names.
Popular Natalie Mazda tells her social media followers that this is the best thing she's seen since Emma Watkins on the plane, getting a lot of heart and happy face emojis. The newscasters report on the story as a "sweet moment," and use the superheroes' preferred names, so they're all set.
Epilogue: The team relishes their new names. Captain Man is desperately trying to find the hot birth mom by calling everyone in Nova Scotia named "Samantha" and asking if they are hot. Captain Man strikes me as a jerk. Is this intentional?
Beefcake: Sigh.
Heterosexism: Captain Man is as annoyingly hetero-horny as the nerds in a 1980s "losing your virginity" movie.
Homophobia: Captain Man's reaction to the dads can be read as homophobic, and the guys' names evoke the cringe Modern Family's Steven and Stefan.
Gay Characters: Two gay dads who appear for about a minute, and are unnamed. One has three lines, and the other none. I think they made the toddler's parents a gay couple to stymie Captain Man's search for the hot mom. But at least they get a lot of comments on social media about how sweet their story is.
The toddler is played by Dashiell Merritt, now ten years old, seen here with his twin brother Fox at the school dance. According to their Instagram:
Dashiell: I don't want to wear a tie. I want to wear a tiara.
Mom: What if the other kids make fun of you?
Dashiell: Why would they?
My grade: C+ for the episode, A for the boy who wears a tiara to the dance.
