They’re big business … in Hollywood. But did you know Australia also has a small but rich seam of compelling and bizarre superhero movies?
![From Captain Invincible to Cleverman: the weird and wild history of Australian superheroes](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/711c55a4c74c521953698574c54f3d585454f889/0_0_2953_1772/master/2953.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=cf657057b4e9546def1b35adcf40d5fb)
The phrase “nobody makes superhero movies like Australia” has, I dare say, never before been written. Our humble government-subsidised film and TV industry is no more than a lemonade stand in the shadow of Hollywood’s arena spectacular, unable to compete budget-wise with the deep pockets of Tinseltown or produce bombast on the scale of
American studios.
But scratch the surface of
Australian film and TV history and you will find a small but rich vein of super strange locally made superhero productions with their own – forgive me – true blue je ne sais quoi. Their eclecticism and off-kilter energy provides a refreshing counterpoint to the risk-averse kind falling off the
Hollywood assembly line.