History Film / MysteryMen

** It's also a reference to the original GreenLantern, Alan Scott, who wore a lot of red.

* SpandexLatexOrLeather: One of the most eclectic mixtures in any medium, involving a bit of just about everything - Captain Amazing's costume is molded rubber and chrome armour covered in sponsored ads, while supervillain Casanova Frankenstein displays a taste for multiple velvet outfits and strange gold jewlerly. The Mystery Men themselves all sport low-budget, piecemeal "costumes": The Shoveler wears a mining outfit and jeans, the Blue Raja a thrift-store quality Indian ensemble, Mr. Furious a black leather motorcycle outfit with a black leather BadassLongcoat over it, etc. After meeting the Sphinx(who wears a black vinyl cowl and billowing velvet robes, later revealed to have dazzling blue and silver spandex hidden beneath), they sew proper costumes, which incorporate spandex(Spleen and Sphinx), leather(Furious and the Bowler), silver mail(Shoveler), ornately colourful jewel-covered fabrics(the Blue Raja) and what appears to be an elaborately painted mural of Champion City(the Invisible Boy).

* ShovelStrike: The Shoveller.

* SpandexLatexOrLeather: Mostly spandex.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Lance Hunt subverts this, as his ObfuscatingStupidity is ''genuine'' stupidity.

''Mystery Men'' is a superhero AffectionateParody, with bizarre powers, and an odd look at (and much LampshadeHanging on) various conventions of the SuperHero Genre, and how they would fit into normal life.

*** Although it's not a ShoutOut, as Mystery Men was made two years *before* BoB!

** EddieIzzard makes a reference to "the god of haircare". In his StandUpComedy routine, he mentions that the Romans previously had crappy gods, like Simon, the God of Hairdos.

* BaitAndSwitch: During the superhero auditions, up walks a brutish white guy InTheHood and mask, getting the character's hopes up... [[spoiler: he then introduces himself as "Ballerina Man" complete with pink tutu underneath the flowing cloak.]]

* FalseReassurance: When the Blue Raja asks the Bowler if she really put her father's skull in her bowling ball, she assures him she didn't. Subverted seconds later: "Pro Shop did."

* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: Captain Amazing gets Casanova Frankenstein released from the asylum so he can have someone interesting to fight. It backfires badly.

** Captain Amazing says this word for word when asked why he saved the nursing home.

* LegacyCharacter: The Bowler; her father was a very well-respected superhero before her. Bad guys derisively call her "Baby Bowler" because of this.

* LikesOlderWomen: Heller REALLY likes the ladies at the retirement home.

* RagTagBunchOfMisfits

* EmergencyWeapon: The shoveler, sans shovel, deflects an attack with a ''trowel''.

* InformedAbility: The Bowler doesn't have superpowers of her own, she's only on the team because her [[NeverASelfMadeWoman dead father]] is a post-mortem bad ass that needs her to tote him around. Though being [[LegacyCharacter Baby Bowler]] might have something to do with it.

** Captain Amazing in his civilian persona, decides to free Casanova so he could have real villain to fight, and to boost his ratings. Bad idea.

* HappilyMarried: The Shoveler and his wife may feud over his heroing, but they worry because they love each other.

* SassyBlackWoman: The Shoveler's wife.

** And depending on your interpretation, there could be something significant about MichaelBay being cast as the leader of the Fratboys gang ("Can we bring the brewskies?")

* TheCameo: When [[BigBad Casanova Frankenstein]] gathers the [[GangOfHats various gangs of Champion City]] together in an attempt to unite them, the leader of "The Frat Boys" is played by MichaelBay.

* DeathByCameo: MichaelBay portrays the leader of the Frat Boys. Casanova kills them later to show [[KickTheDog how evil he can be]].

The (very loose) film adaptation of an offshoot of the ''FlamingCarrot'' comics, ''Mystery Men'' tells the story of a bunch of loser superheroes, constantly overshadowed by the big-name, big-ego [[CaptainSuperhero Captain Amazing]] (GregKinnear). While the Trio of Blue Raja (HankAzaria), Mr. Furious (BenStiller) and The Shoveler (WilliamHMacy) try desperately to get themselves taken seriously, Captain Amazing laments the lack of decent villains for him to fight.

But after SuperVillain Casanova Frankenstein (GeoffreyRush) gets released from a mental institution -- thanks to the machinations of Captain Amazing himself, who is rapidly losing his corporate sponsors due to his crime-free city -- it's no time at all before he's gathered the local gang leaders (including EddieIzzard), built himself a super weapon, the Psycho-Fraculator, and captured Amazing.

''Mystery Men'' is a superhero AffectionateParody, with bizarre powers, and an odd look at (and much LampshadeHanging on) various conventions of the SuperHero Genre, and how they would fit into normal life.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Parodied/subverted - Roy (a.k.a Mr. Furious) would very much like to be a bad boy, and struts around making a fool of himself acting like one in the hope of impressing Monica, the waitress on whom he has a crush. Monica, for her part, is never anything less than dismissive of him... until the point when he finally just starts acting like the sweet NiceGuy he ultimately at heart is, at which point she begins to warm to him.

* [[AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?]]: Used to subvert a TitleDrop, as they try to think up a team name.

