Superhero Lessons in Analytics — Ep. XIV
Science & Discipline — Lessons from Inhumans (Karnak)
Inhumans aired last night on ABC with a two hours of opening episodes. The show is currently scheduled to be a mini-series (8 episodes). It also aired in IMax theatres with mixed reviews. The cast is* excellent, the CGI weak, and the rest debatable but let’s focus on the character Karnak.
*Authors addition — it should have been, but wasn’t…
Inhumans is the latest comic to TV translation coming from the land of Marvel & Disney. And although we don’t typically leverage the comic book backgrounds of our Superheroes, we will need to here to support the analytic lesson at hand.
The Inhumans are different, Karnak more so…
The TV show gave us the basics of Inhumans. They aren’t quite human to start, but certainly look it. When they come of age, they are exposed to some strange mist/gas that brings out there mutant powers. The show has a side plot line that includes inhumans who don’t seem to manifest any powers.
Karnak’s story is different. For starters, Triton is his brother. The TV version of Triton is actually far more human and normal than the comic version. In the comics, Triton is aquatic. So fish face and breathes water. In almost goes without saying that this is not any parent’s dream for their child and quite an inconvenience. What has so far gone without saying on the TV show is that Triton’s parents opted not to expose their younger child to the process. Can you blame them? But that means Karnak does not have mutations/superpowers…
Analytics As A Superpower?
Also unsaid (so far) is that Karnak was sent to the Tower of Wisdom for intense training. There he learned martial arts and the ability to see the flaws in everything. Or as I would describe it — ANALYTICS.
Analytics taught through intense discipline qualifying as a superpower alongside teleportation, strength, talking that explodes people, and other comic book style kick-ass abilities — the analyst in you should love it.
The comics have changed the aspects of Karnak’s abilities over the years, along with the way he refers to them. The TV show is using a few aspects of this.
Karnak’s “gift” is introduced early in episode one through a “two and half days” monologue directed at a servant girl with clearly amorous intents. In a succinct and oddly Seinfeldian analysis, Karnak determines their relationship is doomed before it starts - due to her status a servant, her dependency issues, and her chewing with her mouth open. The discovery of the latter forces him to want to “kill her” by the second afternoon.
We are also shown Karnak’s analytic abilities through an infographic-style CGI compass and vector lines that appear on the screen. It illustrates his calculations of angles and trajectories… if not the probabilities and other aspects that we are required to draw from the dialogue. The haste of the “two and half day” conversation and the stop-action format of some of the CGI in episode one don’t make this completely clear.
…Not Really
And so Karnak is actually quite different. His analytic assessment and ability to find flaws really isn’t so much a superpower. It is the product of intense training, a discipline. Whether his Analyst by Nature “gift” is beyond human capabilities (it surely is) is actually irrelevant as he is pitted against truly super-powered Inhumans. A side lesson in benchmarking…
It will be interesting to see where the Inhumans go from here. The series is young. The ratings as well. And all of this is part of a larger Marvel/Disney universe… not to get into MCU vs whatever else folks are throwing around. I suspect Karnak and his friends will have more to teach us… another lesson in feedback, if nothing else.
For analysts, enjoy the ego boost of analytics as a superpower. Consider too, the implications. Karnak finds flaws and comes to courses of action through elimination of lesser options. It is what analysts are best at… but does it really capture all it could of truly super-powered analytic decision making? We will have to wait and see. Thanks for reading.
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