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Mystery Men
Mr. Furious
Roy / Mr. Furious
Played By: Ben Stiller
"I guess tonight the lone wolf hunts... alone."
A wannabe "dark and brooding" anti-hero, Roy is actually a fairly mellow and nice superhero playing up a fake hair-trigger-temper. He gains Super-Strength when he's sufficiently angry (supposedly...).
- Anti-Hero: Played with. He's not actually a misunderstood maverick who protects the citizens who fear and despise him. But he wishes he were!
- Awesome McCoolname: When Monica asks him what his name is, he initially tries to come up with a suitably cool sounding one (Phoenix Dirk, Phoenix Dark, Dirk Steel...) before finally admitting it's Roy.
- Badass Biker: He wishes; he has a bike but he himself is actually adorable.
- Badass Longcoat: More successful at the wearing a long coat part than the badass part.
- Becoming the Boast: At the end, his rage really, truly takes over.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Zigzagged. Being a (supposed) rage-fueled savage berserker Anti-Hero, he doesn't seem all that nice to start with, but beneath that façade, he's really a big softie, enough that it hampers his power from working properly most of the time. But on the rare occasion he truly gets angry, woe betide the source of his rage.
- Berserk Button: He tries to convince his enemies that he has a lot of these so he can work in his gimmick as much as possible. In his introductory scene, he claims to be incensed by a bad guy who is chewing with his mouth open. Threatening his love interest is a real one, though.
- The Berserker: Flip-flopped. Ordinarily he's just bellowing and swatting at people. But give him enough motivation, then the genuine rage comes.
- Cassandra Truth: He has this pet theory about Captain Amazing's true identity, but all his friends think it's ludicrous.
- Cool Bike: Subverted. It's more like The Alleged Bike.Mr. Furious: It's a Harley.Monica: [mildly impressed] A Harley!Mr. Furious: —compatible. Harley compatible. Basically the same engineering.
- Chuunibyou: He constantly goes on about his rage and how strong it makes him, but lacks pretty much any combat skills or Super-Strength whatsoever. Overall, he comes off less as the angsty Anti-Hero he claims to be and more as a dork who made up an edgy-sounding superpower to make himself seem cooler. Even when it turns out his power is real (he just very rarely gets angry enough to activate it), that does little to detract from his dorky tendencies.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Tends to pick fights he can't win and gets smacked down. He turns it around on Casanova once his Unstoppable Rage is genuinely set off.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the angsty Anti-Hero a la Wolverine, as well as heroes fueled by Unstoppable Rage, such as the Hulk. He sure tries to project an air of being an angsty badass, but in truth, he's neither particularly angsty nor particularly badass. And while his power to gain Super-Strength from his rage is genuine, he actually lacks the Hair-Trigger Temper required to abuse it effectively.
- The Ditz: His banter is terrible.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Cops mock him. Even his stalwart partners act more like the Cloudcuckoolander's Minder.
- Establishing Character Moment: His introductory scene has him let loose a Skyward Scream and leap off the bar at two Red Eyes, missing them altogether and landing face-down on the floor.
- Groin Attack: Self-inflicted when he's trying to kickstart his motorcycle."Testicles... rising."
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Although usually it's just a snit fit. The fact he doesn't actually have this is why his superpower never activates until he gets genuinely enraged at the climax.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: His costume basically consists of a leather jacket and fingerless gloves.
- Hulking Out: What he believes his power is. Turns out to be true, it just takes him being genuinely angry to activate.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He tries hard to be an edgy and dark jerk, but he's too nice to pull it off.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Once sufficiently motivated, he becomes capable of taking on the Big Bad in single combat.
- Metaphorgotten: Constantly.Mr. Furious: I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines.
- Paper Tiger: A powerful superhero with great strength born of rage... theoretically. In practice, more of a Boisterous Weakling who is somehow even less effective than his teammates, and that's really saying something. He's really not as perpetually angry as he claims to be, either. Even when it turns out his powers are completely real, he remains in this trope since he's too much of a Nice Guy to use them effectively... most of the time.
- The Power of Hate: His entire gimmick is that he gets Super-Strength when he's angry and plays it like he's on the cusp of a Berserker-rage, but its clear that a lot of his Tranquil Fury and Skyward Screaming is all just theatrics. When Casanova Frankenstein manages to get him to be genuinely furious, it is surprisingly effective.
- Raging Stiffie: When the Furriers get hit with the clothing shrinking ray, Roy comments that his pants feel like they're shrinking too.
- Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: In an attempt to get Mr. Furious over his existential crisis, his teammates remind him of a time he lifted a bus. Though it turns out he actually just pushed the bus...while the driver's foot was on the accelerator...The fact his power is actually real means this might be Double Subverted and just him trying to talk down about himself due to his mental state at the time.
- Skyward Scream: He tends to bellow his rage to announce himself to bad guys.
- Super-Strength: His apparent 'superpower' is enough strength to lift a bus! Turns out he's strong enough to throw a grown man over his shoulder - with his pinky, if sufficiently angry.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Despite his alleged Super-Strength, he tends to not be of much use in a fight except as a punching bag for the bad guys. This changes when his rage really takes over and he proves himself a martial equal to Casanova Frankenstain.
- Unstoppable Rage: Supposedly, he is a "time bomb of fury" and that unleashes his Super-Strength. It just requires genuine rage rather than just pretending to be mad.
The Shoveler
Eddie / The Shoveler
Played By: William H. Macy
"We have a blind date with destiny... and it looks like she's ordered the lobster."
A family man gifted with incredible skills with a shovel, he wants to put his abilities to good use to help the down-trodden. He doesn't have any superpowers, but he shovels well, he shovels very well!
- Adaptation Name Change: His name was Stan in the comics. In the movie, it's Eddie.
- Adapted Out: Not him but his shovel. In the comics, The Shoveler's shovel was a magical Arthurian artifact that spoke to him in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe. In the film, this element is absent.
- Badass Normal: No powers besides his proficiency with a shovel, but he keeps up with the rest of the team (not that that says a lot). Though he also manages to be one of the better fighters of the group when it comes to hand to hand combat.
- Boring, but Practical: His original, home-made crime-fighting outfit isn't really a costume at all - just protection. Denim, leather, knee pads, padded vest, and hard hat. Also a shovel, while somewhat unwieldy, is at least somewhat practical as a weapon unlike, for example, thrown forks.
- The Comically Serious: No matter how bizarre things become, the Shoveler is stoic and serious.
- As observed in the Funny sub-page, he makes not eating a sandwich Serious Business.
- The one time he actually makes a quip, it's pretty black humor:The Shoveler: [driving an armored car toward a steel gate at 70 mph] What do ya think? Should we knock, or... just let ourselves in?
- Emergency Weapon: He carries a gardening trowel for this purpose.
- Happily Married:
- Well, he's happy. She's had just about enough of this idiotic 'super hero' business. This crisis in their marriage is one of the subplots. "Lot of other men I coulda married, Eddie. Still are." She is eventually proud of him when she sees on TV that he helped save the city.
- When the Furriers's clothes start shrinking and showing off a lot of skin, he looks away.
- The Hero: Not in the sense of 'the protagonist', but in his motivation. Unlike the rest of the crew, he's not in this for the praise - or to settle a grudge - or to pump up his own self-image. He's in it because somebody must Save the Day.The Shoveler: We fight crime. Call it what you will.
- Improbable Weapon User: Shovels!
- The Leader: The Mystery Men are basically democratic, but when a situation actually calls for a leader, Eddie is usually the one to step forward.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: In addition to the big one that all seven get later on, he has one of these when bidding his wife goodbye.
- Only Sane Man: At least, by the team's standards of sanity, he is the most focused.
- Shovel Strike: Not particularly effective at the beginning, but he gets better at shovel-based combat. Particularly after Sphinx convinces him that he has more than just a shovel.
- Surpassed the Teacher: After the team learns the true danger of Casanova's plans, they turn to the Sphinx for guidance, who gives the pragmatic if reasonable advice that they should flee the city in hopes of regrouping for a counterattack later. The Shoveler shoots him down and reminds those assembled of the grim reality that at best, Casanova will just destroy their home and kill everyone in it, at worst the fully-operational Psycho-frakulator will make him an unassailable menace to the whole world. He nonetheless rallies his fellow heroes for one, valiant charge in hopes of stopping the supervillain in such a way that he even gets their joint mentor to agree.
- Team Dad: As the oldest of the core team and a family man in his civilian identity, he displays a fatherly affection towards the younger members of the team.
- Weapons of Their Trade: Eddy is a sewer excavator who moonlights as "The Shoveler", a D-list superhero who wields, well, guess. He also carries a trowel as an Emergency Weapon.Eddy: God gave me a gift. I shovel well. I shovel very well.
Blue Raja
Jeffrey / Blue Raja
Played By: Hank Azaria
"Well, I'd love to stay and chit-chat, Mother, but I fear I must away with me - our metropolis is in the clutches of madmen!"
A Fake Brit with an elaborately crafted backstory and theme dealing with a skeptical mother. He's a master of silverware, throwing forks with incredible precision and force, but never using knives.
