# Superhero Movie
**Superhero Movie** is a 2008 American parody film that spoofs the superhero film genre, principally [Sam Raimi](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-raimi)'s *Spider-Man*, following an orphaned high school student, Rick Riker, who is bitten by a genetically altered dragonfly, gains superpowers (not including flight), and becomes the costumed crime fighter [Dragonfly](https://www.edgepedia.org/dragonfly).[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/) It was written and directed by [Craig Mazin](https://www.edgepedia.org/craig-mazin) and produced by Mazin, David Zucker, and Robert K. Weiss, with Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Leslie Nielsen, and Christopher McDonald heading the cast.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65586-SUPERHERO-MOVIE?cxt=filmography) Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in March 2008, it earned $71.5 million worldwide against generally unfavorable reviews.[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/superhero-movie/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | March 27, 2008 (EMEA, APAC); US opening March 28, 2008, in 2,960 theaters[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/) |
| Director/writer | Craig Mazin; producers Robert K. Weiss, David Zucker, and Craig Mazin[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65586-SUPERHERO-MOVIE?cxt=filmography) |
| Lead cast | Drake Bell (Rick Riker/Dragonfly), Sara Paxton (Jill Johnson), Leslie Nielsen (Uncle Albert), Christopher McDonald (Lou Landers/Hourglass)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65586-SUPERHERO-MOVIE?cxt=filmography) |
| Box office | $9,510,297 opening weekend; $25,881,068 domestic; $71,571,300 worldwide[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/) |
| Critical scores | Metascore 33 from 14 reviews; 17% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 48 reviews[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/superhero-movie/) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159618-superhero) |
| Rating and genre | PG-13; action, comedy, sci-fi[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and parody targets
Rick Riker ([Drake Bell](https://www.edgepedia.org/drake-bell)) is a gangly high school student who lives with his aunt and uncle and has a crush on his next-door neighbor, Jill Johnson ([Sara Paxton](https://www.edgepedia.org/sara-paxton)). After a bite from a genetically altered insect gives him superhuman abilities, he dons an uncomfortably tight costume and becomes the mysterious crime fighter Dragonfly. His opponent is the villainous [Hourglass](https://www.edgepedia.org/hourglass) (Christopher McDonald), who is dying of a rare disease and invents a machine that lets him continue to live as long as he kills people, planning to become immortal by sucking the life force out of anyone in his way.[5](https://www.screendaily.com/superhero-movie/4038031.article) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159618-superhero) • [6](https://www.superherohype.com/features/95733-new-superhero-movie-pic-and-zucker-talks)
Producer [David Zucker](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-zucker) described the film's targets before release: "It's predominantly 'Spider-Man,' but we satirize 'Batman Begins,' 'X-Men,' 'Fantastic Four,' 'Superman,' everything." He added that, unlike the *Scary Movie* films, this one had "more of a unified plot, like the 'Naked Guns' had."[6](https://www.superherohype.com/features/95733-new-superhero-movie-pic-and-zucker-talks) The mapping is direct: Spidey becomes Dragonfly, and Nielsen plays Rick's uncle in the [Uncle Ben](https://www.edgepedia.org/uncle-ben) role, while [Regina Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/regina-hall) and Tracy Morgan spoof Halle Berry's Storm and Patrick Stewart's Professor Xavier from *X-Men*.[6](https://www.superherohype.com/features/95733-new-superhero-movie-pic-and-zucker-talks) Reviewers noted the film also borrows a pinch of Batman's parents' deaths as extra motivation for the hero.[5](https://www.screendaily.com/superhero-movie/4038031.article)
The supporting cast includes [Kevin Hart](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-hart), Marion Ross, Ryan Hansen, Keith David, Brent Spiner, Robert Joy as Dr. Hawking, [Jeffrey Tambor](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeffrey-tambor), Robert Hays, Nicole Sullivan, Pamela Anderson as the invisible girl, and [Simon Rex](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-rex) as the Human Torch.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65586-SUPERHERO-MOVIE?cxt=filmography) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/superhero-movie/)
## Production
Craig Mazin had previously directed the 2000 independent superhero spoof *The Specials* and written *Scary Movie 3* and *Scary Movie 4* before taking on the film.[5](https://www.screendaily.com/superhero-movie/4038031.article) • [7](https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/go-into-the-story-interview-craig-mazin-abbcfb7c9d58/) In a later interview, Mazin said he took the job after [Harvey Weinstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/harvey-weinstein) pressed him into it, and that working with Zucker, Pat Proft, and [Jim Abrahams](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-abrahams) let him learn spoof and parody from the people who invented it. He also described the constraints: after the Weinsteins left Disney, the budget for *Superhero Movie* was less than half of what the *Scary Movie* films had received, and "it showed." He called the experience "a really unhappy experience" while allowing that some sequences in the film are terrific.[7](https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/go-into-the-story-interview-craig-mazin-abbcfb7c9d58/)
