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| Left to right: Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse |
With Kick-Ass 2 coming out in wide release tomorrow, there is a good chance that this may become one of the most successful fake superhero films in the genre's history. While it has been a rocky one, it has proven to be a nice satirical change of pace from the big budgeted, action-packed films of Marvel and DC that have flooded the markets. It has grown tiresome and the only way to counterattack these films is with a nice old fashioned take down of what makes these guys likable in the first place. The following is a look at the fictional universes where having no power makes for the best stories.
Of course, where everyone wanted to be a hero by putting on capes and cowls and beating up the bad guys in Saturday morning cartoons, I just wanted to be a better person. Still, as a student of satire, I have preferred the smaller genre that has not exactly gotten the same amount of traction. It seems as the lazy half-brother to the big pictures, but anti-superhero films make for more compelling stories. Why is that? It is largely because there is conflict of character and overcoming your lack of powers. There is a struggle there. The more powers you have, the less likely you'll have a problem.
The following is a look at 10 filmed examples of fake superheroes to get you ready for the release of Kick-Ass 2, which actually looks to have made the jump to the big leagues after a modest start.
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| Left to right: Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page |
1. Super (2010)
While the genre has in many ways glorified the power of being a crazed lunatic in a costume, very few actually care to portray the crazed lunatic aspect. James Gunn's 2010 film that chronicles the Crimson Bolt's (Rainn Wilson) journey to get back his wife (Liv Tyler) may be one of the most brutal, perverse, and funnest depictions of the fake superhero to ever be captured on screen. This is largely thanks to the fact that even if our protagonist is a good guy, it doesn't necessarily make him right. In many ways, it is the Taxi Driver of superhero films, as it tears down the glorification and shows its ugly, mentally ill reality. Few films have been this successful at blending the satire with empathy and still making it a great experience. How great is it? They got the people who did the credits for Yo Gabba Gabba to do their opening credits: an animated segment that is as bloody as it is adorable.
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| Samuel L. Jackson |
2. Unbreakable (2000)
While it is controversial to allow films on this list that includes people with superpowers, the point of anti-superhero movies is that they dissect something about the genre that says more about the characters than the action. This M. Night Shyamalan vehicle was his follow-up to the highly successful the Sixth Sense and while it didn't quite receive as much acclaim, brought the director into a realm of creating an indestructible hero (Bruce Willis) in a world fused with comic books and mythos. The exploration is one of the more fascinating things that Shyamalan has ever put to screen and while it featured the twist ending, it made us believe for a little while longer that this was going to be the next big director. Luckily, we had Unbreakable as a beacon of hope.
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| Woody Harrelson |
3. Defendor (2009)
For all of the successes of Super, there was very little sympathy or back story that was offered for our hero. While it made the film better, there's still desire to understand why things happened. While not quite as strong as Super, director Peter Stebbings' debut Defendor is the tragic-comedy cousin. By following the life of a mentally ill hero named Defendor (Woody Harrelson), we slowly get reveals on his troubled childhood and neglect that has lead him to fight crime and befriend a prostitute (Kat Dennings) as a mother figure. It is perverse, but most of all, a sympathetic story that by the third act creates a fleshed out story of an underdog saving the day. It may not be as slapstick as the trailers suggests, but it is still one crafty character study that is worth checking out.
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| Jackie Earl Haley |
4. Watchmen (2009)
Technically another blurring the line, but if there ever was an anti-superhero epic, it was director Zack Snyder's Watchmen. While a financial bust upon its release, the story based on Allan Moore's iconic comic follows a noir-like story of a group of do-gooders trying to find the strength to keep doing so as they face evil foes and come across moral dilemmas. While yes, there are characters with super powers, majority of the characters are just mask-wearing vigilantes who have stories of people falling down elevator shafts and getting capes stuck in doors. It is raunchy, violent, and has all of the elements necessary for an epic to work properly.
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| Chloe Moretz |
5. Kick-Ass (2010)
Nowadays, director Mark Millar's Kick-Ass may be the cornerstone of the anti-superhero genre. While the film was a modest success upon release, it has since been fused with the culture, turning Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) into one of the most polarizing yet acclaimed depictions of women in cinema. Still, like Super and Defendor, the story explores the dark side of dressing up to fight crime while also telling a compelling origin story. The titular Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson) provides voice over that is both wise-cracking and is almost the perfect satire to the superhero mythos. He knows his references and even if he gets overshadowed by Hit Girl and her father Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), who makes his daughter desensitized beyond belief, it is still one perverse look at the subculture that manages to be as fun as it is violent.