- Accidental Misnaming: He mistakenly calls The Bowler "Evelyn" and her father "Sal."
- Ambiguously Gay: Not only is his mother discovering his superhero identity played like a coming-out story, when the two Wonder Woman-esque women start catfighting, all of the other men are staring with interest and he just sort of looks vaguely annoyed and confused. Upping the ambiguous ante, he seems to have some chemistry with the Bowler, who explicitly tells her father that he's not a "fruit" (or a commie).
- Basement-Dweller: He still lives with his mother, and even though he has a steady job, he states early in the movie that he has to steal his mother's silverware because he doesn't have any disposable income.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He could do a lot more with his talent, but he gets a lot of mileage out of forks and spoons.
- Color Character: Parodied, since he's referring to a period of British imperialist history, not his costume. Eventually he caves to peer pressure and switches to a partially blue costume.
- Crippling Overspecialization: He can probably throw anything with amazing accuracy, but he's picky. His theme involves forks, spoons... in an emergency, maybe a pie server. But not knives.Blue Raja: I'm 'The Blue Raja'. I'm not 'Stab Man'. I'm not 'Knifey-Boy'.
- Doesn't Like Guns: He's been crystal clear about not using guns.
- Fake Brit: Literally, In-Universe. He pretends to be English in public, but is really American in front of his mum.
- Flechette Storm: His primary means of attack is throwing forks.
- Hurricane of Puns: He'll substitute the word 'fork' or 'spoon' wherever he can.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: He's the traditional 'unerring marksman' kind of hero, and actually does have incredible accuracy with any sort of throwing weapon. Notably, it makes him the only one of the original three Mystery Men with a genuine reliable superpower, his theatrics just hindered him.
- Improbable Weapon User: He throws forks and spoons, but never knives.
- Insistent Terminology: Yes, he knows there's not much blue in the costume! But he's the Blue Rajah - it makes sense if you know your history!
- Lighter and Softer: In comparison to his comic book counterpart, a POW who learned to weaponize the cutlery provided to him during his incarceration. Here, he's just a
Fake Brit cutlery enthusiast who lives with his mom and holds down a day job at a Bridal Supply shop. - Mistaken for Gay: The Bowler has to inform her dad that she's sure The Blue Rajah is neither a Commie nor a fruit.Bowler: His ignorance embarrasses me.
- The Smart Guy: He's widely read and cultured. Not much on common sense, though.
The Bowler
Carol / The Bowler
Played By: Janeane Garofalo
"Here comes Daddy!"
The daughter of Carmine the Bowler, a bowling-themed superhero killed by Tony P. Sarcastic and quick-witted, she joined the team to get revenge and free herself from her father's overbearing ghost. She has super bowling skills, aided by a flying ball containing the skull (and undead spirit) of her dead father.
- Action Girl: Against her will, she is a superhero. She doesn't want to fight crime, she wants to go to graduate school. But she's snapped eagerly up by the team because she is confident, has a useful super-power, and can pronounce the word "cadre" correctly. There's also the fact her bowling ball is possessed by her father who wants revenge for his death.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, the bowler was middle-aged and extremely frumpy. In the movie, she's freaking Janeane Garofalo.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: In the comics, The Bowler was called that because she spent most of her non-superheroing time bowling, and got her powers via a super suit won from her third husband in a divorce settlement.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: The first Bowler was her father.
- Ambiguously Gay: She's butch-looking, doesn't show any interest in men and looks on and makes a joke when the Furries' clothes shrink.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's arguably the most powerful member of the team, and would likely be far more efficient if she didn't come off as so... spacey sometimes. (Her father does talk to her, but the others find it very hard to realize that at first, and she presents an attitude that seems sort of crazy.)
- Companion Cube: Her bowling ball talks to her (and only her).
- Deadpan Snarker: She particularly likes to correct the imbecilities of her fellow heroes.
- Empathic Weapon: Her ball is possessed by the spirit of her dead father, and while she usually gives it a throw to start him off, Carmine is capable of flying and picking up speed on his own. He can also communicate to her psychically, although she has to speak to him out loud.
- Improbable Weapon User: In a double sense: a bowling ball is an improbable weapon, but this particular bowling ball is especially improbable.
- It's Personal: She doesn't mind doing good, but it's really not why she's on the team.
- Legacy Character: Her father, Carmine the Bowler, was a sort of Blue Rajah type in his day. He's currently possessing her bowling ball.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: She identifies herself to Tony P. at their first meeting. The 'You Killed My Father' and 'Prepare to Die' are implied.
