11 Criminally Underrated Superheroes Hollywood Totally Ruined
3. The Green Hornet
Columbia Pictures
Seth Rogen has no qualms about admitting that The Green Hornet was a bit naff, and more than an odd career move on his behalf as well. The film itself underwhelmed at the box office and, while offering a rather innocuous take on the radio hero, did little in terms of offering a decent introduction for the character to a new generation.
A reboot directed by The Accountant's Gavin O'Connor is ostensibly in the works but it says a lot that Rogen's project put the franchise on ice for over six years - a period that could, quite easily, be extended should Paramount's plans lapse into development limbo. Fans won't need reminding that the Green Hornet is a fondly remembered character, but it's important not to exaggerate the anti-hero's cultural salience, especially in the DC/Marvel dominated atmosphere most comic book capers now have to navigate.
2011's Hornet flick just wasn't the thing the character needed, and Rogen - while an obvious comedic talent - just isn't superhero material. Here's hoping that the next time we see Britt Reid and Kato, it'll be under much happier (and more faithful) circumstances.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
