Back before there was a Superman there were no superheroes. But there were masked crimefighters, and they called them Mystery Men. There was even a comic book that carried that name.
Bob Burden at Dark Horse Comics (Creator of the wildly popular Flaming Carrot) decided it was time to bring the superhero into a more realistic world. So he brought forth Mysterymen Comics (which featured many characters where were not in the movie). The transition to film was not always satisifying, but it is more fun than the critics would have you believe.
In the film Champion City's resident superhero Captain Amazing is so phenominally successfull that there are no great villains left to catch. That is a problem because advertisers don't want their endorsor only bringing in small timers. (You can tell the importance of the advertisers because the superhero has patches all over his costume that make him look like he is a Nascar racer.)
When the Captain arranges for his greatest enemy to be released, things turn bad for him. And only a rag tag bunch of the most unlikely superhero wannabes are left with the daughting task of saving the world. Can Mr. Furious, the Blue Raja, the Shoveller, the Bowler, the Slpeen and their team overcome Casanova Frankenstein and his minions?
Here is some of the cast:
Hank Azaria . . . The Blue Raja
Ben Stiller . . . Mr. Furious
William H. Macy . . . The Shoveller
Geoffrey Rush . . . Casanova Frankenstein
Janeane Garofalo . . . The Bowler
Greg Kinnear . . . Captain Amazing / Lance Hunt
Tom Waits . . . Dr. A. Heller
Paul Reubens . . . The Spleen
Claire Forlani . . . Monica the Waitress
Eddie Izzard . . . Tony P.
Kel Mitchell . . . The Invisible Boy
Wes Studi . . . The Sphinx
Lena Olin . . . Dr. Annabel Leek
Ricky Jay . . . Victor Weems
Louise Lasser . . . Violet, The Blue Raja's Mom
Here is the original theatrical trailer
Much of this goes way over the top, but, like "The Tick," it is, at heart, a loving take on the idea of comic book wrold of Mystery Men.
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