Amy Smart and Shawn Michaels have joined the cast of the latest superhero spoof, Avengers of Justice: Farce Wars, and the described plot of this upcoming farce of a film confirms Thanos is already here and we as a species don’t deserve to be saved from his wrath. Basically, imagine if Superhero Movie was lazier and stole the plot of Disney’s The Incredibles.
Although these guys might not mind. / Superhero Movie, Credit: Dimension Films
In the film, Earth is reeling from one too many superhero and super-villain clashes. These face-offs have led to billions of dollars in damages, and forced heroes with superpowers into hiding.
Super original, guys.
According to Variety, the movie parodies several Marvel and DC films, along with Star Wars, more likely for name recognition than a connection to the superhero mythos. And how do they spoof these billion-dollar franchises? Not by actually having clever social commentary about the surge in superhero idolatry and the inevitable implosion of an oversaturated market, but by combining one character’s name into another character’s name.
Superman and Batman become “SuperBat”, Joker and Darth Vader morph into “Dark Jokester”, Thor and Chewbacca create “ThorBacca”, and Smart plays a combination of Jean Grey and Wonder Woman called “Jean Wonder”. According to the synopsis, SuperBat reunites the Avengers of Justice in order to save Jean Wonder, who got kidnapped (because of course she did). The new superteam includes iconic figures like a racist Hispanic stereotype, “El Capitan South America”, and what will likely be a scantily-clad woman who shows her boobs at some point, “Beaverine”.
I’m not saying superhero films are above parody because nothing is. The superhero genre turns out some amazing, complex and heartbreaking stories, but it’s also about grown adults in costumes fighting crime. You can’t not laugh at that at times. The LEGO Movie did an excellent job poking fun at the genre, and many of us loved the Thor mockumentary from Captain America: Civil War. As serious as some of the movies are, the superhero genre should never take itself too seriously. However, there have been about 75-million Zack Snyder “hot-takes” about that very topic, so I won’t embellish.
The stupidity that was the Scary Movie-style parodies of the early 2000s is over, and for good reason, because people are smarter than this crap. I can point out several superhero spoofs on YouTube that are way funnier and more clever than Avengers of Justice: Farce Wars promises to be. There’s a slim chance it will surprise me in the end, but come on… Beaverine? You’ve got to be joking.
[Variety]