Superhero films that aren't part of a 'universe'?

Irish Guitarist

I used to enjoy superhero films but in the last few years I haven't watched many of them. I've been turned off by the fact that if I watch a solitary film I won't have any clue what's going on. If you want to see something like Iron Man 2 you'll have to have seen Captain America and before you watch Captain America you'll have to see Thor or something. Every superhero film seem to be an advertisement for an upcoming film.

I don't mind something being a trilogy or quadrilogy. With something like the 1970s/80s Superman it wasn't difficult to keep tracks of the films. You just had to watch Superman 1,2,3 and 4. You didn't have to worry that you'd missed out on something because there was a Wonder Woman or Batman film that was made between Superman 2 and 3.

When's the last time a superhero film was released that could just be enjoyed on its own rather than being part of a franchise or the Marvel or DC 'universe'? The last one I can think of was the Spiderman films that starred Toby McGuire.

martin101

Antman

CatFromHue

Dredd, though technically that's not a superhero film

Not necessarily a superhero but Accident Man an adaptation of the Pat Mills comic came out recently in the US, it's UK and Irish release is scheduled for June. I grabbed the Blu from the US and while I've yet to watch it the trailer was fun and Jesse Johnson who directed it is one of those unsung heroes of action cinema.

Slydice

There's a wiki page of American superhero films exclusing Marvel and DC:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_superhero_films

I haven't seen all those but going back to 2000, these are mid - good level:

2017 Split
2016 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
2014 RoboCop
2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2012 Chronicle
2012 Dredd
2011 The Green Hornet
2010 Super
2008 Jumper
2008 Hancock
2008 Hellboy II: The Golden Army
2004 Hellboy
2000 Unbreakable

+1 for Dredd. Agree about the technical, similar technical issues with Super and The Green Hornet.
Chronicle was a kinda new take (depending on how much stuff you've seen/read)

As yet, Deadpool is in a world of his own... or is he? *in jumps deadpool breaking the 4th wall: "or am i"* (watch Deadpool, it's part of what he does)

jaxxx

Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy was standalone I think. Don't think the 2 Amazing Spiderman movies with Andrew Garfield shared a universe. Ghost Rider 1 & 2 (both of which were pure sh@te). The Punisher with Tom Jane a few years back. Although the latter 2 are more antiheros than superheros. Both the Fanastic Four films were standalone I'm sure (the first and its sequel, then the reboot a few years back - they were all pure crap anyway).

nix

martin101 wrote: »

Antman

Really? The first movie even has an Avenger in it :rolleyes:

Cookie_Monster

Hancock

Agent Coulson

The Watchmen.

Blade weren’t part of a Universe.

Spawn.

The Crow.

Honestly though you don't generally need to see any other films to fully understand the stand alone films (sequels excepted), with the exception of Civil War which was more Avengers 2.5 than a Cap film

DavyD_83

SuperBob (2015)
Still haven't watched it actually

stesaurus

Slydice wrote: »

There's a wiki page of American superhero films exclusing Marvel and DC:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_superhero_films

I haven't seen all those but going back to 2000, these are mid - good level:


+1 for Dredd. Agree about the technical, similar technical issues with Super and The Green Hornet.
Chronicle was a kinda new take (depending on how much stuff you've seen/read)

As yet, Deadpool is in a world of his own... or is he? *in jumps deadpool breaking the 4th wall: "or am i"* (watch Deadpool, it's part of what he does)

Split and Unbreakable are same Universe though. Not that you need to have seen both

GavRedKing

Nolan's Batman trilogy?

It was pretty much self contained.

Although the Gotham portrayed in the first one was different than it was in the 2nd and 3rd.

pinksoir

Darkman with Liam Neeson from... was it 1990? Directed by Sam Raimi. It's part of that pre-Spiderman bunch of movies before superheroes were bankable. Pretty brutal film but enjoyable in its terribleness.

Ciaran_B

Kick Ass.

Bacchus

Deleted User wrote: »

Honestly though you don't generally need to see any other films to fully understand the stand alone films (sequels excepted), with the exception of Civil War which was more Avengers 2.5 than a Cap film

Agreed. For the most part the MCU movies are very accessible (especially considering the 'baggage' of the shared universe). While they are all connected, they still manage to make them stand on their own. Black Panther is a recent good example. It references the events of Civil War but other than that it works very well as a standalone.