- Reluctant Hero: She's haunted by her father, and she won't be left in peace until she avenges him. (If then.)
- The Smurfette Principle: She is the only girl on the team because she's the only one, of either gender, who passed the tryouts.
- Spock Speak: Her speech is very erudite and precise, generally avoiding contractions.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: When faced with Tony P, she admits that she's not a killer. Unfortunately for Tony P, her father is.
- Weaponized Ball: Uses a bowling ball possessed by the spirit of her father (the original Bowler) as a weapon.
- You Killed My Father: She actually uses the line when addressing Tony P.
- Younger and Hipper: In the comics she's a middle-aged divorcee. Here she's a grad student.
The Spleen
The Spleen
Played By: Paul Reubens
"If you wanna know what my power is, pull my finger!"
A gross but pleasant weirdo desperately looking for a team that'll put up with him and his powers. As a teenager he cut one and blamed it on an old gypsy woman, who proceeded to curse him to always be the one "who dealt it".
- Abhorrent Admirer: He's immediately attracted to the Bowler. Not mutual.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: In the comics, The Spleen was able to emit various substances of varying toxicity from his body. Here, it's just farts.
- Adaptational Ugliness: He wasn't exactly a looker in the comics, but the warts, atrocious haircut and Rummage Sale Reject attire are all inventions of the film.
- Beware the Silly Ones: His superpower is quite silly sounding, but is probably the team's most consistently useful superpower.
- Cursed with Awesome: As a parody of this trope, he is cursed with superpowered farts. He's pretty proud of it, not angsty.
- Fartillery: Pinpoint accuracy (as long as he corrects for the wind) and potent enough to be a One-Hit KO. It's also supernatural in nature, the result of a gypsy putting a curse on him.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He loves being a super-hero, but he has a real problem getting people to team up with him!
- Gasshole: Farting as a super-power.
- Gypsy Curse: The source of his power: he blamed an old gypsy woman for letting one rip, and she cursed him to always be the one "who dealt it". All in all, she did him a favor really.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Voluntary farting is probably near the bottom of all desirable or useful-sounding powers. However, see Fartillery above.
- Kick the Dog: Displays his powers to Invisible Boy by farting in the direction of innocent civilians, knocking them out.
- Odd Friendship: With Invisible Boy, who's enough of a fanboy to overlook his shortcomings.
- Parasol of Pain: Parodied when he's facing off against the Disco Boys outside the bar. The rest of the group ready their weapons and he ineffectually brandishes a cocktail umbrella.
- Rummage Sale Reject: He wears some truly appalling outfits.
- Speech Impediment: Has a lateral lisp when he speaks.
- Suddenly Shouting: Sometimes he'll just yell!
- Umbrella Drink: He's seen drinking one when the team is celebrating at the bar.
Invisible Boy
Invisible Boy
Played By: Kel Mitchell
"All my life, I've been ignored by people. And finally, after years of being overlooked, I found I had the power to disappear."
A dorky teenager who wants to be a superhero so people will stop ignoring him. He has the power to become invisible... as long as no one is looking at him.
- Ascended Fanboy: The original trio seek him out for his many contacts with superhero wannabes, and he ends up on the team.
- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest member of the team, and he receives the least respect. Having a power, in this case, is of no help.
- Canon Foreigner: He's the only member of the team who has no comic book counterpart. In fact, he was made up as a joke by a drunken Bob Burden. The filmmakers loved the idea, and added him to the script.
- Gag Penis: Implied when he losses his clothes. To wit, "two hands there, son."
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: His power is to be invisible when no one is watching. That's a mighty big restriction, but he's actually incredibly useful when it comes to getting past automated defenses.
- Invisible Streaker: Turns out that when Invisible Boy becomes invisible, he also becomes insubstantial, causing his clothes to fall off.The Bowler: Maybe you should put some shorts on or something if you want to keep fighting evil today.
- Invisibility with Drawbacks: Invisible Boy's power only works if no one is looking at him.
- Naïve Newcomer: The wide-eyed junior team member - Katsushiro to the Sphinx's Kambei.
- Odd Friendship: With the Spleen, who's pretty desperate for anybody to look up to him.
- Parental Neglect: Played for Laughs, his parents are just as prone to ignoring him as everybody else.Invisible Boy: Hey dad I'm going to my room with three strange men.Invisible Boy's father doesn't even look up from his newspaper
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: That's how he ended up as the team's junior member.Invisible Boy: Haven't you guys ever been a kid?... Haven't you ever had a dream?
The Sphinx
The Sphinx
Played By: Wes Studi
"When you care for what is outside, what is inside cares for you."
