Adam West Quit Playing Batman — Then Came Back as a Supervillain on Black Scorpion, TV’s Sexiest, Weirdest Superhero Flop

The mid-90s were an interesting time for comic books and superheroes – and by interesting, I mean positively chaotic. In 1996, Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a slew of questionable decisions, while DC wrestled with the fallout of Batman & Robin. That said, we’re not talking about Marvel or DC right now. We’re discussing another set of questionable choices, the ones that led to the creation of 1995’s Black Scorpion.

Starring Joan Severance as a (scantily) costumed superhero, Black Scorpion aimed to become an edgier alternative to the more mainstream superheroes. At the time, the movie was called a “Batman Returns rip-off,” which was ultimately harmless in the direct-to-video market where it belonged. The story doesn’t end there, though. Six years later, in 2001, Black Scorpion returned, this time as a TV show. How did that go, you might ask? Well, it only lasted one season.

How Black Scorpion Went From B-Movie Bomb to Sci-Fi Channel Series

Two years after the release of the first Black Scorpion film, Roger Corman, the mastermind behind the franchise, came up with a sequel. Black Scorpion II: Aftershock completed the Black Scorpion saga, and they did well enough on cable to prove there was a genuine “demand” for projects like these. Who could have guessed fans would react positively to a scantily clad model fighting crime?

By the 2000s, cable channels like the Sci-Fi Channel were actively looking for new programming. It just so happened that Black Scorpion was the kind of affordable, niche project fitting for a new Sci-Fi Channel show. However, as adequate as the movies were for a Sci-Fi series, Corman and his crew had to tinker with the show’s tone to make it more palatable to new audiences. And by that, I mean they made it as campy as possible.

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Michelle Lintel Replaces Joan Severance as Black Scorpion

The first thing you’ll notice about the Black Scorpion series is that there’s a new actress under the mask. Michelle Lintel, an American martial artist, took over the role from Joan Severance. She was brought in for budgetary constraints, but also due to her athletic background, which would work perfectly in a show like Black Scorpion.

Then, there was the overall tone. While the original Black Scorpion films could get a bit grim between their jokes, the series was all about the absurd. If the movies were inspired by Batman Returns, then the show was closer to the 60s live-action Batman series. To make that point come across even more clearly, Adam West was cast as the show’s main villain, “Breathtaker.” There was no better way to establish that your show was made for fun than having the creator of the Batusi himself playing your universe’s equivalent of the Joker.

Black Scorpion, the series, operated on a classic “villain-of-the-week” format. Every week, the Scorpion would fight a new, increasingly deranged villain. For a while, the formula worked. The series lasted for 22 zany episodes that created their own Black Scorpion mythos. It all culminated in the “Zodiac Attack” saga. Unlike many other shows that only last one season, Black Scorpion didn’t end on a massive cliffhanger.

Still, even though the series was reasonably cheap to produce, a concept like Black Scorpion had limited appeal. Despite its cancellation, fans could still follow Black Scorpion in comic book form, though most of the campy fun of the series was gone. Though it didn’t quite capture early 2000s audiences, fans of the modern MCU and just plain fun can now stream the series on Tubi or Amazon Prime Video. At just 22 episodes, it’s more than worth the watch.

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Where to watch: Black Scorpion is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Tubi has listed the series in the past as well, so it’s worth double-checking that listing is still live before this goes out.