Dark Superhero Movies:
Joker has had 11 Oscar nominations as of yet. The R-Rated movie has proved that if the movie is good, people will watch it and it will be received with widespread acclaim no matter how mature the content is. Like us, we are sure you too liked Joker. And if you do, these movies will also need to be on your watch list.
1. Hancock
We start off the list with a very well-known movie that almost everybody knows about. Hancock tells the story of Hancock, a destitute homeless guy who is also an infamous superhero. Hancock is what you get if society stops worshipping superheroes because they do too much collateral damage. Hancock is the bane of society because of his antics. He tries to do something good but ends up doing the exact opposite. Hancock is a dark superhero movie with tinges of comedy. It explores the machinations of fate and how it can screw up even the most powerful person’s destiny permanently. Hancock’s story is one of how a man may be strong enough to deflect bullets but not strong enough to do what really makes him happy.
2. Spawn
While it may not make heads turn, the Spawn I based on some extremely mature and particularly dark content and premise. Al Simmons is a CIA operative that handles and is the star agent of the Wet Works division. When he is double-crossed by his own boss and sent to hell, he makes a deal with the King of the Underworld and returns back as a Hell-spawn. He is given fantastic powers in return for his eternal servitude to Hell, which is soon about to wage a war against Haven resulting in the End of Days aka Apocalypse. The Spawn not only has very mature and graphic tones but explores several dark themes. It’s characters, especially the Demon Clown Violator, are complex and very, very gross.
3. The Crow
One of the finest works in the superhero genre, the Crow should have featured much higher on this list if not for better entries that managed to grab a higher spot. If this list was made in the 1990’s or 2000’s, there would have been no way The Crow would have not been featured in the second or first spot. The Crow tells the story of Eric Draven. After a gang breaks into his house, rapes and kills his girlfriend right before his eyes and then kill him, a mysterious entity called the Crow allows him to come back to life with superhuman abilities to exact revenge. The Crow is basically the adventure of a resurrected man in a world that has gone too far and cannot be saved. It is every Dark Movie lover’s wet dream come true.
4. Blade
The first Blade movie that came out in 1998 is not for the faint-hearted. It has some of the bloodiest scenes in movie history. Blade states the story of Blade – a Vampire that was born with the ability to resist sunlight and is trained in combat. He uses his abilities to hunt other vampires as the Day Walker. Blade (1998) has many scenes to make you cringe in horror. Blood and bones fly every time Blade unsheathe his sword. The Blood God La Magra’s fight with Blade is also noteworthy and very infamous. But the one scene that makes Blade worth a watch for people who like movies like the Joker is the one where Blade tortures a morbidly obese vampire called Pearl for some much-needed information. The scene is extremely graphic and could even make you puke if you look too hard.
5. Defendor
Defendor, like Joker, also features a mentally unstable lead protagonist who tries to save the day in his own twisted sense. And the amazing coincidence is that the protagonists’ first name in the movie is also Arthur. Arthur Poppington is a lowlife construction worker. In the night, he turns into a vigilante called Defendor. He prowls the streets looking for an unknown enemy called Captain industry. Like Arthur fleck, Arthur Poppington does not know why life is so unfair to him and he vents it out on people he thinks are henchmen of Captain Industry, an imaginary antagonist that he dreamt up to keep himself busy. Arthur meets Katerina (played by Kat Dennings), and together they start to make a mark in the locality that draws the attention of the native crime lord.
6. Wanted
There are several themes that Dark movies explore. One of them is betrayal. What do you get when you take an average guy, doing an average job, and living an average life, and then give him all that he ever craved for – a family, friends, a girlfriend, a purpose, and then suddenly take it all away in a flash? That is basically the story of Wanted. Superhuman assassins that can perceive time at a much slower rate are hired to be members of an international team of assassins that kill ‘bad guys’ called the Fraternity. A deep conspiracy is uncovered that reveals that every person within the Fraternity, who used a mystical loom to deduce their next “unworthy” targets, has also been deemed unworthy and technically should be killed. This is a story of a broken man’s attempt to change the game for the better or worse.
7. Dredd
Dredd, fair warning, is totally not for people who hate blood and violence because that is basically what the movie glorifies. The one and a half hour movie are basically Dredd, played by Karl Urban, kick butt and find out new and innovative ways to kill people. After Sylvester Stallone destroyed the sanctity of the superhero with he hastily made Judge Dredd, Karl Urban’s Dredd changed the game by ensuring the audience knew that Dredd is a guy who will do anything, go through anyone and break into any place to get what he wants. Dredd is basically an unstoppable force that leaves behind a trail of broken limbs and cut open bodies.
8. Chronicle
Why isn’t everyone given superpowers? Why do only a chosen few get it? What happens when you give a bunch of random teenagers, superpowers?? Chronicle is not your typical superhero origin story. In fact, it may not even be an origin story. Chronicle was just a fictional re-telling of a group of teenagers that are exposed to unknown alien radiation and given amazing abilities that allow them to control things with their minds. Chronicle, true to its name, chronicles the events that lead to things spiraling out of control. The strongest of the lot decides to use his powers for his own selfishness and a lot of people get hurt in the process.
9. Punisher: War Zone
Punisher: War Zone is the third movie in the Punisher trilogy. But it is also the most violent of the lot. The first two Punisher movies had substance but they lacked the firepower. The Punisher: War Zone movie forgoes plot and credibility and delivers extensively on the ‘oomph’ factor that has always been a trademark of Frank Castle’s adventures. Not that what War Zone did was a good thing, but it did gain the most cult following of the trio so we have to give it credit where it is due. One scene in particular that will make your stomach churn is when the villain called Jig-Saw is pushed into a glass shredder machine by Frank Castle. Jig-Saw’s face is mutilated after his face is literally minced out of his skull by the glass shards.
10. V for Vendetta
To make a guy wear a Guy-Fawkes mask and brandish him as a revolutionary/superhero is already a pretty scary thing to do. But for V for Vendetta, that is the list of their worries. It is a movie set in Post-Apocalyptic Britain (well, that is our best guess) after a political party came to power by illegally spreading a virus that drove the entire British Population into mass hysteria and when they gave the people the (already-prepared) antidote and made themselves look like the savior of the nation. V for Vendetta tells the story of V and his journey to make the public see the ugly truth of the country’s very foundations. It is a story of revolution, human nature, and change. It is a story that resonates well with that of Joker who also wanted the people to rise up and challenge the ones sitting at the top.