Very little is known about this cryptic hero. He's very big down south. He's terribly mysterious. (Also he can cut guns in half with his mind.)
- Cool Mask: The least goofy-looking to begin with, and helps the others improve their own costumes.
- Enlightenment Superpower: As a terribly mysterious mystic he can cut guns in half with his mind.
- Ice-Cream Koan: Much of his dialogue is simple word play that often doesn't make sense, as Mr. Furious points out.
- Inexplicably Awesome: Not much is known about him or his powers, besides his being terribly mysterious.
- The Mentor: Under his tutelage, they go from hopeless incompetents to semi-incompetent.
- King Incognito: In a Deleted Scene, the gang attempt to contact him by going to a Mexican restaurant where it's said that one can summon the Sphinx by ordering specific items off the menu. After several failed attempts, they leave in frustration only for the Sphinx to appear out of costume shortly therafter as the bus boy who cleans up their table.
- Mind over Matter: He can cut guns in half with his mind.
- Shrouded in Myth: Even after he joins the team, much about him remains a mystery.
- Superhero Packing Heat: Uses some of Heller's weapons in the finale.
Villains
Casanova Frankenstein
Casanova Frankenstein
Played By: Geoffrey Rush
"When the clock strikes twelve... cuckoo, cuckoo... you will be dead. And my city will be given a new state of mind."
A Worthy Opponent of Captain Amazing's from the Glory Days. He is released from the insane asylum on Captain Amazing's personal recommendation.
- Ax-Crazy: He's completely insane and indulges in mass murder purely for the fun of it. It's noted that this is why he was able to create his Doomsday Device: it drove everyone else insane who tried to figure out how to make it, and Casanova was already insane.
- Bad Boss: He lampshades it via a "The Reason You Suck" Speech when he activates his staircase's lethal security system while several of his mooks are in its path.Casanova: It's so easy to get the best of people when they care about each other. Which is why evil will always have the edge. You good guys are always so bound by the rules. You see, I kill my own men.
- Big Bad: His release from the asylum drives the plot because he wants to kill everyone in the city.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He loves to do evil.
- Chewing the Scenery: He revels in it! Watch him passionately talk about disco, gloat over killing minions and wave around that deadly pinkie finger.
- Cool Car: He prefers to be chauffeured about in his converted Corvette limo.
- Cultured Badass: At first his cultured air makes him seem like a purely cerebral villain. In the climax, Mr. Furious discovers that Casanova was also Captain Amazing's match in a direct physical confrontation.
- The Evil Genius: He's apparently capable of building super-weapons in a matter of days, forming an alliance between the various mobs of the city, and outguessing Captain Amazing at every turn.
- Evil Plan: The heroes don't really learn what his plan is beyond pyscho-fraculating Champion City just because he can. He is insane, after all.
- Femme Fatalons: His fake(?) nails are his weapons of choice and surprisingly effective.
- For the Evulz: At one point he blows up the asylum where he was incarcerated, killing a lot of people. Not out of a dislike of the place, but because he wanted to talk to Captain Amazing.
- He Knows Too Much: Destroying the asylum had the added benefit of silencing the insane scientists inside of it who taught him the theorem behind the Psycho-frackulator, ensuring that they couldn't be used to stop him.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Once he has a hostage, he seems to go into creeper mode automatically.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He's toying with Mr. Furious - at first. Even more impressive given that most of his weaponized fingernails were lost to the heroes' magnet weapon, leaving him with only a pinky nail and his fists to fight with.
- Villain Has a Point: When Captain Amazing arrives to apprehend him and claims he’s doing so for the sake of justice, Frankenstein is the one who correctly points out his real motive.Casanova Frankenstein: I thought it was all about publicity and keeping your sponsors happy.
- Wicked Cultured: Subverted as often as it's played straight. Fond of antique furnishings, Gaudi's style of architecture, Good Old Fashioned Fisticuffs; on the other hand, also fond of disco and 'a fine, elegant Harvey Wallbanger'.
- On separate occasions, he supplies Captain Amazing with the plural of "nemesis" when asked, and when Mr. Furious declares that he's a "Panthera's Box" that is not to be opened, corrects him that the reference he wants is Pandora.
Tony P
Tony P
Played By: Suzy Eddie Izzard
The leader of the Disco Boys, and a minor super-villain in his own right.
- Aerosol Flamethrower: Uses a can of hairspay like this against The Bowler.Tony P: You can't hurt me, Baby Bowler. 'Cause I'm protected. By the God of Haircare.
- Berserk Button: "DISCO IS NOT DEAD! DISCO IS LIFE!"
