History Film / Super

It originally screened at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival and was released in select theaters on 1 April 2011, with a VOD release the 8th of that same month.

* BlackBestFriend: Frank's co-worker at the Diner, Hamilton. [[spoiler: The ending indicates that Frank becomes the Best Man at his wedding.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Jacques gives Frank an absolutely ''vicious'' one after the ranch shootout. And truth be told, [[JerkassHasAPoint he's not wrong]]:

* ActionGirl: Boltie.

* BadassAdorable ActionGirl: Libby. Though how adorable she is while laughing hysterically while repeatedly stabbing a guy in the face might change. Oddly, she still manages to seem adorable even when covered in other people's blood.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Frank.

* CarFu: [[DissonantLaughter And now your legs are gone!]]

* KidSidekick: Boltie to the Crimson Bolt. She's less of a KidHero than a PsychoSupporter[=/=]PoisonousFriend (yes, compared to Libby, the lunatic who bashes in people's heads in with a wrench is an idealist). It's also pointed out that, being 22 years old, Libby is really only a kid when compared to Frank.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Boltie uses the word 'gay' in a derogatory fashion. In fact, Libby's first encounter with Frank has her describing the characters in the ''Holy Avenger'' comic as "looking like mongoloids".
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Jacques refers to his 'business partner' after shooting him as a 'nigger'.

* RealityEnsues: One of the funniest and most gruesome things about the movie is how realistically injuries are portrayed. People go down screaming after one hit from a wrench, a glass vase broken over someone's head leaves broken shards in his face and him concussed on the ground, and that's just what the heroes do.[[spoiler: It's hard to survive a barrage of gunfire...]]

* ArmorIsUseless: Averted for Crimson Bolt [[spoiler: but not for Boltie]].

* BlackComedyRape: [[spoiler: Libby forces herself on the groggy Frank, who awkwardly resists, stating that he's married, before finally tossing her off of himself and then running off to puke. It's played for creepy physical comedy]].

A 2010 BlackComedy written and directed by Creator/JamesGunn, ''Super'' stars Creator/RainnWilson as Frank D'arbo, a man whose wife, Sarah (Creator/LivTyler), falls under the spell of a charismatic drug dealer named Jacques (Creator/KevinBacon). To deal with the trauma and take down Jacques, Frank fights crime using the superhero identity the Crimson Bolt, armed with a garish patchwork suit and a wrench. He is aided by an unstable comic book store employee, Libby (Creator/EllenPage), who becomes his sidekick, Boltie.

* {{Determinator}}: Most people when their wife is taken away from them by a charismatic drug dealer would either let the police deal with it, or failing that, try to cope and live their lives. Most people after their first attempt at heroism goes horribly wrong, would decide to quit. However, most people aren't Frank D'arbo.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Subverted. Frank is initially seen as a serial attacker, but public opinion changes when it becomes clear that most of his victims are criminals. When Frank helps someone, they are usually appreciative afterwards, even the woman who's neck was accidentally injured due to Frank's actions. [[spoiler: Even though Sarah eventually leaves Frank, it's implied that she would have left much sooner if not for the obligation she felt towards him because of what he did for her.]]

* TheImmodestOrgasm: [[spoiler: Libby when she raped Frank.]]

* TheCameo: Creator/LloydKaufman of Creator/{{Troma}} fame (where James Gunn got his start), William Katt of ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'', and Creator/NathanFillion (part of Gunn's production posse) all make appearances on the television. Rob Zombie is the voice of god.

* StealthSequel: The Crimson Bolt appears in a PostCreditsScene in ''Film/{{Brightburn}}''.

* ButtMonkey: Frank, for most of the film. Even during his crusade as The Crimson Bolt.

* AnnoyingLaugh: Libby. Doubles as LaughingMad.

* StealthSequel: The Crimson Bolt appears in a PostCreditsScene in Film/{{Brightburn}}''.

* Stealth sequel: The Crimson Bolt appears in a PostCreditsScene in Film/{{Brightburn}}''.

It originally screened at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival and was released on 1 April 2011.

* BlackComedyRape: Of a very dark sort. [[spoiler: Libby sleep-rapes Frank even though Frank was never interested in Libby. The comedy itself comes from how bad Libby is at seduction, not the rape itself.]]

