"Marvel's Inhumans" butterfly wings without lift.

"Marvel's Inhumans" butterfly wings without lift. Credit: ABC/Marvel

SERIES “Marvel’s Inhumans”

WHEN | WHERE. Premieres Friday 8 to 10 p.m. (then Fridays at 9) on ABC/7

WHAT IT’S ABOUT It’s Marvel’s world, we just live in it. How many series is the comic book conglomerate making now? Five, nine, 12? Let’s see — ABC’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” FX’s “Legion,” and Netflix single-leads “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist,” plus 4-for-1 joint effort “The Defenders.” Spinoff “The Punisher” hits Netflix later this year, while Hulu starts “Runaways” on Nov. 21. The mutants saga “The Gifted” arrives Monday on Fox.

But first comes “Inhumans,” about the denizens of a city-state secreted on the dark side of the moon. With names like Medusa and Gorgon, they boast various “inhuman” powers — butterfly wings, future-sight — dramatically revealed in semipublic circumstances at puberty (as if that time wasn’t already awful enough).

Some don’t exhibit powers, though. That spurs resentment and rebellion against their queen with red superpowered hair (Serinda Swan) and the king whose voice is so deadly that he has to shut up forever (Anson Mount). And so dastardly schemers (led by Iwan Rheon, “Game of Thrones”) find themselves pondering ambitious thoughts. “If we were on Earth . . .

Uh-oh!

MY SAY Yes, they’re coming — they’re here! — but it won’t make a dent in your Friday night. “Inhumans” squanders its Marvel back story (largely unclear here), to come off silly and stilted (in the hands of “Iron Fist” showrunner Scott Buck), as it plods through a cheap parade of cliches in writing, design and production. Despite special effects up the wazoo, it’s utterly devoid of magic or wonder. Even shooting site Hawaii seems drab once these inhumans land.

BOTTOM LINE You’d think the giant teleporting dog would liven things up. But no.

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