Reported running times differ across sources: 85 minutes in several reviews, 86 minutes in the AFI Catalog, 1 hour 15 minutes on [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo), and 82 minutes on streaming listings.[8](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/superhero-movie/) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65586-SUPERHERO-MOVIE?cxt=filmography) • [1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/) • [9](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/superhero-movie) Screen's review observed that the film needed an extended crawl of closing-credit out-takes to even crack the 80-minute mark.[5](https://www.screendaily.com/superhero-movie/4038031.article)
## Reception
**Critics.** The film scored 33 on Metacritic, labeled "Generally Unfavorable," based on 14 critic reviews, while its user score stood at 6.5, "Generally Favorable," from 125 ratings.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/superhero-movie/) Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 17% Tomatometer from 48 reviews and a 33% Popcornmeter from more than 100,000 audience ratings, with the critics consensus reading: "Superhero Movie is not the worst of the spoof genre, but relies on tired gags and lame pop culture references all the same."[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159618-superhero)
Individual reviews varied in degree rather than direction. Variety's Dennis Harvey allowed that the film "provides a fairly steady stream of midsized laughs" and that even the roughly 40% of gags that fail are not actively painful.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426592/criticreviews/) The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin gave it a 58, the highest Metacritic score listed. At the other end, TV Guide's Ken Fox scored it 0, calling it an abysmal *Spider-Man* satire closer to *Epic Movie* and *Date Movie* than to Zucker and Nielsen's *Naked Gun* series.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426592/criticreviews/) A.O. Scott of The New York Times described "this harmless, mindless grab bag of slightly used gags" as lampooning comic-book epic conventions while adding the staples of juvenile humor: urine, vomit, and intestinal gas.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426592/criticreviews/) The Guardian's Philip French called it "a pathetic parody of Spider-Man and other superhero pictures," singling out a flatulence joke and gags involving Stephen Hawking.[11](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jun/08/actionandadventure.comedy) One performance drew near-uniform praise: Miles Fisher's impression of Tom Cruise in a sit-down interview parody, which the Chicago Reader called "hair-raising" and Screen said "nails the vocal intonations."[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426592/criticreviews/) • [5](https://www.screendaily.com/superhero-movie/4038031.article)
**Box office.** The film did not screen in advance for critics and opened third for the weekend with an estimated $9.4 million at just over 2,960 venues, despite playing at 300 more theaters than *21*. Screen noted the total was well off the pace of fellow spoofs *Meet the Spartans* and *Epic Movie*, which each grossed more than double that en route to final domestic tallies in the high $30 millions.[5](https://www.screendaily.com/superhero-movie/4038031.article) Final figures were $25,881,068 domestic (36.2% of the total) and $45,690,232 international, for $71,571,300 worldwide.[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/)
## Context in 2008
The film arrived at a hinge point for the genre: it opened in late March 2008, about a month before *Iron Man* reached theaters on May 2, 2008, and launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe era of superhero films.[12](https://www.space.com/marvel-movies-in-order) Later commentary has often treated it as a relative bright spot of the mid-2000s spoof wave, precisely because it sticks to one or two targets instead of scattering random pop-culture references; one retrospective line of criticism holds that its near-exact replication of *Spider-Man*'s plotline reads as willful laziness, while defenders argue the cohesion makes it more enjoyable than the films of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.[8](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/superhero-movie/) Common Sense Media's guide rates it appropriate for ages 15 and up, citing crude sexual humor, repeated toilet jokes, violent slapstick, and language.[13](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/superhero-movie)
## References
1. [Superhero Movie (2008), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0426592/credits/)
2. [Superhero Movie (2008), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/65586-SUPERHERO-MOVIE?cxt=filmography)
3. [Superhero Movie Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/superhero-movie/)
4. [Superhero Movie, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1159618-superhero)
5. [Superhero Movie, Screen (Brent Simon, March 31, 2008)](https://www.screendaily.com/superhero-movie/4038031.article)
6. [New Superhero Movie Pic and Zucker Talks, SuperHeroHype (February 7, 2008)](https://www.superherohype.com/features/95733-new-superhero-movie-pic-and-zucker-talks)
7. [Go Into The Story Interview: Craig Mazin](https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/go-into-the-story-interview-craig-mazin-abbcfb7c9d58/)
8. [Review: Superhero Movie, Slant Magazine (Rob Humanick)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/superhero-movie/)
9. [Superhero Movie streaming: where to watch online?, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/superhero-movie)
10. [Superhero Movie (2008) Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426592/criticreviews/)
11. [Superhero Movie, The Guardian/Observer (Philip French, June 8, 2008)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jun/08/actionandadventure.comedy)
12. [Marvel movies in order: chronological & release order, Space.com](https://www.space.com/marvel-movies-in-order)
13. [Superhero Movie, Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/superhero-movie)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Superhero and comic-franchise film entries › Comic films of the 2000s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license