* BloodyHilarious: Crimson Bolt's wrench attacks look more funny than violent.
** In-universe for Libby.

* BookEnds: The movie begins with Frank recounting his two "perfect moments", and getting the idea to draw pictures of them as reminders. [[spoiler: The movie ends with Frank looking at his perfect moment pictures again, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments which are now so numerous that they cover an entire wall and then some]].]]
* BoomHeadshot: Several characters, [[spoiler: including the KidSidekick.]]

* TheCameo: Creator/LloydKaufman of Creator/{{Troma}} fame (where James Gunn got his start) and William Katt of ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'' both make appearances on the television. Rob Zombie is the voice of god.

* DissonantLaughter: Hoo boy, Libby...

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted, sort of. [[spoiler: Libby raping Frank is portrayed as disturbing and uncomfortable, with Frank trying his very hardest to get her off of him. Afterwards, he immediately throws up. Even Libby looks disturbed at what she's done. However, the movie doesn't really deal with it, as Frank (possibly in reaction to this incident) redoubles his determination to go rescue Sarah, and Libby dies in the assault.]]

* EvilGloating: [[spoiler: Jacques stops short of gunning down an already wounded Frank to give him a vicious TheReasonYouSuckSpeech which is enough to piss him off to extremes and provoke a HeroicSecondWind. Things end up ''very'' badly for Jacques after that...]]

* {{Fanservice}}: Libby rolling around her room in extremely short shorts, then making suggestive poses in her spandex outfit, and later fighting crime while wearing her little more than her bra.
* FanDisservice: Ellen Page in spandex [[spoiler: raping Rainn Wilson.]]

** ''The Holy Avenger'' TV show is laughably crude and silly, with cheesy acting, low production values and ham-fisted morals. One nice detail is the way the Holy Avenger turns to look at characters ''before'' they've started to say their lines. It seems to be based on ''Series/{{Bibleman}}''. The comic book has crude artbased on the work of bizarre GoldenAge comic artist Fletcher Hanks.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: An extremely disturbing example occurs at the end when Frank starts to massacre Jacques' gang; [[spoiler:he stabs a guy to death after setting him on fire, he blows three guys away with a pipe bomb, blasts two clearly dead bodies with a shotgun, blasts a guy who lost his arms in the pipe bomb attack and was begging not to be killed, headshots a gangster in the house, smashes the back of Creator/MichaelRooker's head into jelly on the corner of a fireplace foundation, and stabs Jacques over and over until the screen fades to red.]] Sweet. Baby. Jesus.
* ThouShaltNotKill:
** Averted by Frank, and even more-so by Boltie.
** Though Frank did object to Boltie trying to kill the keying guy. It's not clear whether it was the severity of the crime (or lack thereof), the fact that Boltie didn't seem sure they had the right guy or this trope that was the cause.
** That said, the guys he was fine with killing (by himself or Boltie) were part of Jacques' drug ring. So, either it was because those guys were more dangerous, or it may be a case of ItsPersonal.

* TokenWhite: Frank is the only Caucasian working at the diner, though Sarah formerly worked there as well.

* WhatTheHellHero: Frank gives one of these to Libby after she [[spoiler: almost kills a guy for (maybe) keying her friends car]].

** The entire cast is in the opening credits, regardless of significance to the plot. Cardellini still deserves mention because her character's so minor, and she still gets billing.

* FragileSpeedster: Libby's main asset is her speed. [[spoiler: When she wears very heavy armor, it leads to her death.]]
* GenreDeconstruction: Yet another answer to the question, "what would a superhero be like in real life?" [[Film/TaxiDriver Travis Bickle]]. They would be Travis Bickle.
** Basically when you have a superhero that isn't among the Fiction500 then that would mean he doesn't have much to go by in terms of gadgets. The bulk of the gadgets The Crimson Bolt has are usually common items a person would buy from a store and his costume doesn't protect him from heavy gunfire. High tech equipment and fancy armor are necessities that The Crimson Bolt doesn't have.

* GlassCannon: Crimson Bolt is more focused on the offensive.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Frank and Libby.

* ISurrenderSuckers: Jacques immediately hands over Sarah when Frank reaches him, and then tries to appease Frank by noting that he personally killed the guy that tried to rape Sarah (obviously leaving out the fact that Jacques killed him for different reasons entirely). Then, once it's clear that Frank is distracted, Jacques starts shooting.

