10 Most Outrageous Superhero Movies Of All Time
2. Super
The perfect antidote to over-extended blockbusters, Super was made for $2.5 million but still manages to rope in a cast of past, present and future actors in comic book movies including Ellen Page (X-Men: The Last Stand), Liv Tyler (The Incredible Hulk) and Kevin Bacon (X-Men: First Class). The director is James Gunn, who eschews the scope of his later Guardians Of The Galaxy in favour of an intimate, blackly comic story about a cook who decides to fight crime.
Spurred on by “visions” in which he sees Jesus, demons and a superhero known as Holy Avenger, Frank (Rainn Wilson) becomes The Crimson Bolt and resolves to rescue his wife from the arms of sleazy drug dealer Jacques (Bacon). Lacking actual powers, Frank fights his enemies off with a wrench before finding a partner called Boltie (Page), a comic book store employee who turns out to be a violence-loving psychopath.
Imagine Kick Ass on an indie budget, only with more blood and swearing, and you’ve got Super, which is a more impressive achievement than any $250 million summer movie. Any damn fool can throw digital effects at the screen for two and a half hours, but it takes craft to develop a small scale (and oddly touching) story with likeable characters.