Denzel Washington’s favourite superhero movie of all time: “I love that movie!”
It may seem that just about everybody’s been subsumed into DC or Marvel’s insatiable universe maw, with longtime Hollywood veteran Denzel Washington having avoided the exhausting superhero amusement ride that’s dominated cinema for nearly 20 years in earnest.
Until now, that is. With director Ryan Coogler confirming Washington’s casting in the upcoming and yet to be titled Black Panther 3 sequel, the silver screen veteran looks set to join just about everyone else in making an easy buck in the comic fad that’s sunk its teeth into the film industry since well before the Universe saga, the earliest glints of superheroes clobberin’ the box office for eternity by 2000’s X-Men, a perfectly respectable film that was a genuinely new and exciting presence in the blockbuster world. Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Batman would all enjoy decent adaptations across the decade that still tower over later reimagings.
So what about Washington’s favourite superhero? It turns out, he was something of a comic book connoisseur. Speaking on an Ask Me Anything Reddit when promoting 2014’s The Equalizer, Washington was presented with the age-old question. “That’s a tough one,” he confessed. “You know, I hate to take a look out the window and think I could jump out like Superman, like Clark [Kent]… hmmm, I always dug Thor in the comic books. Somewhere between Superman and Thor.”
Somewhere between Superman and Thor? Marvel’s Beta Ray Bill wields a giant hammer and is also an alien hailing from the planet Korbin…
It’s likely that Washington, however, simply couldn’t decide between his two favourites, torn between the sheer iconic weight of Superman and Thor’s gargantuan Mjölnir attack.
Solid picks, if the former is a little empty. DC’s Superman has nothing on his Caped Crusader counterpart, Batman, born from the crime pulp tradition and imbued with an infinitely more psychological make-up, further expanded in later interpretations.
Upon further considering his favourite superheroes, Washington tosses aside the comic heritage and goes straight for the Pixar canon, plucking one of the CGI animation house’s most beloved features. “But you know who I really dug?” he asked. “When I was on vacation a few years back, and I sat, and I said I’m going to watch The Incredibles. Man, that is one of my favourite movies of all time now!” Not stopping there, Washington types further excitement, “Did you ever see INCREDIBLES? I love that movie!”
Dropped in 2004 amid their purple patch, Pixar’s The Incredibles continued a glowing critical and commercial streak that barely wobbled since the first Toy Story nine years previously. Depicting the Parr family’s commitment to the quiet suburban life after former heroics as superheroes, writer and director Brad Bird managed to squeeze in a smart narrative dimension, poking fun at the white collar lives that strangulate so many Americans, wavering on the cusp of midlife crisis.
Not the first choice for most likely, but certainly a sharp subversion of the superhero genre that was already starting to look stale way back in the mid-2000s.
