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- [S]uperheroes are not an exclusively American cultural phenomenon. Japanese studio Toei Films has released scores of low-budget live action comic-book-inspired movies stretching back to the 50s. And with the current Hollywood craze for superheroes, the rest of the world looks increasingly determined to play Marvel and its rivals at their own game. (Well, they certainly can’t do much worse than DC Films, purveyor of painful 2016 comic book clunkathons Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad.)
Russia’s effort is the austerely titled Guardians (Zaschitniki in Russian), about a group of men and women from different corners of the former Soviet Union who have been subjected to a DNA-augmenting programme that gives them special powers. One of them even transforms into a giant, machine-gun-wielding bear in a moment of not-so-subtle patriotic symbolism. You just know Putin’s going to love this stuff!