James Gunn’s ‘Super’: The Original ‘Evil Superhero’
By Jakob Johns | Misfit Media Columnist
This is for those of you loving Invincible, The Boys, the recent Watchmen adaptation, Snyder’s Justice League, Joker, or anything like that. Man, this genre is overflowing fast. Similarly, if you love James Gunn’s Guardian’s of the Galaxy or his upcoming The Suicide Squad, you might like to see him doing something a little more raw.
When it comes to heroes without powers, there’s two axis’ that determine what kind of hero they’ll be: their money, and their fighting talent. Batman has money and talent, so he’s basically a techno-ninja in a gothic furry costume. Meanwhile, Iron Man isn’t necessarily as talented as a fighter, but boy he has a lot of money. And then Daredevil, while financially lacking, throws hands like Mike Tyson.
But what do you get when your hero has neither of these? In the fourth quadrant, we have, uh, ‘The Crimson Bolt’. He hasn’t got any money, so his costume looks like it was stitched together from bedsheets (and probably was); and he lacks talent, so he just hits people with a wrench or shoots them in the gut. His catchphrase? “Shut up, crime”.
You’ve gotten two great variants of “evil Superman” recently in the form of Homelander and Omni-Man. If you’re ready for the same treatment on Batman, you’re gonna have a fun time (although I will also recommend Netflix’s Daredevil for a simple “Batman minus money”). Or, if you’re an Office fan, you’ll find something cynically funny to love. Imagine Dwight if he wasn’t held back by being in a sitcom. Imagine him at his most psychotically delightful, solving every problem by inflicting blunt force trauma. Except his relationship with his girlfriend. No wrench is big enough for that, chief. Trust me, I would know! Please take me back, Natasha.
Oh, and when I say it doesn’t hold back, I mean it does not hold the fuck back. Trigger warning for drug use, abhorrent violence and sexual assault. Seriously, if you’re sensitive to any of these subjects to any degree, you’ll have a rough time stomaching the film. Otherwise, prepare for a good time! This film takes some of the worst aspects of reality and tosses an absolute lunatic into them. I mean, you need to be an absolute lunatic to dress up and beat people anyway – it’s just less sexy when you don’t have money or skill.
Perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps it was never sexy – or super, for that matter. Strip away the fists, fortune, and fantastic body and you’re left with… what?
Immense fucking psychosis. That’s what.