Anti-Superheroes

While Tim Burton was busy delving into Gotham’s underbelly, with the 1980s version of Batman, Sam Raimi was perfecting his own brooding superhero. Unable to ascertain the legal rights to any graphic novels, Raimi seized the opportunity to be creative, paying homage to a string of 1930s horror classics, with Darkman. After suffering horrific burns, and lapsing into a coma Liam Neeson’s character, Peyton Westlake awakens to find that he is completely immune to pain – an affliction which he uses to his advantage.

Will Smith signed up to play Hancock, a superhero whose favourite past times are drinking too much and causing mayhem. Smith’s involvement in the project guaranteed strong box-office takings, but with a typical good-guy–gone-wrong plot it is easy to see why Peter Berg’s anti-superhero tale fell short of superhero fans’ expectations.

Bruce Willis stars as the all-American hero with a twist. After surviving a horrific accident unscathed, he begins to question his unbreakable exterior. While character David Dunn is grappling with his new found status, he runs into Elijah (Samuel L.Jackson) aka Mr Glass – who later reveals he is the villain to Dunn’s hero. M.Night Shyamalan wanted to explore the idea of superhero mythology by placing it in the realms of reality.

Special follows an avid comic book fan’s belief in his own super powers. After taking experimental anti-depressants, Les (Michael Rapaport) is thrilled to discover he is the modern day superhero. Making it his mission to fight crime, Les begins tackling civilians in the nearby store. But when he divulges his secret to close friends they begin to fear for his health. Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore play with the boundaries of reality in this comedy-drama.

Appearing in the X-Men trilogy and a self-titled film, Wolverine leads the way in a string of superheroes who have crossed over from the comic book adaptation to the big screen. Like many anti-superheroes before him, Wolverine is haunted by a troubled past. Forced to live with the pain of his father’s death, the beast within is awakened when his girlfriend is brutally murdered. Sporting a killer quiff for the role, Hugh Jackman’s hair alone, needed some serious taming.

The Shadow is a character best known from the pulp fiction series, created by American author Walter Brown Gibson in 1931. He has since appeared in comic books, a television series, a radio show and in 1994 got the silver screen stamp, with Alec Baldwin as the starring lead. Enabled with the power to manipulate minds The Shadow can become invisible to the human eye. The idea of a superhero lurking in the shadows creates a somewhat sinister picture, but the character’s stealth serves for the greater good. After flopping at the cinema, the film went onto gain a cult following.

Originally a Marvel Comics’ character, Blade is a half vampire, half human hybrid who defends mankind from a vampire underworld; who are hell bent on sucking the human population dry. A leather clad Wesley Snipes, fully kitted out with a sword and coat (reminiscent of a cape), signed up to spill blood by the bucket load in this filmic take on the comic book character. In his original form, Blade is a human immune to any vampire’s bite, opposed to Stephen Norrington’s half vampire version.

Driven by the desire to avenge his family’s death, The Punisher is a vigilante who will stop at nothing to take down criminals. First written into The Amazing Spider Man series, the character of The Punisher was depicted as Spider Man’s enemy; a former U.S. Marine with black and white notions about right and wrong. A film adaptation of the comic book hero was given the green light in 1989 and several other versions followed, including The Punisher (2004) and The Punisher: War Zone (2008).

Set during World War II, Hellboy is a demon hero summoned by the U.S. government to defend the country from Nazis and a Slavic witch by the name of Baba Yaga. The film version of the comic book series, places Hellboy in the 00s, after sixty years being nurtured by humans. Ron Perlman took on the lead as Hellboy in 2004 and later reprised the role in the 2008 sequel; Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The film was well received by both comic book fans and critics alike.

Johnny Blaze is a stunt motorcyclist by day, demon vigilante Ghost Rider by night. Based on the Marvel Comic of the same name, Ghost Rider is a bounty hunter for the damned, collecting corrupt souls. Not within Nicolas Cage’s usual remit, the 2007 film originally attracted Johnny Depp to the role, but after a slow start getting off the ground, Cage eventually agreed to put pen to paper.