Behind The Cape – The Punisher and The Wild World of Batwoman

Behind The Cape is an on-going feature that chronicles the more obscure, older and forgotten, or failed superhero films, and how they shaped or defined the genre we know now. It’s a niche topic, but one that needs covering. It’ll certainly yield some insight as to previous mistakes, and how the superhero movie formula has been moulded to a more exact science since. There’s enough writing on the internet about Iron Man and pals. Yet Daredevil, The Punisher, and Spawn are somewhat forgotten milestones. They certainly weren’t successes in the traditional sense, but them and ilk show how the formula tightened and what ultimately went wrong. The original Superman series lives in that camp too, considering it arguably started it all. On that note, the first film on the agenda…

The Punisher (2004)

The Punisher was a dark horse of a film, one that was horribly received among both audiences and critics. One major complaint seemed to be that it was dark, gritty and rather glum, that it didn’t show this colourful and vibrant world of Marvel comics. But that was the idea, wasn’t it? Somehow, that was lost in translation from screen to audience. The Punisher may be a superhero film, but he certainly isn’t a ‘hero’ in the traditional sense. He’s violent, uses standard firearms as weaponry, and has no reserves against killing frequently. He does the job heroes like Spider-Man are far too justified for, because he can. He doesn’t need a high horse, colourful spandex, or garish powers, because that isn’t him. More directly, the point is that Jonathan Hensleigh’s adaptation of the character was a valid interpretation, and defensible in its accuracy. 

One major thing to take away from The Punisher is that, it showed primarily what viewers wanted to see in the realm of superhero flicks. Of course you could argue that it was a mediocre film, but it could definitely be implied it was rejected because it wasn’t what audiences wanted, or the awful reviews led them to believe that. Especially considering The Punisher didn’t sell well in theatres, but it did recoup a lot of expected profit in domestic sales. The darker, moodier direction may have been a hit among niche circles, but it wasn’t a film that dad could take the whole family to see. It’s not surprising from this point Marvel heads towards the more family friendly superheroes such as Iron Man and Hulk. This leaves The Punisher, Daredevil and other such mature material on the shelf.

The Punisher may be unspectacular to most, but it serves as a huge indicator of where the genre headed after its release. Marvel played it safe, and headed towards the family market. Meanwhile DC was still trying to shrug off the inherent campiness of the last 30 years from its major characters. Ironically as soon as Marvel switched gears, DC released Batman Begins in 2005, a much grittier and edgier progression of an iconic character. There isn’t necessarily any correlation, but it’s certainly quite amusing. On that note, time to introduce my second film this week on Behind The Cape.

The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)

Now, this is a film I can’t defend. The Wild World of Batwoman (Also known as She Was a Hippy Vampire) is an unbelievable joke of a film. ‘Batwoman’ is seemingly just a woman in a leotard, and her ‘batgirls’ are just relatively attractive teenagers with guns. It also exists in that realm of evil scientists, instead of actual super villains. Then again, its not actually even vaguely related to DC comics. The film came about when atrociously bad b-movie director Jerry Warren decided he wanted to cash in on the Batman mythos for a cheap buck. It was taken to court under copyright infringement, but surprisingly Jerry Warren won the case.

So if The Wild World of Batwoman is an abominable film not even sanctioned by DC, why would it be worth a mention? Since the success of landmark titles like Batman (1966) and Superman: The Movie (1978) film-makers have clamoured to recreate that sheer iconography and financial success. Of course, replications almost always fail because you not only need iconic and well-written material to base the screenplay on, you also need a very keen directorial eye that can bring that vision to life. The Wild World of Batwoman is a perfect example of how this almost never works, but also how little was understood about the genre in its infancy. It’s still recommended viewing, for sheer hilarity and awful entertainment value. Conveniently it can be found on YouTube in an episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, as seen below.

Well that’s it for this week on Behind The Cape. Each week I’ll continue delving into two superhero films that perhaps deserve a little more attention than they get, in scope as to what they mean inside the genre. Until next time.

Sam Thorne