The ones where you need more background and you would be a bit lost are the Avengers ensemble ones (and Civil War as an Avengers 2.5) but even they manage to tell a fairly contained story. The references to other movies and the wider MCU are just perks for those watching all the movies.

Fysh

I have to disagree with the assertion that references to other movies in MCU films are just perks for fans of the whole series - I have mostly given up on MCU films in the last year or two but up until that point, I found that after Avengers they all started to feel about half an hour longer than they needed to be, with that half hour usually being give over to making sure there's space for some narratively unnecessary "connected universe" guff.

I'm probably a minority in saying that this even applies to Guardians of the Galaxy, a film that is pretty great if cut down to 90-100 minutes but which drags with seemingly endless tedious nonsense about Angry Space Goth Mopes At Big Purple Guy interrupting the story for no good reason. It's not an OMG moment if it just causes the story's momentum to come grinding to a halt.

Thanos is central to Gamorra and Nebula, he's more at home in Guardians than any of the others.

In fact they could have made him a Guardian's only Big Bad and would have capped off a Trilogy.

Skerries

both Super and Defendor are both anti superhero in that they are set in a real world environment and the consequences that come with an ordinary man putting on a suit and going out to fight crime
Super is very black humour with it though

Slydice

stesaurus wrote: »

Split and Unbreakable are same Universe though. Not that you need to have seen both

Even better than that,

they are 2 of a trilogy!

Next part due next year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbreakable_(film_series)

Fysh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Thanos is central to Gamorra and Nebula, he's more at home in Guardians than any of the others.

In fact they could have made him a Guardian's only Big Bad and would have capped off a Trilogy.

We don't need to see any of the Thanos scenes for Gamorra and Nebula's stories to work, though - everything necessary for that is explained to the audience very neatly during scenes where the Guardians are interacting with one another. Whereas the Thanos scenes felt totally disconnected from the film (because everything we need to know is already perfectly addressed elsewhere) and felt like they were there purely to get fans going "wahey, Thanos is coming up in a future film". And, well, I object to having a film I'm watching interrupted by a segment advertising me a future film

judeboy101

Darkman

Fysh

It's of a similar sort of tone to Super, rather than straight-up superheroics, but Special (2006) is an entertaining and interesting film about a guy who starts a new course of medication and develops superpowers as a result...or so he thinks.

Greyfox

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I've been turned off by the fact that if I watch a solitary film I won't have any clue what's going on. If you want to see something like Iron Man 2 you'll have to have seen Captain America and before you watch Captain America you'll have to see Thor or something. Every superhero film seem to be an advertisement for an upcoming film.

Nonsense! Iron man, x-men, nolans batman, black panther, thor, guar of galaxy, deadpool, Dr strange, wonder woman, each one of these film/Film series can be enjoyed without ever watching other superhero films

Bacchus

Fysh wrote: »

I have to disagree with the assertion that references to other movies in MCU films are just perks for fans of the whole series - I have mostly given up on MCU films in the last year or two but up until that point, I found that after Avengers they all started to feel about half an hour longer than they needed to be, with that half hour usually being give over to making sure there's space for some narratively unnecessary "connected universe" guff.

I'm probably a minority in saying that this even applies to Guardians of the Galaxy, a film that is pretty great if cut down to 90-100 minutes but which drags with seemingly endless tedious nonsense about Angry Space Goth Mopes At Big Purple Guy interrupting the story for no good reason. It's not an OMG moment if it just causes the story's momentum to come grinding to a halt.

The only time where I felt the universe building stuff felt out of place was...
1. Ant Mans mission to the Avengers base and his fight against Falcon. That was totally tacked on and, as you put it, interrupted the movie I was watching.
2. Iron Mans cameos in Spiderman. Ok, it was a neat way to supe up Spiderman with a fancy suit but it felt a bit forced to me.
3. Thors side mission / acid trip in Avengers:AoU.

Outside of that though, I've never felt like any of the MCU movies overplayed the universe stuff or set ups for other movies. They are there but they are in passing, they generally fit in with the movie, and I think by in large, fans enjoy it (based on nothing other than personal opinion, hearsay and the fact that these movies are still raking in the $$$).

tricky D

Fysh wrote: »

It's of a similar sort of tone to Super, rather than straight-up superheroics, but Special (2006) is an entertaining and interesting film about a guy who starts a new course of medication and develops superpowers as a result...or so he thinks.

Adds Griff the Invisible and The History of Future Folk top the mix.

CastorTroy

Push from 2009 starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning about people with different mind powers.

Though that may fall more into the scifi category