- The Dragon: He acts as Casanova's primary minion and closest ally. In fact, he appears to have been the caretaker of his mansion during Casanova's stay in the asylum.
- Gratuitous Disco Sequence: Because everything's funkier with disco, this spontaneously happen around him.
- Improbable Hairstyle: He sports a pompador for the ages.
- Karmic Death: His own murder victim does him in with assistance from the daughter that Tony P mocked at very opportunity.
- Kick the Dog: He casually mocks the daughter of the superhero he brutally murdered so, yes, he is definitely a mean person in addition to a villain.
- Vanity License Plate: His car's license plate his his name on it.
- You Killed My Father: Killed Bowler's father and proud of it.Tony P: I'm the one who gave your daddy the shaft.
Tony C
Tony C
Played by: Pras Michel
The second-in-command of the Disco Boys.
- Afro Ass Kicker: It's a mighty 'fro tying in to the Disco Boys' theme. And... of course... he knows kung fu.
- Improbable Weapon User: He prefers to use a gun. In the climax, after being deprived of his Saturday night special, he takes on the Shoveler with a heavy curtain rod.
- Jive Turkey: His dialogue consists entirely of phrases such as "dig this, shovel man!"
The Disco Boys
The Disco Boys
"Disco forever!"
A gang of thugs who have been lying low for years, for fear of Captain Amazing.
- Dance Battler: They incorporate disco dance moves into their hand-to-hand combat.
- Gang of Hats: Obviously, they adhere to a disco theme but their weapons do not fit. For this they are mocked by the Mystery Men.The Shoveler: Who are you, the disco plumber?"
- Mook: Casanova's gang from the old days.
- Not Worth Killing: The villainous version - the Boys beat Mr. Furious, the Blue Raja and the Shoveler for sneaking onto Casanova's property, but don't kill them.
- Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: Averted. They fully intend to shoot the heroes. When their guns are out of action, they simply gang up on the heroes.
Frat Boys
Frat Boys
Played By: Michael Bay
"Can we bring the brewskies?"
One of the old gangs invited to Casanova's big crime meeting.
- Gang of Hats: They're all members of the local "Phi Zeta" fraternity.
- Jerk Jock: The theme of their gang.Casanova: Still on probation for lethal hazing...
The Susies
The Not-So-Goodie-Mob
The Not-So-Goodie-Mob
Played by: The Goodie Mob
Gangsta gangsters.
- Adam Westing: The Goodie Mob are essentially playing themselves as a Gang of Hats.
- Battle Rapping: Two of them throw down in this fashion after being hit with the Blame Thrower.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: A real rap group appears in a cameo, playing... a rap group.
The Suits
The Suits
Downsizing all who oppose them!
- Cigar Chomper: They habitually smoke large cigars. One of them is even called "Big Tobacco."
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: The theme of their gang is greedy company scumbag.
The Furriers
The Furriers
Yet another of the old gangs driven underground by Captain Amazing.
- Fur and Loathing: The theme of their gang is wearing fur.
- Handbag of Hurt: Their primary means of attack is with handbags for the theme.
- Ms. Fanservice: They favor Stripperific attire.
The Red Eyes
The Red Eyes
A small-time gang of hoods who pick on easy targets like nursing homes. Back in the day, Captain Amazing had far more important things to worry about than them. But times are lean.
- Jabba Table Manners: The way the Leader eats the cake in the old folks' home is to grab a handful and stuff it in his mouth.
- Mook: Real small-timers, but still too much for the original three heroes.
Other Characters
Captain Amazing
Lance Hunt/Captain Amazing
Played by: Greg Kinnear
The superhero of Champion City. No villain can withstand him! ...Which turns out to be a problem.
- The Ace: He's rich, handsome, the envy of all the other super-heroes! Unstoppable in combat and very well-off thanks to his corporate sponsorships.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Captain Amazing, who has the best reputation of all heroes, actively bargains to be the villain's assistant upon capture.
- Asshole Victim: Played with. Captain Amazing is an awful person who brought his own demise upon himself at every turn, but the main characters don't know that - and so he dies with his heroic reputation intact.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: You get a villain loose, you can't complain when he gets the drop on you.
- Body Horror: His death scene shows him getting psycho-fraculated. It is gruesome. He looks like a rotten freeze-dried corpse.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The director describes him as "intelligently stupid." Really good in his niche, but with many blind spots.
- Captain Superhero: He's not really a captain but he is amazing at thwarting villains *teeth gleam*.
- The Cape: His public image is that of a brave and noble super hero. He may have been that way back in the day, but now he's more worried about corporate sponsorships than being a hero.
