A superhero story can be just about anything. You don't need spandex, or secret identities,
or even superpowers. You just need a hero or a few of them willing to fight to make
the world a better place. Superheroes can star in slapstick comedies, noir thrillers,
dystopian epics, kids' cartoons, documentaries, and everything in between. But no matter the
genre, they're superhero movies through and through.
What would a real-life superhero look like? Well, for one, they probably wouldn't have
any powers. They'd fight street thugs and corrupt government officials far more often
than cackling supervillains. They'd probably have homemade costumes. And they'd definitely
have a YouTube channel.
That's basically Bhavesh Joshi Superhero in a nutshell. Three college students start a
YouTube channel called Insaaf, which is Hindi for "justice," and film themselves wearing
paper bags on their heads as they expose small-scale corruption. Over time, their investigation
escalates, landing the trio in the crosshairs of a cabal that's controlling the local water
supply. That leads to the debut of the masked vigilante Insaaf-Man, who streams all of his
exploits online.
While that premise might sound a bit like a comedy, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero isn't. Its
fight scenes, while over the top, take themselves very seriously, and there's more than a little
of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy in its DNA. The thrilling action sequences,
the noir-like tone, and the inventive premise make this a very welcome spin on Hollywood
superheroics.
Cousins Stephen and Robbie Amell aren't new to the superhero game. The former starred
as Oliver Queen, a.k.a. Green Arrow, for eight seasons on The CW's Arrow. Robbie appeared
in a number of episodes of Arrow's sister show, The Flash, as Ronnie Raymond, one-half
of the hero known as Firestorm. And he had the lead role on the X-Men-like series The
Tomorrow People.
In Code 8, Robbie Amell stars as Conner, a PWP, or "person with powers," with the ability
to control electricity. In Code 8's world, PWPs used to be a valued segment of society,
but regular citizens eventually turned on the extraordinary minority, so using superpowers
is banned. To get medical treatment for his ailing mother, Conner accepts a gig helping
a group of other PWPs. Led by Stephen Amell's Garrett, the group's mission isn't to save
unpowered civilians: it's to rob banks. Naturally, complications ensue.
"The plan was fine, until you got greedy. They f---in' played you, Garrett."
It's essentially X-Men with a crime movie twist. Code 8's political commentary isn't
hard to figure out, and it's full of the best kind of pulpy soap operatics. That's what
makes it so fun. Code 8 is clearly a passion project for the Amell cousins they raised
funds for the movie themselves with a $2.5 million Indiegogo campaign and it shows. Seems
like superheroes are in their blood.
A teen gets shot in the head by street thugs, wakes up with shrapnel from his broken smartphone
stuck in his brain, and gets tech-based superpowers from it. That's the setup for iBoy, which
is based on Kevin Brooks' 2010 young-adult novel of the same name.
After his accident, young Tom has more abilities than your phone has apps. Intercept phone
signals? Hack into any device? Learn martial arts in an instant by downloading YouTube
tutorials? If it's somehow related to gadgets, Tom can do it, and he won't stop until he
brings down the gang that assaulted him and his friends.
iBoy is a ton of throwback fun. Approach it like the cult-favorite techno thrillers of
the '90s like Hackers and The Net, which treated tech with an air of befuddled reverence, and
you'll have a great time.
There's even an interesting comment on surveillance culture and vigilantism lurking behind iBoy's
exterior, as Tom's invasion of others' privacy makes him increasingly distant from humanity
as the movie goes on.
"I'm trying to do something now. I'm trying to do something good."
"No, you're not."
Fortunately, Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams, who plays Tom's crush Lucy, does a lot of
the emotional heavy lifting to take us through to the end.
A Flying Jatt lovingly borrows from some other superhero favorites. The hero's origin, which
involves a stray bolt of lightning, takes more than a little from The Flash. And a super-speed
action scene at an airport is very reminiscent of a scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
But A Flying Jatt doesn't just stick to convention. It skewers it, too. As Aman Dhillon - a young
man who's forced to spring into action when a wealthy developer tries to take his family's
land - actor Tiger Shroff shows off the charm and charisma that made him a star in the romantic
action flick Heropanti and the thriller Baaghi. And he uses it to bring a new kind of superhero
to life. Aman is afraid of everything - including heights, which is an ingenious twist given
that Flying Jatt's whole gimmick is flying - and his everyman confusion at the unique
situation he's found himself in makes the film worth watching.
Director Remo D'Souza has some excellent comedy chops, so the required "new hero learns how
his powers work" scenes are seriously funny. Kids in particular will appreciate A Flying
Jatt's lighthearted, low-stakes, comedic take on superheroics. Meanwhile, adults who've
seen plenty of superheroes at the movies over the last few years will definitely get a kick
out of it as well..
Professional athletes and superheroes have a lot in common: remarkable physical abilities
that regular people can only dream of. They serve as role models. Epic clashes against
rivals. And reliance on heart, willpower, and an innate drive to succeed when the chips
are down.
Marvel & ESPN Films Present: 1 of 1: Genesis takes the comparison to its logical extreme,
drawing explicit connections between Marvel's superheroes and top-tier American sports stars.
Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso says it outright:
"Today, super-atheletes are the closest thing you have to real-life superheroes."
