"Thundermans Undercover": Gay-vague superhero Jack Griffo flexes, tries to pick up men. With a lot of beefcake and Griffo junk

  Link to the n*de photos

Nickelodeon's Thundermans (2013-18) featured a nuclear family with superpowers trying to live incognito in the normal-powered world. Teenage Phoebe has chosen superhero as her career goal, while her twin brother Max  (Jack Griffo) wants to become a supervillain.  He trains under Doctor Colossus, a supervillain transformed into a rabbit, and later the sensei of evil, Dark Mayhem.  Eventually Max decides that being a supervillain would be too destructive for his family, so he switches career paths and teams up with Phoebe.  They become the Thunder Twins.

Max was heavily gay-coded, with minimal interest in girls.  When he does ask a girl out, it is often because he wants to use her to acquire something of value, or to continue to hide his secret identity.  Or he'll date a girl once and find an excuse to drop her.  I did that quite often in high school, too.  Anything to get out of that darn good-night kiss.

The spin-off Thundemans Undercover (2025) has the grown-up and bulked-up Thunder Twins going undercoer in Secret Shores, Florida, to investigate a new supervillain threat.  Superheroes work pro bono, so to pay the rent, Phoebe gets a job as an art teacher at Secret Shores High School, and Max becomes the assistant principal.  Don't you need years of teaching experience to qualify to be principal? They are also living together and parenting their little sister Chloe, who happens to be a student. 

The familial relationship between Max and Phoebe, and the fact that the Chloe is the real focus character, eliminates the need for hetero-romance. Phoebe dates once in the first season, but Max continues to be gay-vague.  

I'm reviewing Episode 1.9, "No Friend in Sight."

Scene 1: After a long day of school and superhero training, teenage Chloe is trying to have "Me-Time with No Max."  She settles down with a giant bowl of popcorn (essential for watching tv on tv, but never in real life) and turns on Glove Island.  Whoops, Max appears, and wants to hang out.  

Nope, Chloe zaps herself into the kitchen to watch alone.  Now Phoebe appears and wants to hang out!

She tries zapping into the superhero lair, but both Max and Chloe follow.

Frustrated, she announces "I'm going to Splats."  But they grab her hands as she zaps -- she's stuck with them. 

Scene 2: Splats, the standard teencom hangout.  Chloe criticized her guardians for wanting to spend every moment with her. They should make some friends of their own.  

It can't be hard to make friends, right?  Phoebe rushes up to a girl and exclaims "My future maid-of-honor!  We both wear pants!", scaring her away.

Scene 3: Apprised of how not to come on too strong, Max heads to the gym. Personal trainer Jim asks if he wants to sign up for a chance to win tickets to a party hosted by A-List Elixers, where they will introduce their $100 milkshake.  Max pushes: "My new best friend!"  Turned off, he walks away.

Jim is played by gay actor/model Austin Trapp, who you have seen in Yellowjackets, Tracker, and So Help Me Todd.

Max tries to attract the next guy by flexing. It's a gym, babe -- everybody is  muscular.  Try winning him over with your wit and charm...oh, right.  Better flex.

Buffed Dude agrees to spot him, but when Max requests "a lifetime of friendship," he gets spooked and rushes away.

More after the break.

Buffed Dude is played by Dreyden Free, who is also gay in real life.  

Plus Michael Delleva, the gay/femme owner of the teen hangout, has played mostly gay characters and is presumably gay in real life also.  Quite a lot of representation, for a Nickelodeon teencom.

Next the buffed, extremely effervescent Brenda bursts in.  She needs new friends too.  They bond over flexing and grunting.

Scene 4: Anxious for "Me Time," Chloe zaps back into the house.  She's interrupted by Dr. Colosso, the supervillain turned pet rabbit, who spoils the show she's trying to watch.  She zaps him into the lair.

Whoops, she left the French doors open, and a giant pelican swoops in.  She rushes into the kitchen and calls her friends for help.  Jinx claims to be an expert pelican-trapper.  He enters the living room with his net, and ends up netted.

Her other friend whips up a bird costume out of nothing and tries to befriend the pelican. This takes up around 10 minutes of screen time and constitutes the B Plot.

Scene 5: Max sees Phoebe at Squats and brags about the friend he made at the gym.. She made a friend, too: her barista.   "We bonded over our shared love of literature, and then she served me a mug of friendship.  She'll be here any minute."

You see where this is headed?  They both befriended Over-Exuberant Brenda. 

Scene 6: Max and Phoebe tell Brenda that she has to choose one of them to stay friends with.  "Wait -- why can't we all be friends?"  Nope, they already share too much.  When she bounces off, each of the siblings growls that by the end of the night, "Brenda will be mine!"

Cut to the siblings criticizing each other.  Max never reads; Phoebe sleeps with stuffed animals.  But Brenda is not turned off; she loves the way they tease each other. 

Phoebe invites Brenda to her book club tonight -- she doesn't have any friends in town, how does she have a book club?.  But Max won two tickets to the Milk Shake party tonight.  "Ridiculously expensive protein shakes" or "the tragic heroes of Russian novels"?  Brenda makes the obvious choice.

Scene 7: The "Whoa-Tein Celebrity Drink" party at the gym.  Max brags that the event is so exclusive that Phoebe has no chance of getting in -- but there she is, working as a caterer.  So she has a catering gig, and booked the party this afternoon?  But there's no food being served.  I guess she used her superpowers.

More posturing, leading to a superpower fight with exercise balls and protein shakes.  Brenda is disgusted. "What the heck is wrong with you?"  She snipes that they're perfect friends for each other and stomps out.

Could she be right?  Could they be perfect friends?  The siblings consider it, then scream "No!"  The end.

Beefcake: Some buffed guys at the gym.

Gay Characters: Max is gay-vague, and has some gay/femme characteristics.  His approach of the gym rats looks like a flirtation.

Heterosexism: None.  The siblings' pursuit of Brenda doesn't seem to have a romantic subtext, maybe because she is so loud and impossibly over-exuberant.

The Ongoing Plot:  Not mentioned.

My Grade:  The Chloe "Me Time" turning into a pelican hunt was tedious; I had to fast forward through it.   I liked Max flirting with guys at the gym, but the Brenda competition was absurdly over-acted.  Besides, both of the siblings have friends in other episodes, so the premise doesn't make sense. C

Bonus: Jack Griffo's d*ck on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends. 

See also: "Splitting Adam": Tony Cavalero helps Jace Norman win the Girl of His Dreams. With the stars All Grown Up.

Aidan Merwarth: Finn's wannabe boyfriend, pencil factory exec, juvenile delinquent, brat, with 3 d*cks and inconclusive social media

David Henrie: The Wizard of Waverly Place re-wizards, but is he as gay-friendly and n*ked as his costars?

Gay Supervillain in Training: The Thundermans