History Film / Gundala

The story follows Sancaka, a security guard working at printing factory who later became the titular hero Gundala.

Sancaka has a curse: lightning always seems to find him, which made him afraid to go out in the rain. Born into a very poor family, he spent his childhood on the streets after his father was killed during a protest, causing his mother to leave to seek better employment to provide for him. When [[{{MissingMom}} she did not return]], Sancaka took it upon himself to find his own livelihood, which, in the city he was in, meant begging and taking on odd jobs as a child laborer. He was bullied quite often until he met Awang, an older [[{{StreetUrchin}} street kid]] who taught him how to fight and defend himself. After Awang left, Sancaka continued working in the city, now with his fighting skills to protect himself and Awang's last words to guide him; look out for yourself and do not get needlessly involved in other people's affairs.

* FashionModel: Mutiara Jenar, one of Pengkor's top assassins.

* KnifeNut: Two of the assassins; one of them uses kitchen knives while the other uses a scalpel.

Gundala is a 2019 [[{{UsefulNotes/Indonesia}} Indonesian]] [[{{Superhero}} superhero]] film directed by Joko Anwar (of ''Film/PengabdiSetan'' remake fame) which was made in an attempt to create a SharedUniverse filled with Indonesian-made superheroes called the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe, which was obviously inspired by the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.

* HitMeDammit: Sancaka asks Mr. Agung to jump-kick him to demonstrate his super durability. Unfortunately, the [[RealityEnsues elderly man falls before he can reach Sancaka.]]

* BetaOutfit: Sancaka's first costume, made from his jacket and things he picked up around the factory he works at. [[spoiler:By the end of the movie, he gets a new costume courtesy of Ridwan]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Pengkor is dead, but his assassins (possibly numbering in the ''thousands'') are still alive. Furthermore, an ancient evil has awoken and seeks to kill Sancaka/Gundala. But we also get a glimpse of other superheroes who are protecting the CrapsackWorld.]]

* CaptainErsatz: Already seen in the original old comics, Gundala at his core is very similar to 'what happens when a mortal has the power of ComicBook/TheMightyThor and put on a costume similar to ComicBook/TheFlash.' How his story turned out was ultimately different than the two, however.

* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodeNames: Sancaka and anyone else never called himself Gundala throughout the whole movie. [[spoiler:Double Subverted in the end, when Ki Wilawuk DOES know the name Gundala. But only he refers him as Gundala. As far as the rest of the world is aware of, Gundala is just Sancaka. Averted so far with Sri Asih, who's referred as such with her ally, but in the context of Gundala's release date, no one knows what her real name in [=BumiLangit=] verse is (Originally Nani Wijaya)]].
* CoolOldGuy: Mr. Agung, Sancaka's elderly fellow security guard and mentor. Besides Wulan, he's the one who slowly brought back Sancaka's sense of justice. [[spoiler:He unfortunately suffers the MentorOccupationalHazard thanks to Pengkor.]]

* EliteMooks: Pengkor's assassins can come off as this; although they're definitely more skilled and deadly than the street thugs, they are still normal humans who were quickly disposed by Sancaka, especially once he fully realized his powers as Gundala.

* HumbleHero: Sancaka identifies himself to Ridwan after saving the latter as "the people", not any fancy hero stuff. In an evil example, this is what Pengkor portrays himself, as one of the "people" that the legislatives had to serve. But of course, this is all his FauxAffablyEvil trait in action.
* IChooseToStay: In the last scenes we saw him as a child, Sancaka was saved by a rich couple from a mob. The couple were actually very kind, offering him a place to stay and enrolling him to a proper school. After being taught by Awang to distrust the rich and seeing another poor people being bullied (by other poor people, regardless) through the car window, Sancaka abruptly left the rich couple, who were never seen again.

* LaughingMad: Desti Nikita, the AxCrazy female student.

* ManipulativeBastard: Ghazul, who's implied to have planned or foreseen Gundala destroying the anti-serum bottles, thus also [[spoiler:breaking Ki Wilawuk's head from his [[{{SealedEvilInACan}} crystalline]] prison.]]

* MedicationTampering: The other part of Pengkor's plan. After he sends people to poison the national rice supply with a serum that [[spoiler:apparently]] will make pregnant ladies give birth to children incapable of differentiating between good and evil, [[spoiler:he also controls the medical company that creates the supposed anti-serum. The anti-serum will actually give the unborn children birth defects in addition to a lack of morals.]]

* OneManArmy: Sancaka takes down a group of bloodthirsty assassins by himself.

* TakeThat: When discussing the effects of the sociopathy serum, one of the House of Peace members asks "What ''is'' amorality anyway? Things like pornography and LGBT?" an allusion to the endless debates about those topics in Indonesia. The notion that someone's moral center can be chemically disabled prior to birth is also mildly ridiculed by some characters.

* CreatorThumbprint: Tara Basro (Wulan) has a scene with eggs whenever she works with Joko Anwar.

* DanceBattler: Swara Batin, who was performing a traditional Indonesian dance in his introduction. He doesn't actually dance when fighting, however...arguably.

* HumbleHero: Sancaka responds to Ridwan after saving the latter about his identity with "the people", not any fancy hero stuff. In an evil example, this is what Pengkor portrays himself, as the one of the "people" that the legislatives had to serve. But of course, this is all his FauxAffablyEvil trait in action.

* IChooseToStay: In the last scenes we saw him as a child, Sancaka was saved by a rich couple from a mob. The couple were actually very kind, offering him a place to stay and enrolling him to a proper school. Unfortunately, being taught by Awang to distrust the rich and seeing another poor people being bullied (by other poor people, regardless), Sancaka abruptly left the rich couple, who were never seen again.

* CoolOldGuy: Mr. Agung, Sancaka's elderly fellow security guard and mentor. Besides Wulan, he's the one who slowly brought back Sancaka's sense of justice.

Gundala is notable for being Indonesia's first big budget superhero movie based on an Indonesian comic series of the same name. Being produced by Joko Anwar, it is also notable for its biting social and political commentary, which actually serves as the core of the movie as a whole.

Gundala is a 2019 [[{{Superhero}} superhero]] film from [[{{UsefulNotes/Indonesia}} Indonesia]] which was made in an attempt to create a SharedUniverse filled with Indonesian-made superheroes called the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe, which was obviously inspired by the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.