- Clark Kenting: Only Mr. Furious sees through the obvious take-off-the-glasses thing.Mr Furious Are we sure Lance Hunt and Captain Amazing aren't the same person?The Shoveller (as the rest of the gang groan and roll their eyes) Oh not this AGAIN! Lance Hunt wears glasses, Captain Amazing doesn't!Mr Furious But what if he took his glasses off?The Shoveller Then he wouldn't be able to see, would he?
- Corporate-Sponsored Superhero: His uniform is plastered in logos for various companies. His recent slump just cost him the Pepsi franchise.
- Didn't Think This Through: Because he'd taken down all of his villains, lethally or otherwise, there was no more trouble for him to stop. A more deadly example occurs when he tries to solve that problem by letting a mad scientist with the knowledge and ability to defeat him loose.
- Dirty Coward: As shown by his Ain't Too Proud to Beg moment above, he'll act high and mighty so long as he thinks he'll win, but the moment he's at a villain's mercy he'll start begging for his life.
- The Ditz: Punching is his thing; witty banter, not so much.
- Engineered Heroics: He vouches for Casanova to be released so he can have "extra-ordinary" battles with him again to protect the city and be praised by it.
- Establishing Character Moment: Captain Amazing makes his first appearance stopping the Red-Eyes Gang's attack on the nursing home, beating them effortlessly while Mr. Furious, the Shoveler, and Blue Raja couldn't do anything meaningful to stop them. He gives shallow and half-hearted praise to the latter two wannabe heroes when they go to greet him, with only Mr. Furious realizing the insincerity in his words. He then rudely shoves aside a boy asking him to autograph his cap, pushes a man in a wheelchair out of the way without concern for the man’s safety, and gleefully answers the press's questions while showing concern when he hears that he's lost his Pepsi endorsement. All of this tells us that while he may have the might of a hero, he doesn't have the heart of one, and at his core he's really an egotistical man who only cares for fame and his sponsorships while having no respect for people individually.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Captain Amazing is a genuinely powerful superhero with an impressive arsenal of technology. But he's such a Glory Hound that he actually conspires to release a dangerous supervillain out into the streets just so he can fight him and get praised by the public once again. Naturally, this backfires when said supervillain manages to outwit and capture him, and it leads to the circumstances that would cause his self-inflicted Karmic Death.
- Fatal Flaw: His desire to preserve his fame and sponsorship leads Captain Amazing to vouch for a dangerous supervillain's release from the asylum, his arrogance and ego lead him to severely underestimate said supervillain's cunning and get him captured instead, and his obnoxiousness causes him to yell at the heroes and call them stupid when they're unable to understand his confusing instructions, leading to his self-inflicted Karmic Death.
- Flying Brick: He's introduced by beating a gang of D-list villains to a pulp, and later he flies to Casanova Frankenstein's lair.
- Hate Sink: He is the superhero of Champion City but unlike the genuinely heroic Mystery Men, however, Amazing is only in it for the fame and the money and has no respect for his fans or other superheroes. Amazing crosses the line when, in an attempt to keep his sponsors from pulling their endorsements due to his fights being boring without supervillains, he tricks the insane asylum staff in releasing his nemesis Casanova Frankenstein, counting on Casanova to wreak havoc. After Casanova blows up the asylum, Amazing arrives to apprehend him (showing no concern for all the inmates, guards, and asylum staff who are all dead because of him), but is captured by Casanova instead, and fails to convince Casanova to release him despite promising to help with the evil plan. Considering he spends his final moments yelling at and insulting the Mystery Men, you will probably cheer at his accidental death by psycho-fraculation.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Had Casanova Frankenstein released just so he can have a more high-profile villain to battle. This lead to his getting captured by Casanova and subsequently getting psycho-fraculated to death due to his inability to give coherent directions.
- Hypocrite: When Casanova Frankenstein correctly points out that he's only being a hero for the sake of good publicity and sponsorships, Captain Amazing states that kind of cynicism is poisonous to society. This rings hollow considering that Captain Amazing isn't a paragon of idealism and is quite toxic to society himself.
- It's All About Me: He wants to be Champion City's hero not because it's the right thing to do with his powers, but because it'll keep him rich and popular.
- Jerkass: He is mean, rude, selfish and generally unpleasant outside of his hero persona.
- Lack of Empathy: Captain Amazing really doesn't care much about the lives he could potentially put in danger by releasing Casanova in the first place (in fact, he disregards the lives of the Asylum's inmates, guards, and staff when Casanova blew up it up). He also doesn't bother to remember any fans he met personally.
- Large Ham: He's a little dramatic in private, but much more so when he's in front of a camera.
