You might not believe it, but lego batman movie fits here. Lego batman embodies all the bullet points you list, but the arc of the story is him slowly realizing that he's full of shit and can only succeed if works together with others. Many great bits, at one point batman tries to break into superman's fortress of solitude to steal a plot device, only to discover all the other super heros are there, at a party that batman was not invited to. Awkward. By far the best batman movie and acknowledges the entire batman cannon (including the 60s series). The main driver is that The Joker wants Batman to admit how much he loves fighting him - that their rivalry is in fact a sort of collaboration - which batman stubbornly refuses to do, and so The Joker hatches the his most ambitious scheme yet...
@Dominic I don't know about @gozala , but I will certainly be watching the movie xD
@gozala I respect your effort. My mother dislikes superheroes too, but in her case, it's "I don't know, I just don't like them.", or "They are scary" at best. Of course my younger brother is simply ignoring her. I think that would she be asking questions you are asking now, my own life would be better now...
Please tell if you fail/succeed with this superhero task =)
There's a japanese take on the superhero narrative that's maybe a little mature for a four year old, but avoids all your bullet points, called My Hero Academia. Maybe, if he continues to be interested in the genre, this would be a good fit in a few years. Specifically:
- It takes place in a world where powers of various stripes are common & integrated into society, but the protagonist is born without them & gains his abilities by proving his willingness to help other people. Even then, the kind of power he gets is merely an effort-multiplier, so there's a strong focus on his self-development.
- He's part of a social system that focuses on creativity & teamwork in heroism. He works together with his classmates to do things none of them could do alone, and much of the drama comes from all of them wanting to do good but having honest disagreements about how to go about it. In this universe, most people don't have powers that seem naturally heroic, so they need to be creative to apply them -- and while our heroes are mostly focused on combat, it's made clear that support & rescue is held in high regard.
- The antagonists are people with legitimate criticisms of society but who have decided to destroy society or hurt innocent people as a result. The antagonists' criticisms are considered by our heroes, who try to figure out less destructive ways of addressing those problems.
(None of these ideas are absent from american comics, but they're rarely foregrounded in film or TV adaptation.)
-- my name's Richard Grayson, but all the kids at the orphanage call me Dick.
-- Well, children can be cruel...
I've started watching this with my kid and it's awesome!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/She-Ra_and_the_Princesses_of_Power
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power tells the tale of the teenager Adora's rebellion against the evil Hordak and his Horde. As the heroine She-Ra, Adora leads a group of other magical princesses in an alliance to defeat Hordak.
Is Netflix reboot of a 1985 cartoon
Came by it after seeing this tweet: https://twitter.com/SarahJamieLewis/status/1084691540998410243?s=19
I have just finished She-ra and I appreciate that modern shows are teaching children that the solution to climate change is covens of intersectional polyamorous queer witches.
I am excited as it is the first show which the is big enough to enjoy watching a full 25 mins.