Captain Invincible was a superhero who nigh on won
World War II single handed. After the war he was tried for numerous offenses including supporting Communism (by fighting the Nazis...), impersonating a captain and showing his underpants. He walked out of his trial and vanished.
Years later when his evil arch-enemy Mr. Midnight once again menaces the world (or at least New York) with a dastardly scheme he is discovered living in a squat in Australia. Now a disillusioned alcoholic, can Captain Invincible regain control of his long-unused and erratic superpowers in time to stop this fiend and make the world safe again?
A musical B-movie comedy starring Alan Arkin and
Christopher Lee.
This film provides examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: Of quite a number of superhero tropes.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Supporting Communism, Impersonating a military officer and Showing your underpants.
- The Alcoholic
- Mr. Midnight even gets a song
to showcase Captain Invincible's weakness for alcohol, reducing him to tears in the process.
- Better Than It Sounds
- The Cast Showoff: Christopher Lee said in his autobiography that the main reason he did the film was that he'd never previously had an opportunity to show his musical abilities on-screen. "Name Your Poison" (the song linked above) even gives him lines in German and Italian to show off his command of multiple languages.
- Cluster F-Bomb: The "Bullshit" song. Very simple lyrics.
- Cold War: Certain high ranking officials automatically blame Russia for Mr Midnight's actions.
- Deconstruction: of superheroes.
- Forgot the Call: With the help of an ungodly amount of strong liquor.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Dracula sings! (spoiler)
- Hurricane of Puns: "Name Your Poison", again. A veritable bar(rage) of cocktail puns.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: What does Captain Invincible say after surviving a snake pit, alligator pit and even a giant peach pit? "Well, that was really the pits!"
- Kick the Dog: Mister Midnight provides a wonderfully pure example, as after reducing the Captain to a helpless wretch by tempting him with a truly beautiful bar, he hands him...a can of Sterno.
- Larynx Dissonance: Christopher Lee briefly appears as a woman as part of a hallucination. His voice doesn't change.
- The Nudifier: Captain Invincible isn't as skilled with his magnetic powers anymore. Metal fasteners are a bad idea.
- Old Superhero
- Selective Magnetism
- Shoulders of Doom: Smaller than most but still undeniably part of the Captain's outfit.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The film travels along the sliding scale.
- Stuff Blowing Up: When the woman who discovered him bends over, Captain Invincible's magnetic powers inadvertently make household appliances explode.
- Underwear of Power: He's prosecuted for them.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: See Stuff Blowing Up above.
- Villain Song / The Villain Sucks Song: "Evil Midnight" manages to be both of these tropes at once.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Watching this, one has to wonder how many recovering alcoholics are covered by this trope.
- The X of Y
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