It’s no secret that superheroes are all the rage in Hollywood right now, especially at Disney, which owns the mighty Marvel roster of characters as well as certain Fox assets like Kingsman, Alita and even Captain Underpants. The Mouse House has also produced their own homegrown cape and tights epics like Pixar’s two Incredibles films, but have they been producing more stealth entries in the superhero genre all along?
We say yes, and this week Walt Disney Pictures is providing Exhibit A to our assertion with the enchanting fantasy Encanto (read our review). The new animated film follows a Colombian family called the Madrigals who, after a terrible tragedy, were gifted a magical candle that grants powers to each of the newborn children over three generations. That is, it grants powers to all except our lead protagonist Mirabel Madrigal (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz), who stands by and watches her fellow family members flex their super strength (her sister Luisa), healing powers (her mother Julieta), weather control (her aunt Pepa), psychic ability (her uncle Bruno), communication with animals (little cousin Antonio), enhanced hearing (cousin Dolores), or the ability to grow beautiful flowers with a hand gesture (her sister Isabela).
Encanto deftly tracks Mirabel’s journey of self-discovery as she tries to keep her family together when cracks in the magic begin to occur. While the film has been described since its production announcement in 2016 as having elements of “magical realism,” comic book fans would not be faulted for finding correlations to superheroes like Storm, Professor X, Animal Man, Daredevil or even Poison Ivy. We even got to ask the movie’s co-writer/co-director Charise Castro Smith about the parallels between Encanto and other superhero properties.
“It's funny, people have been making that comparison,” Smith told IGN exclusively. “From the inside it doesn't feel that way. From the inside it feels very much like a story about a family a lot like mine. A family with a lot of internal pressures and a lot of love. People who can do extraordinary things, people who have secrets. So yes, the characters in this movie do have superpowers, which is a really cool, interesting element, but I think what I gravitate towards the most is just the relatable family dynamics and sibling relationships. My own relationship with my grandparents, both of them, was a big element that I tried to bring into this story. So sure, yeah, Luisa is totally a superhero!”
Luisa’s super ability to literally carry around a church or village bridge may seem like feats for Superman, but she and the other Madrigals are not alone in the annals of Disney history for seeming to possess superhero traits. Here are 10 other films from the studio that would totally fit the bill of being superhero movies…
Dumbo (1941)
The tagline of 1978’s Superman was “You’ll believe a man can fly.” But what about an elephant? Granted, if you apply the definition of a superhero as any being with extraordinary abilities then just about every animal who ever walked on four legs and spoke in a Disney movie would fall under that category. Yet the character of orphaned Dumbo is exceptional even within the world of the film, as his ability to use his gigantic ears to fly distinguishes him from other circus elephants. He doesn’t use this ability to fight crime but to get a Hollywood contract, which is well-deserved and probably what a modern flying elephant would do too.
Peter Pan (1953)
Another character with the ability to fly is the famed “boy who never grew up,” Peter Pan. J. M. Barrie’s character from the 1904 play Peter and Wendy checks all the boxes for superhero-dom: Sustained flight? Check. Colorful tights? Check. Immortality? Check. Kid sidekick? Heck, he’s got his own gang of Lost Boys. Fights bad guys with strange disfigurements? Yes, Captain Hook definitely qualifies. Cool vehicle? Dude’s got his own flying ship! If you need a comic-book corollary, you can look no further than Sprite from Marvel Studios’ recent Eternals, who in the comics is intended to have actually been Barrie’s inspiration for Peter Pan after Sprite showed off to him one night in 1901.
