There’s a delicious kind of irony to the existence of comic book porn parodies when you recall the widespread sex panic that Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent caused back in the ’50s. After decades of the Comics Code Authority trying to keep sexuality out of comics, the pendulum’s swung back in the other direction, and now we have films such as Men.com’s Justice League: A Gay Porn Parody.
Image: Men.com via YouTube
The fascinating thing about modern porn parodies – particularly those based on comic books – is how genuinely inspired by the source material they tend to be. What they lack in budget and flashy production values, they more than make up for in enthusiasm and attention to small details you rarely get when major studios make their superhero blockbusters. Justice League: A Gay Porn Parody‘s Wonder Woman – campily played by RuPaul’s Drag Race veteran Manila Luzon – might not spend her time taking out parademons, but she is rendered vulnerable when she’s bound up by a man, a nod to the character’s classic weakness from the comics. Similarly, the Flash’s (Johnny Rapid) Speed Force lightning is depicted using the same glowing, yellowish-orange hue that it has in DC’s comics – something conspicuously different in the film. The parody also manages to fit in a little nod to the fact that as Bruce Wayne’s lifelong butler, Alfred is not exactly a stranger to walking in on Bruce while he’s… entertaining company.
One of the more disappointing things about WB’s Justice League was how little chemistry the Leaguers had with one another. While the cast seems to get along well enough in interviews, that energy barely registers on the screen, making it difficult to really buy the team as a group of people who enjoy being around one another. Sex aside, Justice League: A Gay Porn Parody‘s cast has legitimate chemistry that’s almost engaging enough to distract you from the fact that the film’s plot lines are kind of nonexistent.
Here’s the trailer for the parody which, by the way, is indeed safe for work:
With (a bearded) Superman (Brandon Cody) presumed dead, the world is thrown into a state of panic that’s only exacerbated by the arrival of a stony-faced creature bearing more than a striking resemblance to Darkseid. When Bruce (Ryan Bones) decides to hang up his cape and cowl, it’s Barry Allen who tracks him down, breaks into the Batcave, and convinces him that his lack of superpowers isn’t reason enough for him to give up on being a hero. In favour of Cyborg – a character who’s probably a bit too CGI intensive to pull off for this sort of thing – the parody swaps in a Green Lantern (Colby Keller) who’s just come out as the world’s first gay superhero. News of GL’s coming out prompts Aquaman (Francois Sagat) to emerge from the ocean in search of an answer to that age-old question: What does it mean to be gay?
In all seriousness, though, there’s an overall lightheartedness to Justice League: A Gay Porn Parody that feels like exactly the sort of tone and vibe that Warner Bros. knows is sorely missing from the DCEU. In not taking itself anywhere nearly as seriously as the movie it’s based on, the parody is able to tap into the inherent silliness that makes comics great in the first place. Is the parody going to win any awards for its technical artistry? No. Is it an opportunity to see a drag queen Wonder Woman tease the Green Lantern about getting wet with Aquaman? Hell yeah.