The ‘Superman’ Paradox

Back in 2010, James Gunn made his sophomore feature film, Super, a cheap, surprisingly nasty little movie about a socially inept short-order cook who cosplays as a violent masked vigilante. Released in the wake of The Dark Knight and with Iron Man ascendant, Gunn’s film riffed on nascent superhero mania by mapping the fine line between genuine righteousness and ambient, all-American rage. “You don’t butt in line!” stammers the shabbily attired Crimson Bolt (Rainn Wilson) as he stares down the petty criminal who he imagines to be his arch enemy. “You don’t sell drugs! You don’t molest little children! You don’t profit off the misery of others! The rules were set a long time ago! They don’t change.”