There's a really interesting premise fueling the documentary, and when it examines the
cultural parallels between sports and comic book culture, it's seriously good stuff. Genesis
isn't the final word on this topic, but it's a great starting point.
Mai Su hates robots. And that means she's pretty miserable in the world of Next Gen,
where robots are everywhere, especially IQ Robotics' Q-Bots, which function as both assistants
and mechanical companions. Things get even worse when Mai's mother drags her to IQ's
latest product launch and she accidentally activates 7723, a soldier-bot decked out with
an arsenal of deadly weapons.
But soon, Mai realizes that she can use 7723's weapons to take out the Q-Bots that have been
tormenting her. Mai and 7723 eventually become friends...
"Say the thing."
"Right. You best not be steppin' to me, brah."
...with the robot eventually deciding it would rather not be used as an instrument of violence.
That becomes a problem a little later, when IQ's CEO reveals that the Q-Bots aren't quite
as good-natured as they seem.
Next Gen has a lot in common with the superhero/robot mash-ups Big Hero 6 and The Iron Giant. It
also has bona fide comic roots: The joint American-Chinese production is based on Wang
Nima's webcomic 7723, although the film and the comic don't look anything alike. Overall,
Next Gen stands on its own as a charming story about an unlikely friendship. It's for kids
first and foremost, but if you like any of the movies that inspired Next Gen, you'll
probably enjoy this one, too.
If you're a fan of genre movies, you've probably heard of Train to Busan, Yeon Sang-ho's critically
acclaimed zombies-on-a-train thriller. Psychokinesis, Yeon's first superhero movie, is just as good.
Psychokinesis is a small, intimate story. Its hero is a lowly security guard, not a
tech-genius billionaire or Norse god. Its villain is a real estate developer, not a
genocidal space tyrant. And its biggest emotional moment is a man simply trying to reconcile
with his long-lost daughter.
Psychokinesis' may have a modest scope and a DIY vibe, but it's still a whole lot of
fun. Early on, Psychokinesis is downright hysterical, and its small scale gives the
movie a nice, personal touch that some of Marvel's big blockbusters lack. Psychokinesis
is the perfect counterpoint for people who love superheroes but might be looking for
an alternative to Hollywood-style bombast.
Years before Cable arrived from the future in Deadpool 2, or the Avengers traveled back
in time in Avengers: Endgame, Superman was turning the world backwards to save his one
true love, Lois Lane, and stop Lex Luthor's depraved real estate scheme. Time travel is
a superhero cinema staple.
See You Yesterday may not contain a single scrap of spandex, but it tackles the same
themes: Can you use time travel to fight injustice? But rather than spanning the world, See You
Yesterday's stakes are deeply personal. Teen geniuses C. J. Walker and Sebastian Thomas,
who invent time travel devices, aren't out to save the world. They just want to stop
C. J.'s brother from dying in a police shooting.
"If I could go back and fix it, I would. But I can't, C.J. We still have each other."
"Sorry, what did you just say?"
Superhero stories have never been shy about their politics. Captain America punches Hitler
in the face on the cover of his very first comic, after all and See You Yesterday isn't
either. It's a sci-fi take on the Black Lives Matter movement, and it raises interesting
questions about the role race plays in both the real world and genre fiction. Just don't
expect easy answers: See You Yesterday's ending is intentionally ambiguous. Even with special
abilities, some problems are too big to easily solve.
As seriously as we take them sometimes, superheroes are pretty inherently silly. And movies like
Deadpool, Mystery Men, The Incredibles, Sky High, and plenty of others have mined superhero
tropes for comedic material, often to great effect. You can add Superlopez to that group,
though it's worth noting that the source material for the Spanish superhero parody actually
predates all of those. Superlopez is based on a comic that debuted all the way back in
1973.
Like the comic it's based on, 2018's Superlopez movie is a straight-up Superman parody. His
girlfriend, Luisa Lanas, is a riff on reporter Lois Lane. Superlopez's birth father is pretty
obviously inspired by Krypton's own Jor-El. Thankfully, most of the other jokes in Superlopez
are pretty solid. It's an obviously affectionate parody, not a mean one. If you're a superhero
fan who's looking for a quick laugh, add this to your list.
A word of warning: If you want the real Freaks experience, cut out now. The less you know
about this film, the better it is.
Still here? Okay, here's the deal. Freaks begins as paranoid supernatural thriller,
but it takes a major turn when a young girl named Chloe escapes the house where she's
spent her entire life only to learn that she's telekinetic, that her grandfather can turn
invisible, that her father can shift time, that her mother is being held captive in a
government holding facility. And all the so-called "abnormals" are public enemy number one.
"You better get away from my house, or I'm gonna melt all your brains with my freak powers!"
That may all seem pretty familiar to superhero fans, but it's how Freaks tells the story
that makes it so unique. It's a mystery film, which wisely doles out information at a deliberate
pace. You won't know exactly what's going on until the credits roll. Freaks doesn't
pull any punches, either. Raised in almost complete isolation and cut off from everyone
but her father, Chloe is running low on empathy. So when she gets mad, you can understand why
the government thinks abnormals are such a threat. Skipping this one could be a big freaking
mistake.
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