It’s hard to imagine a year without any superhero films coming out. Even 2020, with all of its issues affecting the film industry, saw two movies within the genre come out: Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984, which saw an unprecedented release in both theaters and on HBO Max. The overabundance of movies featuring superpowered individuals constantly saving the world has become something of a source for parody. However, The Simpsons was making fun of the entire superhero genre well before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a thought in Kevin Feige’s head.
The Simpsons, which ironically now belongs to the same company as Marvel, took a shot at the process of adapting a movie from a famous comic book hero all the way back in 1995 in the season 7 episode, “Radioactive Man.” The story, written by Simpsons veteran John Swartzwelder and directed by Susie Dietter, finds Milhouse cast as Fallout Boy in a movie based on the titular superhero. While the main thrust of the episode comes from Bart’s jealousy at his friend being cast in the movie instead of him, there are plenty of gags about creating a movie about a famous superhero (and just filmmaking in general) that still ring true today.
The story begins with what might actually date the episode the most, which is that only Comic Book Guy seems to be aware that a Radioactive Man movie is being made. He quickly hops on an internet message board to find out who will be starring in the movie, which transitions to a room full of producers talking about the movie, and whether they should cast the actor from the original Radioactive Man television show (an idea that is quickly shot down because the actor is 73-years-old and dead). The director of the movie also states that he wants to stay as far away from the “campy ’70s version” as possible. This moment proved to be fairly prescient, as superhero movies began moving into more “gritty” and grounded territory, abandoning the sort of campiness that defined earlier films like Richard Donner’s Superman and even Tim Burton’s Batman (the original gritty reboot).
While Rainier Wolfcastle (one of the biggest movie stars in the Simpsons universe) is cast in the lead role, the production decides to hire an unknown to play Fallout Boy. This is not entirely dissimilar from the casting of Spider-Man for the MCU. Tom Holland had appeared in some movies before Captain America: Civil War, but was not widely known in the United States. After stepping into the blue and red tights, his star took off. However, even in his first solo outing, he was sharing a lot of the story’s load with Robert Downey Jr. Since then, Holland has had plenty of other opportunities to show off his acting chops.
The movie is clearly supposed to be something of an origin story for Fallout Boy, as Milhouse and Wolfcastle are shooting the scene where the former gets his own radioactive powers. The acting in the scene is incredibly stilted, which is only amplified by the corny dialogue. However, is this really that far off from how origin stories are treated in superhero movies? With so many reboots of established screen superheroes, audiences have not only gotten used to seeing the same origin stories over and over, they have actually memorized them to the point that they are no longer necessary. Turning again to the MCU Spider-Man, he didn’t even get a proper origin story, because by now most people are familiar with the radioactive spider, Uncle Ben dying, promise to fight crime procedure that the last two Spider-Men went through.
The Simpsons episode also touches on the risks that need to be taken when filming something as ambitious as a superhero movie. While there are always stunt people working diligently on Marvel and DC films in order to keep the actors safe, there is always the risk of injury, especially when performing some of the more intense action scenes. Now, have any of these movies ever thrown a giant wall of real sulfuric acid at their actors? No, but the idea is the same. To make these movies as memorable and as action-packed as they are, there have to be some big swings taken during the production. At the end of the day, what ends up on screen is that much better thanks to the hard work of people who are putting themselves at risk to make the action more believable.
Finally, there is a solid joke about trying to finish a movie in the editing room. After Milhouse disappears from the set, the editor of the movie shows the director and producer what they can do with the existing footage. The result is a mess of continuity, jumping from one location to another and stitching together random lines of dialogue to try and create a coherent scene. Though it is an incredibly exaggerated moment, it’s a reminder that in cases like Justice League, where a new director has to come in and join new material with existing footage, audiences can end up with something of a mess on the screen.
The Simpsons has predicted a lot of events in its more than 30 years on the air, and “Radioactive Man” really just proves that the show knew what was up before anyone else did. On top of being incredibly funny, the episode stands the test of time in showing how difficult a production can be, especially when taking a superhero from the page to the screen.
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