The best superhero movies you’ve never heard of

Ash Walker • 29 Jan 2026 Features

Biff! Bam! Who?

In the past two decades, superhero movies have become an indelible part of the cinematic landscape. Not a summer goes by without musclebound heroes battling nefarious villains - and probably some kind of sky laser - all while wrapped in spandex.

But in this world of Marvel and DC juggernauts, it’s easy to overlook the little guys: those lower budget, no-name superhero flicks that came and went with little fanfare. Some of them have developed a cult following over the years. Some have been rightfully forgotten about.

Here are some of our favourites - if you’re battling superhero fatigue, they might be well worth a look.

The Rocketeer (1991)

Credit: The Rocketeer (1991) Trailer #1 (Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube)

The Rocketeer - Disney’s homage to the pulp heroes of the ‘30s - was undoubtedly part of many a childhood, and yet it often gets overlooked when talking about great superhero movies.

Billy Campbell plays stunt pilot Cliff Secord, who finds a super-advanced rocket pack (designed by Howard Hughes, no less) and uses it to become a Nazi-bashing action hero. Honestly, there isn’t much more to it than that, but what The Rocketeer lacks in depth it more than makes up for in sheer entertainment.

This movie is fun. The actors - including a young Jennifer Connelly - are all clearly having a blast, and director Joe Johnston (Jumanji, Captain America: The First Avenger) manages to conjure up a tone of pure adventure.

An often forgotten joy.

Steel (1997)

Credit: Steel (1997) Official Trailer (Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube)

Who thought this was a good idea? Basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal, still trying to break into Hollywood after genie comedy Kazaam, gets a starring role as… a D-list Superman supporting character? Huh.

Shaq plays John Henry Irons, a weapons designer who builds himself a suit of battle armour and becomes the superhero Iron Man Steel. Irons had only been around for a few years at this point - since 1993’s Adventures of Superman #500 to be exact - so perhaps there was a bit of buzz around him.

Whatever the reasons, the film itself is a pretty generic origin story, but it does have a certain wonky charm to it, thanks to the big man and his supporting cast - including a pre-X-Files Annabeth Gish and Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree.

The Guyver (1991)

Credit: The Guyver Trailer in 4K (Unearthed Films Media, YouTube)

Also known, for some reason, as Mutronics in the UK, The Guyver is a dark blend of superheroics and splattery body horror.

The story - based on long-running manga Bio Booster Armor Guyver by Yoshiki Takaya - is a bit proto-Venom, following an ordinary guy who becomes bonded with a symbiotic, biomechanical alien battlesuit, and his battles with the Zoanoids, a race of evil shapeshifting monsters.

It’s mostly nonsense, but Guyver really shines in its astonishing practical creature effects. The Guyver armour itself is all slimy sinew and shifting plates, and the Zoanoids are all absolutely bursting with character.

Plus, Mark Hamill is in it, and he turns into a giant cockroach.

Mystery Men (1999)

Credit: Mystery Men Official Trailer #1 (Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube)

Superhero movies were just starting to get going in 1999 - Blade had hit big the previous year, but franchise behemoths X-Men and Spider-Man were still a few years off - but nevertheless along came Mystery Men, to roundly take the mickey out of them.

Set in the fictional Champion City, which is replete with superheroes, Mystery Men focusses not on the big guns, but the underdogs, a motley crew of z-list ‘heroes’ like the Shoveler (hits people with a spade) and Blue Raja (throws silverware).

The gang’s attempts to save the city and - more importantly - be taken seriously are hilarious, and it doesn’t hurt that the movie has a cast absolutely packed with comedic talent.

There’s Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), Janeane Garofalo (Wet Hot American Summer), Kel Mitchell (Kenan & Kel) and, of course, Ben Stiller (Dodgeball) as the mighty Mr Furious, a man who once got so angry that he lifted a car slightly off the ground.

It also gets bonus points for some excellent use of the song All Star by Smash Mouth, long before Shrek made it famous.

Hancock (2008)

Credit: Hancock (2008) Trailer #1 (Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube)

Ah Hancock, the film that asks the age-old question - what if Superman were an out-of-control drunk.

To be fair, the first half of Hancock is actually pretty good; a cynical breath of fresh air in a genre that can often be a bit too blandly moral for its own good. It’s funny too, thanks to a typically charming performance from Will Smith as the titular layabout demigod.

It’s just a shame that it all goes a bit off the rails towards the end. In an effort to explain Hancock’s powers - and give him a superpowered foe to punch - the whole thing ends up becoming weirdly boring and formulaic.

