@Max Onoda was crazy. I remember the documentary about the guy. He has 2 others with him when they first took to the jungle. One went home the other eventually died. The guy that left Onoda latter kept looking for him, buy Onoda believed he was a traitor because he complained too much while they were hiding.

Secret Superhero Films

The Sixth Sense – The name was said several times in the episode, but I am pretty sure it wasn’t listed as a secret super hero movie. A kid has the ability to see dead people and the story is how he comes to use it. A great origin story.

Fetching Cody – A Jay Baruchel movie about a guy that gets a hold of a time traveling chair and uses it to save his girlfriends life. Also they are druggies.

Flubber – A scientist invents a hyper-kinetic material and uses the new power to.. do a bunch of non-sense stuff….

Sherlock Holmes – The Robert Downy Jr. films feel like a superhero film to me with the modern film direction and such, but the older the version the more secret Holmes’ power of super intellect is portrayed.

Speaking of time travel. There are several Dramadies and life stories out in the last few years.

Kate and Leopold -(mentioned by Hex) Ignore the whole context of love forming across time (and generations). This is really a story about a modern scientist that jumps though a time portal (pocket rift thingy) and brings back the Duke of York. Can he be returned to his proper time before the space time continuum is ripped to shreds?

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Its not so much a superhero movie so much as, if you have an ability you can’t control, your life is a bit fucked.

About Time – Everything “The Time Traveler’s Wife” was supposed to be (IMHO). All the men in the protagonist’s family have the ability to travel back in time to any point in their lives. Just stand in a dark room, close your eyes, and clench your hands real tight. A great story that invokes all those feels for a Father and Son.

@Cap The crazy time movie you were talking about was the Tom Hanks film “Cloud Atlas”. I only saw a little of it, but it was supposedly a love story that kept happening as a couple were reincarnated. They appeared in the 1800’s, 1970’s, cyberpunk future, and post apocalyptic earths. No idea for the story other than it jumped around a lot in the 15 minutes that I saw.

The problem with this concept of the secret superhero movie is that what makes it a superhero movie is so hard to define. If it’s just having the main character doing things that no one else can do then theoretically any movie with a science fiction or supernatural element could be argued as one, from Click to Limitless. I think what’s needed is that it also has the element of using whatever makes the main character special not just to improve their own lives or seek revenge, but to make the world around them better as a whole. “With great power…” and all that. More concretely this has to be something the main character realizes well before the third act, with whatever deed they do to cause said improvement being the climax and not part of the resolution with the actual climax being trying to fix some problem caused by the misuse of said power either by themselves or another party.

That said, in writing this I think I’ve come up with at least one more movie that fits the bill: Matilda. A smart-kid-mean-adults revenge story, yes, but one where Matilda’s “superpower” doesn’t come into play until she’s set herself up to take down the biggest bully around and make the school a better place. Matilda never considers using her powers for selfish reasons, and in the original book she had even lost them in the end once things were better and she received the mental stimulation she’d been lacking.

I pretty much think that any Voodoo film is always based on one story or another. But as for strange based films really phycho, chainsaw massacre, and silence of the lambs got their cue from the killer Ed Gein. this of course isnt related to the second micro-sode topic but i like to mention it. But hell jodie foster was a super hero in that movie. As was Denzel in that funky time movie that i cant remember.

Oh and it was hypothosised that the Lion mentioned above have jaws that were nat fully formed as to consume normal game and that human skin was soft enough for it.
Also check out the story of Brotherhood of the Wolf, same as the Lions but a wolf.

Yes, @Seven those Snyder definitions do a perfect job expressing what I was trying to say. If I had had more than a passing knowledge of the man’s work I probably would have brought him up myself. I think distinguishing between those two genres is an important point to make when trying to identify these secret superhero movies.

So using Snyder’s rules, where does “The Invention of Lying” fall?
The nemesis is not derived from the protagonist’s ability, although there clearly is one, and the protagonist does make a “wish” so to speak for things to be different, but there is very little “things were better off before” lessons learned.

Admittedly, there are aspects of both models in this film, and depending on your interpretation it could be Superhero, Out of the Bottle or both. I am leaning towards the “both” scenario. Which leads me to my next point.

Is a “Secret Superhero” film defined by the same set of rules that a normal Superhero film is defined by?
IF so then I think that there is nothing special about the film itself other than it is missing a label.
A film like this would have the same feel and be presented in a similar action based format as any other super hero labeled film.

What I am purposing is not that the two Snyder models are not correct, but to use the definitions given to create a third rule.

A Secret Superhero movie consists of elements of both Superhero and Out of the Bottle genres in such a way that key elements from both models are present, but not clearly defined. The audience is left to believe that the film is predominately an Out of the Bottle film or some other genre (Drama, suspense, comedy, family etc) and the superhero aspects are either not answered or revealed at the end of the film.

I will try to break down some of the films that are suggested as Secret Superhero movies so far.

Unbreakable – Portrayed as a suspense movie. Samuel’s character’s perspective could be seen as and Out of the Bottle wish where the rule apply to how the hero is found. Superhero elements are revealed at the climax of the film.

Invention of Lying – Neither Superhero nor OotB are defined, but the protagonist’s ability is granted as the result of a “wish” situation and life lessons are learned. Superhero elements are shown as he must overcome the antagonist to win the heart of the love interest.

Matilda – Powers derived in a wish scenario with clear rules for their use. Antagonist is self made and directly opposes the hero’s goal and objectives. Because this is a kids film, there is no point where Matilda’s ‘responsibilities’ are addressed or a lesson learned on how life is better without telekinesis.

About Time – Powers were derived from genetics not need or circumstance, but came with clear boundaries and rules. Responsibility is addressed, but not just as a consequence of the ability, but as a clear limitation. No clear nemesis other than the general life and death. There is a clear drive/goal for the hero in this case, and a lesson learned similar to an OotB film.

Thoughts?

Edit: Suggested films. (I’ve not had much time to think on these enough, but they keep popping in my head)
Ghost Town – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995039/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
Kiki’s Delivery Service – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097814/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Ponyo – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
Howl’s Moving Castle – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347149/?ref_=tt_rec_tt