- Poor Communication Kills: Self-inflicted, with a little assistance from our heroes, about the proper way to turn off a doomsday death trap.
- Secret Identity Apathy: Unusually, it's on the hero's side in this case. He doesn't care if Casanova knows who he is, as long as he sticks to his bad guy routine and gives him a reason to be heroic.
- Smug Super: He's extremely self-absorbed and confident in his abilities.
- Underestimating Badassery: Captain Amazing, upon vouching for Casanova Frankenstein's release from the asylum, assumes he'll be easy to apprehend due to believing his confrontation will work the same way as their previous battles did. Casanova exploits this casual attitude by tricking him into grabbing what he thinks is evidence of his crimes, allowing him to knock out the Fake Ultimate Hero and capture him effortlessly.Casanova Frankenstein: Oh Lancey... you really are so predictable.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Played with. The plot of the movie kicks off when he gets Casanova Frankenstein freed from prison just so he can have a high-profile battle with him. While he certainly knew Casanova never reformed and would start causing trouble, he seriously underestimates his Arch-Enemy's cunning and gets himself captured for his trouble, leaving the Mystery Men to save the day.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: His sponsorships are dying because he doesn't have any good villains to fight (because he's gotten them all locked up).
- Wrong Genre Savvy: A superhero needs a supervillain, yes... but as he learns, the supervillain doesn't need the superhero alive.
Dr. A. Heller
Dr. A. Heller
Played By: Tom Waits
Dr. Heller - weapons designer, innovator, inventor, world-changer. You can also rent chickens from him.
- Accidental Misnaming: He calls the Shoveler "Shovelhead" and mistakes the Spleen for Blue Rajah, calling him "Fork Man."
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's quite a mechanical genius. But insane.The Bowler: See, this is why a mad scientist is not generally preferable to an ordinary, run-of-the-mill scientist.
- Deliberately Non-Lethal Attack: Docter Heller specializes in weaponry that is entirely non-lethal, but at the same time highly effective. Such weapons include the Shrinker (which incapacitates the targets by shrinking their clothes) and the Tornado in a Can.
- Doesn't Like Guns: He specializes in non-lethal weaponry.
- Gadgeteer Genius: His inventions are pretty goofy and Silver Age-style.
- Likes Older Women: He's first seen schmoozing the women at a retirement home. "I'm just here for the ladies." And he's no spring chicken himself.
- Mad Scientist: Why does he live in an abandoned amusement park? Because he's a mad scientist!
- Mr. Fixit: Fixes up the Herkimer in almost no time.
- My Card: Hands The Shoveler his business card near the beginning of the film. It says "Doctor A. Heller - weapons designer. Creator, inventor, world-changer".
- Mysterious Middle Initial: It's never stated what the A stands for.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: According to his card, he specializes in Aromatherapy, Laser Hair Removal, Carnival Rides, and Chicken Rentals.Bowler: Who would want to rent a chicken?
- The Smart Guy: In spite of his nuttiness, he's very good with the technical details.
- Technical Pacifist: He feels there are quite enough lethal weapons.
Monica
Monica
Played by: Claire Forlani
A new waitress at the diner where the guys hang out. Mr. Furious is immediately attracted. She's not.
- Damsel in Distress: In the third act she is kidnapped on Casanova's orders as "insurance" against the Mystery Men.
- Deadpan Snarker: Yes, even the waitress.Monica: I don't find you intimidating. (Beat) At all.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She doesn't actually warm to Mr. Furious until he cuts the bull. This is a considerable challenge for a man who is 90% bull.
- Morality Pet: She softens Mr. Furious and convinces him to rejoin his team.
Sally
Sally
Played by: Gayle Vance
An old woman who runs a junkyard at the edge of Champion City. She employs Roy (Mr. Furious) although she doesn't think much of him.
- Catchphrase: "Junk it!"
- Mean Boss: Constantly makes unrealistic demands of her employee, shouts at him constantly, ignores his reasonable arguments, and mocks him when he gets upset with her.
- No Indoor Voice: Most of her dialogue is shouted.
Lucille
Lucille
Played by: Jenifer Lewis
Eddie/The Shoveller's much maligned wife whose tired of his seemingly dead-end ambition to be a super hero.
- Happily Married: Downplayed. The trouble in their marriage are a running subplot but it's not because they don't love each other, it's because she thinks he's wasting his time on the superhero hobby and doesn't like to see him constantly disappointed. In the end of the movie despite promising to leave him if he goes out on another mission she is shown waiting for him at home, proud of him for helping to save the city, likely because she realize he's serious about the imminent danger.
