Film

Super

Name: Super
Genre: Comedy, Action, Drama
Released: 2010
Cast: Rainn Wilson, Elliot Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon, Gregg Henry

Super is James Gunn's grubby, gleeful antidote to spandex heroism: Rainn Wilson's short-order cook becomes the mask-and-wrench vigilante Crimson Bolt after his wife leaves him for a drug dealer. It swings hard between slapstick violence, religious delusion and real heartbreak, refusing to let you settle into either comedy or horror. Not for the squeamish, but bracingly honest about what "snapping" actually looks like.

TMDb rating

6.5

If you liked this

Kick-Ass2010

The other great "regular person suits up" movie of its era, gorier and funnier but asking the same question: what actually happens when an untrained civilian tries to fight crime with a costume and nerve?

But Its tone is slicker and more crowd-pleasing than Super's — less interested in genuine ugliness, more in stylish comic-book payoff.

Defendor2009no page yet

Woody Harrelson plays a man with the same broken logic and homemade armor as Frank, but the film leans harder into tragedy than comedy, making it Super's most direct cousin.

But Quieter and sadder throughout, without Super's bursts of pipe-wrench slapstick to cut through the tension.

Observe and Report2009no page yet

Seth Rogen's delusional mall cop shares Frank's warped self-image and capacity for sudden violence, wrapped in a comedy that's just as willing to make you wince as laugh.

But Its mall-cop setting and Rogen's persona make it feel broader and more juvenile on the surface.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Confessions of a Superhero2007

Both are about ordinary people who put on a costume to become someone else, and how much of themselves gets lost or found in the process — one is invented, the other is documentary fact.

A documentary following real people who dress as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman on Hollywood Boulevard for tips — and the loneliness, delusion and hope underneath the costumes is startlingly close to Frank's story, minus the fiction.

But No violence, no jokes, just quiet portraits of struggling people — a much sadder, slower watch than Super's manic energy.

Special2006no page yet

Michael Rapaport's meter reader believes an experimental drug has given him superpowers — a smaller, sadder, more clinical study of the exact delusion Super plays for both laughs and heartbreak.

But Low-budget and slow in places; it trades Super's kinetic violence for something closer to a character study.

Taxi Driver1976

The blueprint for every unraveling-loner-turned-vigilante story since, including this one — Travis Bickle's righteous fury and homemade arsenal are Frank Darbo's clear and obvious ancestor.

But No costume, no jokes, and a much colder, more clinical descent — this is the serious original, not the comic riff.

Falling Down1993

Michael Douglas's ordinary man snaps and starts enforcing his own idea of justice on Los Angeles, one confrontation at a time — Super's engine without the mask.

But Plays entirely straight where Super undercuts itself with comedy; you don't get the same tonal whiplash.

Chronicle2012

A found-footage take on ordinary people suddenly granted power, and how quickly good intentions curdle — the superhero-origin skepticism Super shares, filtered through teenagers instead of a grown man's breakdown.

But Its found-footage style and teen focus make it feel like a different genre entirely, despite the shared DNA.

Brightburn2019

Same director's later, much nastier idea: what if the "chosen one" with real powers turned out to be a monster? A horror-tinted flip side to Super's powerless delusion.

But Straight horror rather than comedy — grimmer, gorier, and without any of Super's warmth or absurdity.

The Toxic Avenger1984

Troma's gleefully trashy origin story of an ordinary loser transformed into a monstrous vigilante hero is a spiritual grandparent to Super's DIY, blood-splattered sense of justice.

But Deliberately cheap and juvenile in ways Super never quite is — pure schlock, no emotional undertow.

The Ox-Bow Incident1943

Both examine what happens when ordinary people appoint themselves judge and executioner — one through a masked vigilante's delusion, the other through a lynch mob's certainty. Same rot, dressed differently.

A black-and-white Western classic about a posse who decide, without trial or proof, that they're the law — a sober meditation on the same impulse that turns Frank into Crimson Bolt.

But Stagey and slow by modern pacing standards, with a moral seriousness that leaves no room for Super's dark comedy.

My Hero Academia2016

It's Super's premise run through the opposite register — the same "powerless person becomes hero through sheer will" idea, but earnest and hopeful instead of bloody and broken.

A hit anime built on the exact same hook — an ordinary teenager with no powers desperate to be a hero in a world that says he can't — but played entirely sincere and uplifting.

But Aimed at a much younger audience, sprawling across hundreds of episodes, with none of Super's cynicism, gore or grown-up despair.