* KnifeNut: While it's no more prominent than any of [[SuperheroPackingHeat his]] [[StuffBlowingUp other]] {{w|renchWhack}}eapons, the way Frank uses his knife should more than qualify him for this trope. Basically, he comes up at an opponent already distracted by [[KillItWithFire another]] [[GroinAttack injury]], and stabs him in the torso over and over again. Both times, he's interrupted by a scene change, so the audience never sees how long Frank [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill goes on doing this.]]

* LargeHam: Every costumed character.

* LittleMissBadass: Boltie.

* MoreDakka: While gun shopping, Libby tries out a pink .22 rifle, Frank takes it away and hands her a Bazooka.

* NWordPrivileges: See PoliticallyIncorrectVillain below.

* OneHeadTaller: Libby is barely over 5', while Frank is listed as about 6'5. The dichotomy emphasizes Libby's youth and helps sell her as his "kid sidekick."

* TragicHero: Frank.

* {{Fanservice}}: Ellen Page in spandex, and later only in a bra.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Frank survives, kills the drug-dealers, and rescues Sarah. She leaves him after a few months, but Frank accepts it and moves on, dedicating his life to doing good things and becoming an honorary uncle to Sarah's kids. Frank looks at his wall of accomplishments with his new bunny and seems content. However, Libby has been killed, and the last shot of the film is a tear rolling down Frank's eye as he looks at a picture of her during their most romantically charged moment]].

* AffablyEvil: Libby. She'll help you pick out comics, invite you over to a cozy housewarming party, bandage you up when you've been shot in the leg, kill someone for (probably) keying a friend's car, save your life, go out shopping with you, [[spoiler: and rape you]].

* AscendedFanboy: Libby. Subverted with Frank who, despite becoming a superhero, doesn't have much of an interest in comics and knows little about them. Though he does seem to watch The Holy Avenger quite often.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Frank manages to rescue his wife and kill the drug-dealers, but Libby is shot down in the melee and Sarah later leaves him. The film ends on a somewhat hopeful note however as Sarah manages to overcome her drug addiction and better herself, Frank ends up feeling better about himself having done something that in his mind validates his existence, and its heavily implied that he becomes an honorary uncle to Sarah's kids.]]

* TheCameo: Creator/LloydKaufman of Creator/{{Troma}} fame (where James Gunn got his start) and William Katt of ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'' both make appearances.

* CoolCar: Notably averted, Frank drives his completely normal car for his crime fighting.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Jacques compliments Frank on his eggs shortly before stealing his wife.

* PoliceAreUseless: Played with. The police don't listen to Frank at the beginning of the movie, but only because he has no evidence that anything criminal is going on, and Frank never tries going to them again afterward (even after going to their address and seeing piles of drugs and money lying around). The one detective we're shown gets killed pretty unceremoniously, but mostly due to dumb luck on the part of Jacques' mooks.

* ShoutOut: To Series/{{Bibleman}} (the Holy Avenger t.v. show) and Fletcher Hanks (the Holy Avenger ComicBook looks like his work).

* UglyGuyHotWife: Justified by the fact that Sarah is a fragile, recovering drug addict who uses Frank as a source of stability.

** Considering the [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre other meaning of that phrase]] in her clear arousal at combat (which the climax of an action film would doubtlessly be full of), it's less spoilery than you'd think.
* StylisticSuck: The Holy Avenger TV show and ComicBook, based on the character of Series/{{Bibleman}} and the work of bizarre GoldenAge comic artist Fletcher Hanks, respectively.
** This also applies to the film as a whole. Even the ''poster'' up there on the page image looks atrocious.

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Poor Libby. Sure she was crazy, but...]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Frank manages to rescue his wife and kill the drug-dealers, but Libby is shot down in the melee and Sarah later leaves him. The film ends on a somewhat hopeful note however as Sarah manages to overcome her drug addiction and better herself, and Frank ends up feeling better about himself having done something that in his mind validates his existence.]]

* BlackComedy
* BlackComedyRape: Of a very dark sort.

* MissionFromGod: Frank thinks he's on this; it's not entirely clear whether he is or not. A case could be made for either possibility.