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.
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.