Being a badass is something that Anil Kumar has wanted to be, but it is something he needed for his role.

The Kent State alumnus is acting in the NBC drama “The Cape.” The premiere was Sunday at 9 p.m., but its normal time slot will be Mondays at 9 p.m.

The show is about a good cop who was framed for a lot of the corruption in the city. He fakes his own death to come back to his family as his son’s favorite comic book character, The Cape.

“It’s (the show) about him trying to get back to his family and have this new persona,” Kumar said.

Kumar’s role is shown at the Carnival of Crime, where his character, Ruvi, is an undercover bank robber. The cop is introduced to the Carnival of Crime in the pilot episode.

“We teach him a skill in conjunction with The Cape,” Kumar said. He said The Cape doesn’t have any superpowers in the show, just heightened skills.

“We’re good/bad guys,” Kumar said.

The Carnival of Crime welcomes the cop, but Kumar’s character, Ruvi, is the most unwilling mentor of the group. In the pilot, Ruvi is standoffish to the cop at first, but messes around with him a little to get comfortable.

“Ruvi is very dangerous,” Kumar said. “He is much more badder-ass than I could be.”

Kumar is thankful for the opportunity NBC gave him. He said the show wouldn’t have been possible without the great production team.

“They’re so talented and really good at what they do,” he said.

Kumar works with actors David Lyons, James Frain, Jennifer Ferrin, Keith David and Summer Glau.

Kumar was a psychology major when he attended Kent State, but he took a lot of literature classes while attending.

“I became inspired to act from my Shakespeare class,” Kumar said. He said he made every mistake an actor could make but was cast in “The Tempest” as a member of the chorus.

After graduating from Kent State in 1992, he took a year off to see family in India and went to the Professional Actor Training Program at Rutgers University after.

Kumar said he misses the people who influenced him the most at Kent, but he doesn’t miss having to shovel snow in Ohio.

Contact Kaylee Remington at [email protected].