Celluloid superheroes come in all shapes and sizes: from the cinema serials of the 1930s and 1940s based on the eponymous American comics (Flash Gordon, Batman…) to the big-budget Marvel and DC vehicles that have been hitting us over the head for the past 20 years. We present two cult favorites from the period between the release of Superman(1978) and Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), the first two truly successful blockbuster superhero films.

Masters of the Universe is an attempt by the notorious Cannon studio, which a few months earlier had expertly ruined the Superman franchise with the toe-curling Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, to bring the successful Mattel action figures to the big screen. Although the project was pitched as the new Star Wars, the budget constraints are impossible to ignore. For instance, the film spends only 15 minutes on the planet Eternia before He-Man is zapped to California in 1986. A clever cost-saving measure, but one that could not save Cannon from a financial fiasco and ignominious end. For B-movie fans, however, there is more than enough to enjoy.

With Flash Gordon, the megalomaniacal Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis had only one ambition: to make a spectacular space opera that would eclipse all others. It became a spectacular flop. The exuberant costumes and sets, the completely absurd dialogue, and Queen’s pumping soundtrack are infectious and, 45 years later, make the film a shining example of glorious super-kitsch!