cross-posted from: https://retrofed.com/c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca/p/2071814/other-non-american-superhero-movie-franchises-besides-marvel-and-dc
I have watched all the Marvel movies and a lot of the DC ones too. Me and my siblings would like to watch something fresh, and I would love to explore some movies that aren’t super U.S.-centric (American military this, CIA/FBI that, it gets kind of old)
Are there any superhero franchises that are not American,
or at least ones that aren’t borderline propaganda for the U.S. military complex?I would prefer English language options, but anything with good subtitles will work (it works for anime!)
edit: Amended the post, propaganda for the military is a bit of an exaggeration, given that the movies do sometimes criticise the U.S. army.
Uh, Fast and Furious? I’m kinda joking but not really because they have gadgets and have gone to space
I challenge your premise that the majority of American superhero movies include military propaganda. While the transition to film will introduce deviation, Marvel comics are deeply anti-military worship.
The original Iron Man movie can partially be seen as a meditation on American Empire.
In many of the X-Men series, the government (or, more lamely, elements inside the government) are the main enemy.
Captain America: Winter Soldier goes a long way to criticizing the US government (or, more lamely, elements inside the government), and Cap’s whole vibe is America as it should be in contrast to how it is.
I think the Tobey Maguire run of Spiderman has some patriotism without veering into military propaganda.
The first two Hellboy movies (legendary Mexican director Guillermo del Toro) are free of propaganda. In the first movie, the government agency is run by an incompetent, and in the second, you’ll sympathize more with the villain.
Dr. Strange doesn’t fellate the USM at all, and the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies don´t even take place on Earth; nor does Thor: Ragnarok.
Shang-Chi is another USM-free safe zone.
The Watchmen (authored by British writer Alan Moore) is not pro-US propaganda; the character The Comedian is the US Empire personified, and he is a killer and a rapist.
The Dark Knight trilogy (British director Christopher Nolan) escapes it as well, with maybe the exception of the last one, as does every other Batman movie that comes to mind.
If you want parody, there’s the Tick, which had a live action and animated TV series.
If you DO want American propaganda, you’re going to LOVE any Transformer’s movie.
Yeah, maybe I exaggerated a bit on “borderline propaganda for the military” comment. I will amend my post.
I do think they are (mostly, GofG, Dr Strange, Thor Ragnarok, etc. you mentioned are exceptions) U.S. centric though, the superheroes are based in America and work with the U.S. government.
And yep, Transformers is very overtly “the greatest country in the world is the USA”
Yes, the US Centrism is definitely there.
Watching Torchwood, based in Wales, I was reminded that it is indeed curious when everything only ever happens in one place and that it is only unremarkable when everything always happens in the United States.
Edit: To be fair to the Transformers, they also rather cynically glorify China in at least one movie.
Well obviously there’s a space-time rift that just happens to be in Cardiff, of course everything important happens there.
My Hero Academia?
Legit might be the best segue from Marvel/DC movies; the setting is exactly based on (and highly cognizant of) American comic book heroes with a distinctly Japanese twist. All Might even serves as a genuinely fascinating portrait of what Superman might look like if he was just some human and not a practically immortal alien.
Twice broke my heart.
I assume you could find something in Japan? For Europe I can think of Lucky Luke and Asterix although they are not typical "Superheroes ".
This video has already made the rounds, but there are deeper criticisms of Marvel movies:
Avengers: Defenders of the Status Quo
oh, and here’s a specific analysis of the americanism in the mcu:
Superheroes are an inherently culturally American concept, and this comes through when authors from other countries do them.
Case in point: Britain. They had a few superhero cartoons like Bananaman and Supergran, but they were inherently parodic, stretching the bombast inherent in the concept to breaking point and deriving humour from the juxtaposition between that and the small, shabby details of everyday life in the UK. Though one could argue that the actual British equivalents of American costumed crimefighters would be James Bond and/or Doctor Who, though these don’t fall neatly into the category.
India has some good ones. Hanuman and Bahubali would both fall into the superhero category.
France, nothing comes to my mind. All I could find on the web is:
- How I became a superhero (YouTube trailer) but it’s half-Belgian and not a franchise
- Totally Spies! but it’s a cartoon for kids
- Superdupont, the best superhero ever, he is fighting nazis, but it’s a comic
Isn’t Inspector Gadget french?
Yes, you’re right. He’s more a robot than a superhero but I would accept that.
Have you watched Major Grom? it’s based on Russian Bubble comics. Though Grom himself has no superpowers (kinds), but his villains have. And Bubble are planning to make more movies about more super-ish characters in the same universe.
Japan has a variety of superhero adjacent series, starting with tokusatsu that have been going on for decades like Kamen Rider, Ultraman and Super Sentai, then you have manga from the entire genre of magical girls to unique series like One Punch Man or My Hero Academia. Most of those have a very clear targeting aimed at children, but many can still be enjoyed if you can look past the goofy designs. Most of it is purely entertainment with some good themes, so you might realize that US comic books are far more politically engaged against the oppression of minorities (X-Men, Black Panther…)
CIA/FBI that
I can’t think of which mainstream comic book from Marvel pushes FBI / CIA, they mostly come up with their own fictional equivalents (SHIELD, recently Damage Control which is going full ICE in the latest Spider-Man movie), DC might have a bit of it because they’re more “grounded” but I still can’t think of what series actually uses them.
Not a franchise yet, but in Italy we had a good try at a superhero movie in “Lo Chiamavano Jeeg Robot” (They called him Jeeg Robot, Jeeg Robot being a 1970s japanese anime referenced in the movie).
But don’t expect anything positive or even only subtly fascist like Batman.
As AllNewTypeFace explained, in Europe we scoff at the Superhero concept and probably because the last guy we had in Europe that was into it threw us into WWII.
Bananaman is British.
I think it might even be Welsh but I also might be thinking of Fireman Sam
Bananaman is technically Scottish.
SuperTed was Welsh.
Ah yes he was
Da lawn