Mary Poppins (1964)
Like Peter Pan, the title magical nanny played so memorably by Julie Andrews also has the ability to fly, but additionally boasts the power to speak with animals, telekinesis and reality manipulation. She’s also pretty good at transporting herself and others into imaginary worlds rendered in glorious 2D animation. One might say she is "practically perfect in every way." She even got that most superheroic of things, a sequel, with 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns where Emily Blunt portrayed her.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Another Disney movie directed by Robert Stevenson (who also helmed Mary Poppins) and featuring a combination of live-action and animation was Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which was sort of a proto-Harry Potter. It stars Angela Lansbury as the good witch Miss Eglantine Price, who uses her magical abilities to fight Nazis during World War II. She’s a bit like John Constantine if he was a dowdy woman who adopted some war orphans. It’s also possible she became a mystery writer in coastal Maine later in life, but that remains unconfirmed. The one aspect that separates her from Mary Poppins is she is a witch-in-training, so many of her spells backfire, but she is nevertheless formidable.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Based on the traditional fairy tale that was so memorably adapted by Jean Cocteau in 1946 as La belle et la bête, this ’90s classic had the distinction of being the first full-length animated feature to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. It follows the beautiful bookworm Belle who frees her father by taking his place as the title Beast’s prisoner, then comes down with a serious case of Stockholm syndrome for the hairy monster who was once a prince before he was transformed by an enchantress. This curse turned him into the Beast, but also gifted him with enhanced strength, speed, agility, durability, healing and senses, not to mention some sweet claws and fangs. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were not feeling super creative when it came time to christen Marvel’s own blue-tinged version of the character: Hank McCoy, whose nickname on the X-Men team is… Beast!
Hercules (1997)
Both Marvel and DC have their own version of the Greek mythological hero, and Hercules’ papa Zeus was even featured briefly in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (both the 2017 and 2021 versions). Of course, the Disney version of the super strong hero was more a full-of-himself lunkhead than his comic book counterpart, who in recent years has been outed as gay in the Marvel 616 timeline and is dating a certified Guardian of the Galaxy named Marvel Boy. Still, a guy who principally rescues damsels in distress and fights monsters sounds like a superhero in our book.
Tarzan (1999)
This one is cheating slightly, as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creation has its roots in the same early 20th century pulp novels that later inspired comic-book superheroes like Batman, The Shadow, etc. The very idea of a feral child raised by apes and being an expert hunter with great dexterity instantly brings to mind Wolverine. In many ways the Wolverine of the films led a kind of wild existence before he was civilized by Professor X, much the same way Jane Porter civilizes Tarzan.
Frozen (2013)
It’s fitting that Elsa, loosely based on the titular character from Hans Christian Anderson’s fable “The Snow Queen,” was originally envisioned by the filmmakers as the straight-up villain of the film since she has so many similarities to DC Comics baddie Mr. Freeze. Yet she also closely resembles Marvel’s mutant hero Bobby Drake/Iceman in her ability to conjure and manipulate ice and snow into weapons, shields, escape routes, etc. The fact that her uncontrolled abilities are turning her kingdom of Arendelle into a veritable snowpocalypse goes hand-in-hand with typical X-Men-style drama, i.e. a mutant’s emotions cause their powers to get so out of hand that they wind up harming or almost harming a ton of peeps. Luckily, Elsa learns to Let It Go proper, and by the sequel Frozen II has mostly mastered her abilities.
Moana (2016)
Like Mirabel from Encanto, the title Polynesian princess of Moana may not have much in the way of powers, but her sidekick on her journey — the shape-shifting demigod of the wind and sea and master of sailing named Maui — certainly qualifies. The fact that he is played with gusto by living superhero Dwayne Johnson only adds to that heroic charisma. Maui is also a bit of a selfish douche, but eventually answers the call of heroism in order to restore the heart of the giant goddess Te Fiti, and fights a ton of big sea monsters along the way. The big guy also has immortality and sentient tattoos, which at a certain point is almost gilding the lily but who are we to complain? Although he’s not a comic book-accurate representation, Maui’s fellow Pacific Islander Jason Momoa certainly bears some resemblance as Aquaman with his numerous tattoos and overall heroic reluctance.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
The Southeast Asian hero Raya is a girl right after Frank Miller’s heart. She’s badass, excels at martial arts and hand-to-hand combat as well as weapons like swords and sticks, and rides a big bug/armadillo creature named Tuk Tuk… just like Miller’s beautiful assassin Elektra! Okay, maybe Elektra never rode a giant bug-thing, but the similarities are definitely there. Raya is part of the street-level superhero tradition where the person’s natural talents and skills more than make up for their lack of standard powers. There is a magical gem at the center of the story with some degree of true power, but it’s really mostly a MacGuffin to take Raya on her hero’s journey.
What other Disney characters are secretly superheroes? Let’s discuss in the comments!