* AscendedFanboy: Invisible Boy. At the start, he's part of a ''network'' of super wannabes that gravitates around a costume store catering to people like them.

** Mr. Furious briefly attempts to convince his crush that his name is Phoenix Dark, before admitting that his name is actually Roy. Its part of his super hero 'image' as a HotBlooded brawler.
* BadassLongcoat: Mister Furious wears a black overcoat, drives a black motorcycle and refers to himself as the "lone wolf".
* BadassNormal: The original trio.

* BigBad: [[AwesomeMcCoolName Casanova Frankenstein]]. Who leads the minor villains and executes an EvilPlan.

-->'''Mr. Furious:''' What? Guns? That's your power, you shoot guns?
-->'''The Blue Raja:''' There's no theme at all here.
-->'''Mr. Furious:''' Weak.
-->'''The Blue Raja:''' At best.
-->[a Disco Boy wields a pipe]
-->'''The Shoveller:''' And who are you supposed to be, the Disco Plumber?
-->[another Disco Boy wields a [[ChainPain heavy chain]]]

* ChainPain: One of the disco gang has a chain for a weapon. Mr. Furious [[{{LampshadeHanging}} hangs a lampshade]] on this when he asks why it isn't at least a ''gold'' chain.
* ChekhovsGun / DeletedScene: Dr. Heller's Tornado-in-a-Can was intended to be a Chekhov's Gun but ended up on the cutting room floor. Rather than throw The Bowler's bowling ball into Casanova Frankenstein's machine to destroy it, the alternate scene shows them throwing a Tornado-in-a-Can into it instead. The effect for this can still however be seen in the theatrical release; just after they toss the bowling ball in and it does its damage you can see the green swirling smoke coming out of the hole.

* ClarkKenting: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] with Lance Hunt as Captain Amazing.

* CorporateSponsoredSuperhero: Captain Amazing may well be the TropeMaker, and provides the page image.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Captain Amazing's]] death is both gross and horrifying.

* EmpathicWeapon: Carmine, though The Bowler ends up arguing with him more often than not.

** TheHero -- The Shoveler, who is by far the most heroic.

** TheSmartGuy-- The Blue Raja with his vast array of specialized forks and well-researched back story.

** TheBigGuy -- The Spleen. The most powerful of the group and most willing to use it.

* GadgeteerGenius: Heller. He makes cutting edge [[InsistentTerminology nonlethal]] weapons in his trailer.

* HappilyMarried: The Shoveler and his wife may feud over his heroing, but they worry because they love each other.

-->'''Capt. Amazing:''' I knew you couldn't change.
-->'''Casanova Frankenstein:''' I knew you'd know that.
-->'''Capt. Amazing:''' Oh, I know that. ''And'' I knew you'd know I'd know you knew.
-->'''Casanova Frankenstein:''' But I didn't. I only knew that you'd know that I knew. Did you know that?
-->'''Capt. Amazing:''' . . . of course.

* InformedAbility: The Bowler doesn't have superpowers of her own, she's only on the team because her [[NeverASelfMadeWoman dead father]] is a post-mortem bad ass that needs her to tote him around. Though being [[LegacyCharacter Baby Bowler]] might have something to do with it.

* PlotTailoredToTheParty: The assault on Chez Casa Casanova. From Invisbility to magic bowling balls to fork throwing etc, everyone's powers are used to solve some problem or obstacle.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Literally, when [[spoiler:Captain Amazing gives confusing instructions on how to deactivate the deathtrap he's in, causing the group to slowly devolve into SeinfeldianConversation and eventually activate it by accident]].

* SceneryPorn: If you liked BladeRunner's futuristic Los Angeles, you'll ''love'' this.

* ShroudedInMyth: The Sphinx's main power. ''Literally''. (Mind you, his other power is chopping guns in half with his mind.)

* TitleDrop: See [[AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?]], above.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Dr. Annabelle Leek joins Casanova as his evil concubine, then vanishes without a trace halfway through the movie.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: Look at the RousingSpeech example above. See also WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway.

** When it's not WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome. The Shoveler's power is to shovel ''really well''. There's a scene in the movie where his wife expresses exasperation because most people don't take things like that as a reason to become a superhero.

* ComebackTomorrow: When Mr. Furious attempts to persuade the Shoveler and the Blue Rajah to follow Casanova Frankenstein with him:

*** The 'Big Three' also form a classic PowerTrio - Shoveller as Ego, Blue Rajah as Superego and Mr. Furious as Id.

* FalseReassurance: When the Blue Raja asks if the Bowler really put her father's skull in her ball, she assures him she didn't -- the guy at the pro shop did.

* CoolCar: The Herkimer Battle Jitney. The "most advanced non-lethal vehicle ever made!"

* EnforcedMethodActing: When The Bowler examines the charred, mutilated and partially inside-out corpse of Captain Amazing the actress didn't know that his arm would break off as she tried to take it's pulse.

** Not quite. She got the ball at the pro shop, but it's apparently possessed by Carmine's spirit.

* [=~Everything's Funkier With Disco~=] Casanova Frankenstein's mansion and main gang all revolve around disco.

** [[spoiler: Casanova is ultimately killed when he is thrown into his own doomsday device previously used to kill Captain Amazing]].

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Casanova is ultimately killed when he is thrown into his own doomsday device previously used to kill Captain Amazing]].