Animated Superhero Film Festival

For a long time, I have believed that the superhero genre is best served within animations. Some of the best parts of the genre have taken the form of animated television, such as Batman The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited. Despite the fantastic work in the genre, the animation style has not gotten the respect it should on the big screen. This is not for lack of amazing animated superhero content available, but finally, this is starting to change. In 2018 a film was released in the biggest superhero franchise ever, and its commercial success has paved the way for the greater public to finally start to embrace these films. Then an even bigger moment happened, that film received a sequel in 2023, proving that this type of content belongs on the big screen, and that will be our first film today. 

Animated Superheros go Blockbuster: Spider-Man: Acrosss the Spider-Verse

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an American superhero animated film that was released in 2023. The film is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos and is produced by Marvel and Disney. The film is a sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and explores the deep lore of the Spider-Man character through the eyes of our main Spider-Man, Myles Morales. In the first film Myles was a regular Brooklyn teen in world that already had a Spider-Man, Peter Parker. After being bitten by an interdimensional spider he gains the Spider-Man powers, and after a lab accident the original Spider-Man dies and a rift between universes is opened. Multiple universes Spider-Men and Women (and pig) are dropped into world, and they seek to return them home. By the end they are all returned to their own universe but there still seems to be an opening in the rift between worlds.

Across the Spider-Verse picks back up with Myles after some time as his universes Spider-Man. Other Universes Spider-Men visit him and bring him to the Spider Society headquarters, a place where all the universes Spider-Men come together to keep the multiverse safe. As a danger to the multiverse becomes apparent, the Spider-Men begin to turn on Myles as he wishes to disrupt the order of the Multiverse by saving his father's life. After fighting with the Spider-Men Myles thinks he returns home and everything is back to normal, but it is revealed that he is actually in another reality and he is still in danger, which is where the movie end and we are left to wait for third film.

This film franchise is a monumental moment for the animated superhero genre, as it is Marvels first major animated film with one its iconic characters. Superhero's in animation isn't new, but Marvel being the highest grossing film franchise of all time makes this a massive moment in the industry. This film opens the doors for further animated superhero films becoming blockbusters.

Promare

You can't talk about animated films without Japan, and this is exactly where our next animated superhero film takes us. The 2019 Japanese animated film, Pomare, is a fantastic adaptation of the Superhero genre that was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi. The film is a fantastic blend of the superhero genre and the classic Japanese traditions of animation.

The film takes place after a cataclysmic event hit the world, known as the Great World Blaze, killing half the world's population. The devastated world is left looking for heroes to save them, and they arrive and are known as the Burnish, a group of certain humans who developed pyrotechnic abilities after the event. The movie then takes a jump to thirty years later where the firefighting heroes have been helping the world recover, but they don’t all have virtuosic intentions. The main group of heroes must deal with these radical groups throughout the story, but they eventually learn of another apocalyptic event on the horizon. They then learn that they can communicate with a race of inter-dimensional flame beings residing in Earth's core, known as the Promare. It is revealed it is the Promare who are the threat to the world and the group is forced to combat them by joining forces and fighting as a mecha. The mecha concept is classic in Japanese animation and this robotic form of a hero saves the world in this film. In the end, the burnish defeated the Promare and saved the world but ultimately lost their powers in the process but continued to put the world back together as humans.

Just Super

In the world of superhero's and superpowers, sometimes someone without powers still has to become a hero. This idea of a normal person being just as much of a hero as a superhero is a classic aspect, there are heroes like Batman who is powerless but still as much of a superhero as anyone, and non hero chacters who are often forgotten about but still can be a hero when needed, like the iconic Spider-Man love interest Mary Jane who has helped save the day multiple times. Our next film is centered around this idea and the Norwegian film is a fantaisic addition to the Genre.

Just Super is a Norwegian animated film that was released 2022 and was directed by
Rasmus A. Sivertsen. The animated film was premiered at TIFF Junior, a Norwegian film festival where the audience award. The story follows the young 11-year-old girl Hedvig, who is part of a family with a big secret. For generations, the family's oldest child becomes the Super-Lion, the town's local superhero. When the film picks up the young girl's father is the current Super-Lion, but questions grow as to whether Hedvig will eventually be able to take on the mantle. From appearance Hedvig appears as normal as normal gets for young kid, and the family starts to think the title of Super-Lion will have to go to her cousin. The movie goes on to spread a message of empowerment as Hedvig learns how to be a hero without being super. The fantastic film spreads the sentiments to its young audience, especially young girls growing up in the modern world.

The Jungle Bunch

Just as Just Super showed, the superhero genre, especially its animated subset, has strong ties to entertaining children. The genre is naturally fit for children as they are drawn to fantastical worlds they create. But superheroes don’t always need to be people, especially to kids, and our next film is an amazing example of how animals can be superheroes too.

The Jungle Bunch is a 2017 animated French superhero comedy that was directed by David Alaux. The films is a movie adaptation of the French television series of the same name. The movie dives into the superpowered world of the animal kingdom. All the species of animals have their own unique abilities, some taking on the role of heroes and others as villains. The heroic group of multiple animals called The Champs fight an evil Koala named Igor to start the film, with The Champs coming out victorious. After defeating Igor the group learns that he has set up multiple traps to terrorize the jungle inhabitants, and after saving the day one of the members sacrifices himself for the rest and dies, which leads to the team breaking up. We then meet a newborn penguin named Maurice, who hopes to save the day one day too just like the champs. Years later Maurice is grown up and Igor becomes a threat again. Maurice unites the champs once again, along with another group, the Jungle Bunch, and beats Igor once and for all. After saving the jungle the groups finally defeat Igor and the day is saved. The Champs, after accomplishing everything they could, finally retire peacefully, and The Jungle Bunch continue to serve as the jungle's protectors.