The Return of Captain Invincible rewatched – pioneering superhero film

In recent years Hollywood has delivered so many superhero movies in such fast succession that a marketable point of difference from standard undies-on-the-outside pics has become something highly sought after.

Thus left-of-centre superhero stories such as Ant-Man, Kick-Ass and the upcoming Deadpool. Also a batch including The Incredibles, Watchmen and Hancock that have challenged traditional definitions of caped crusader heroism, presenting protagonists as flawed individuals: retired, over the hill or even drug-addicted.

“There are no words” is a reasonable response to director Philippe Mora’s off-the-wall 1983 action comedy The Return of Captain Invincible, which was postmodern, self-aware and hard on its superpowered hero way before it was cool.

The best scene in Watchmen is its opening credits, depicting news reportage of fallen superheroes and roles they played during pivotal moments in history. Mora used a similar technique at the start of Captain Invincible, pipping Watchmen director Zack Snyder (whose film was released in 2009) to the post by more than a quarter of the century.

Captain Invincible begins with black and white news reel footage revealing “the hero of our day” busting up a group of bootleggers and then fighting Nazis. Invincible (Alan Arkin) teases German pilots midair, lying on top of their planes smoking cigars and reading the paper.

His fall from grace arrives during the same montage: we watch courtroom footage of the hero, accused of “fighting Stalin’s battles for him”. He is unfairly disgraced (The Dark Knight, anyone?) and, charged with offences such as wearing underwear in public, flees to Sydney where he retires from public life (The Incredibles) and becomes a pathetic drunk (Hancock).

With the hero out of the equation, the bad guy is free to hatch a nefarious scheme. Enter the cretinously cartoonish Mr Midnight (Christopher Lee) who steals a government super weapon called the “hypno-ray”, which causes victims to collapse with laughter (like the Joker’s “Smilex” in the 1989 Batman movie).

Captain Invincible is dragged out of retirement by policewoman Patty (Kate Fitzpatrick) who discovers the beleaguered speech-slurred schlep has much work to do to return to anything vaguely resembling his former self.

In one fascinatingly odd postmodern scene Invincible attempts to learn how to fly again, hoisted in the air via pull ropes and chains and positioned in front of a large screen projecting midair backgrounds. An industrial-sized fan shoots wind at him and the setting feels a lot like a sound stage.

In messing with the internal realities of a superhero story and playing with the character’s status as a superpowered celebrity, The Return of Captain Invincible goes further than the aforementioned contemporary offerings. Oh, and it’s also a musical.

The songs were written by The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Richard O’Brien, the first arriving out of nowhere 20 minutes in. The US president repeats the word “bullshit” over and over while people around him – including Graham Kennedy – start dancing.

One track feels as forward-thinking as the film’s handling of its protagonist. Captain Invincible reflects on how the world has changed, the definitions blurring between right and wrong, and friend and foe.

“The line is so fine between heaven and hell,” he croons, years before the “war on terror” inspired countless movies and TV shows to contemplate the moral complexities of borderless wars. “Not even a hero can tell.”

The film’s real life story is not so inspiring. A dispute between Mora and producer Andrew Gaty delayed its release for a year, the director alleging his vision had been tampered with in post-production to make the film more palatable for overseas audiences. This resulted in a legal battle that sought to assert the film’s eligibility to claim a 150% tax concession for investors (known as the 10BA).

Poor old Captain Invincible struggled to fly in more than one sense: the film sunk like a stone at the box office and never received any real acknowledgement of its place in the pantheon of inventive superhero stories. It’s well time to give this rambunctiously entertaining curio its dues.