Darkman (1990)

Credit: Darkman Official Trailer #1 (Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube)

A full twelve years before he made Spider-Man, beloved horror director Sam Raimi first turned his hand to the superhero genre in this wholly original adventure, intended as an homage to pulp heroes like the Shadow, and the classic Universal monster movies of the 1930s and 40s.

Liam Neeson (Taken) stars as Peyton Westlake, a scientist disfigured and left for dead by a ruthless mobster. He survives and, using his own prototype ‘synthetic skin’ and a talent for doing impressions, becomes a shapeshifting force for vengeance in the criminal underworld.

It’s all charmingly mad and, as you might expect, shot through with Raimi’s trademark sense of madcap kineticism. It’s a blast, and proved popular enough with audiences that it spawned a couple of sequels (without Neeson or Raimi, unfortunately).

Super (2010)

Credit: Super: Official Movie Trailer (IGN, YouTube)

“Shut up, crime!”

At this point, James Gunn is no stranger to the superhero movie. With three Guardians of the Galaxy films, a Suicide Squad and a Superman under his belt - not to mention being the architect of the new DCU - he seems to have hit on a winning formula.

But his first foray into the genre was a wildly different beast. You see, before Gunn was wrangling raccoons and robots, he was more likely to be found making splattery grossout horror movies. And Super fits nicely into that camp.

Rainn Wilson (The Office) stars as Frank Darbo, a fanatically religious maniac who believes that God has chosen him to become a superhero. Armed only with a wrench and an unwavering sense of justice, Frank creates a costume and sets out to beat the living crap out of the scum ruining his city.

As you can imagine, it goes quite badly.

The Meteor Man (1993)

Credit: The Meteor Man (1993) | Official Trailer (Amazon MGM Studios, YouTube)

There’s nothing all that remarkable about The Meteor Man - it feels a lot like a special episode of a family sitcom, and has the budget to match - but it does have one history-making distinction. It’s generally considered to be the first superhero movie to star an African American in the lead role.

Comedian Robert Townsend (who also writes and directs) stars as mild-mannered schoolteacher Jefferson Reed, who is struck by a meteor and given a grab bag of extraordinary powers.

And what powers they are! There are Silver Age Superman levels of random going on here - as well as the basic stuff (flight, super strength, x-ray vision), Jefferson also develops the ability to absorb a book’s knowledge just by touching it, and a highly specific form of telekinesis that allows him to speak to dogs.

It’s a delightful touch of madness in an otherwise pretty by-the-numbers movie. Oh, and bonus points for special appearances by hip hop groups Naughty by Nature and Cypress Hill.

Chronicle (2012)

Credit: Chronicle (2012) Trailer #1 (Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube)

Back in the 2010s, with the popularity of the MCU just on the cusp of exploding, filmmakers were experimenting with new ways to tell superhero stories. A prime example is Chronicle, which mashes up comic book hero tropes with the found footage style of Cloverfield.

Your mileage with the found footage format may vary, but this one at least goes some way to explain why its protagonists keep filming, no matter how much weird stuff is thrown their way. The conceit? Three young friends stumble upon a mysterious cave that grants them the ability to fly, and they decide to chronicle (geddit?) their experiments with their newfound powers.

It’s an interesting look at what a bunch of teenagers would actually do if given godlike abilities - i.e., not become costumed heroes - ranging from pulling pranks to finding rare moments of peace to, of course, full-blown megalomania.

Plus it’s got a pair of early roles for future stars Dane DeHaan (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Michael B Jordan (Black Panther).

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Credit: The Toxic Avenger | Offical Trailer (1984) | Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Entertainment, YouTube)

It’s baffling that The Toxic Avenger - a grimy, R-rated, low-budget splatter comedy about a grotesque mutant vigilante - became so popular that it spawned an entire franchise. But it certainly did, eventually coming to encompass five films (including the recent remake), several comic books, a video game and a syndicated children’s cartoon.

There’s even a Toxic Avenger stage musical.

How did this happen? It’s hard to say, but the original Toxic Avenger, produced by legendary b-movie studio Troma, was seemingly made for cult status, mixing over-the-top violence and gore with a genuinely quite sharp and subversive sense of humour.

And, you know, it’s your classic underdog story: cringing janitor Melvin Ferd is laughed at and picked on by the denizens of the health club where he works, until one day a cruel prank backfires, mutating Melvin into a huge, muscular mutant with super strength!

Who couldn’t get behind a hero like that?

The Toxic Avenger (2023) is now showing on Sky Cinema. Check out our Sky Cinema page for all the latest deals and everything you need to know.