See Batman, Abe Sapien, The Flux Capacitor And Henry The Serial Killer In The Supercapers Trailer

Ray Griggs' comedy superhero film Supercapers has not been on my radar at all until now. The first trailer has just hit, ahead of a limited release in late March, and my immediate reactions were split. On the one hand, I really didn't think there was space for another Mystery Men, The Specials or The Tick; on the other, I was impressed how genuinely geeky the thing seemed to be.

Mixing properly embarrassing colorful superhero costumes with a cast members you might have seen hawking autographs at five bucks a pop, this is a film from the kind of clapped-out, cosplay happy fan universe that I feel a genuine affection for. You could mistake this for a kind of Dr. Horrible gone wrong, or even just a spandex-clad barrel scraping session, but I think it looks like sincere and solid-enough stuff. I definitely want to see the whole thing, that's for sure.

The trailer is embedded below this speed-hump. The creepy Puffer fish effect is a high point – that character us played by writer-director Griggs.

[flv:http://bitcast-a.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/trailers/supercapers.flv 470 200]

Recent British sitcom No Heroics has been picked up for both a second season at home and a remake in the states so there's clearly a market for this kind of business and I hope the little fellows, such as Supercapers, don't get drowned out. This is a genuinely independent film and that alone is worth some credit.

Here's my quick list of the geek references, homages and touchstones as spotted in the trailer and on the film's official site, but I doubt it is anything like comprehensive. Please chip in your additions in the comments section below.

Adam West driving the Batmobile.Clint Howard, geek demigod.A onetime Jimmy Olsen, Justin Whalin in the lead role."Save the day" song in a Mighty Mouse style.An X-Men style house for heroes.Superman style car lifting shot.Star Trek styled dialogue about a cloaking device.Invisible Girl and The Flash type powers – amongst others.Back to the Future meets Star Trek in the clouds with a flying/warp shot.Comic book style lettering in the speech bubble style sign on the Getaway Van.A rather overheated take on X-Man Pyro.A Flux Capicator style device and other De Lorean style dashboard fittings in the Supercapers' van.Doug Jones as "Special Agent Smith 1".Samuel Lloyd appeared as a UFO nut on The West Wing.

What have I missed?