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| Dane DeHaan |
6. Chronicle (2012)
While it never actually becomes a tale that weaves in superhero lore, it does almost come across as the origin story of a villain. The triumph lies in its ability to both be technically impressive while also telling the story as a found footage story. Dane DeHaan plays the lead in director Josh Trank's story, which manages to come across as the high school Unbreakable by showing how teen angst and bullying can lead to the ultimate disaster. It is at times funny and always an enjoyable experience that chooses to explore what leads one to be evil as opposed to save the day. It may not be a superhero story in the traditional sense, but by dissecting emotional attachment to powers, it does create the ultimate "what if?" for people who do happen to have powers.
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| Ryan Kwanten |
7. Griff the Invisible (2010)
Of every entry on here, this is probably the biggest cheat, as Griff (Ryan Kwanten) is already a superhero of sorts. His power is invisibility. However, what makes this story interesting is how it juxtaposes the culture with a romantic story with Maeve Dermody. The way that this qualifies as an anti-superhero film is that it is a look at a hero wanting to be so much more to the people he loves. Where most of these entries deal with the powers of being a hero, this is a look at how to deal with being a person that people recognizes. It may be light and a little sweet, but with apt performances and a compelling story, director Leon Ford's tale is a nice little film for those who want to explore the universe, but are turned off by violence and cursing.
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| Will Smith |
8. Hancock (2008)
The real joy of director Peter Berg's anti-superhero story is that it starts off as just that. Hancock (Will Smith) may actually be a superhero, but he'd rather reside as a bum. With the help of a publicist (Jason Bateman), he gets his game back in order. The film comes across as a very funny alternative to Watchmen in that it drags a hero back into the game and heightens all of the moments of reluctance in a very energetic style. For many however, the second half of the film when a character from his past is introduced is when the film becomes problematic. The film itself is an enjoyable ride that saw Will Smith at his funnest in years. Still, with somewhat of an uneven ending, it becomes something lesser than what it could have been.
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| Left to right: Seth Rogen and Jay Chou |
9. The Green Hornet (2011)
While this technically is an actual superhero with a rich history, director Michel Gondry's take on this beloved character may as well make the anti-superhero list. For starters, casting Seth Rogen in the lead is already going against the biggest typecasting imaginable. He isn't in this film for many purposes besides to crack jokes and pick a really offensive fight with Kato (Jay Chou) using household equipment. There are elements to Gondry's film that are cool, but what results is a series of missed opportunities, save for the use of Christoph Waltz. The material is hammy and while drawing from the original TV series, it also seems to draw from the Simpsons and sees Rogen playing a usually graceful fighter as a bumbling stoner. This may be a cheat to include, but I hardly consider it to be cannon for an actual superhero movie.
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| Left to right: William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, and Hank Azaria |
10. Mystery Men (1999)
The only real advantage of director Kinka Usher's Mystery Men is that it was one of the first prominent anti-superhero films of the modern era. Focusing around a group of people who don't necessarily have powers, it is just an excuse for slapstick gags and a story that somehow was dragged out to two hours. While it has some funny moments, this is a movie that is more likely to be considered anti-superhero in the fact that it satirizes an era before emotional complexity, dark elements, and a tinge of violence became the norm. Here is seems to simply exist as one of the few comedies of the 90's that tried to be ambitious, but ended up just being a forgettable journey.
Honorable Mention
Superheroes (2011)
While it has made for a lot of great fictional material, there are real life superheroes out there, most notably Phoenix Jones. If you would like to see an interesting documentary compiling a look at several of these real life heroes, check out HBO's Superheroes, which follows many of the masked vigilantes as they walk the streets, befriend citizens, and have that moment of glory. They are local heroes, and this documentary captures it in a fairly compelling manner. It may not have nearly as much violence, stylized fighting, or cursing as you'd imagine, but you do get a strong sense of what it takes to be a hero.
Bonus: The Worst
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| Left to right: Drake Bell and Sara Paxton Superhero Movie (2008) |
It does seem unfortunate that in a post-Scary Movie world that every single satirical film imaginable would be met with a groan. Still, the twist that a film produced by Airplane! director David Zucker could falter this badly. Of course, it does feature directorial work by Craig Mazin in a pre-the Hangover writing credits world (though he does host a solid podcast called Scriptnotes) that sees everything you loved about Spider-Man and X-Men get trashed with a bunch of piss jokes and crass innuendos that go on way too long. The film is way too low brow and offers little in the way of enjoyable satire beyond Tracey Morgan riding around on a toilet as a Professor Xavier parody. Even when the film is attacking nerd culture straight on, it feels like a dated, Revenge of the Nerds-style attempt that comes across more as brash. While it is miles ahead of majority of its competition, that doesn't mean that it passes the bar or change the reason people sneer at spoof movies.
What is your favorite anti-superhero film?
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