Warning contains SPOILERS for Season 1 of Super Crooks!In Netflix’s anime Super Crooks, the Millarworld’s more likable version of the Suicide Squad proves that personal interest, rather than sketchy agreements with the government, are all a super-villain needs to take a bite out of crime.
The Studio Bones produced Super Crooks is based on Mark Millar and Leinil Yu’s Supercrooks and follows the adventures of Johnny Bolt, a super-villain who originally wanted to be a superhero but, after injuring scores of people at his superhero debut, decides that a life of crime was more suitable to his skill set. Johnny’s bad luck follows him throughout his career. Time and again, just as he’s steps away from pulling off the heist that will set him up for good, some superhero intervenes to derail his dream. After serving time for his latest failed caper, his girlfriend Kasey, who is also a super-villain, decides she’s had enough of crime and wants to settle down. She tells Johnny that if he wants to stay with her, he needs to either give up crime now or pull off the mega heist he’s been dreaming of so that he won’t need to be a criminal anymore. Tired of getting arrested, and scared of losing Kasey, Johnny signs on to one last caper. He teams up with a group of other mid-level super-villains to sideline the world’s top bad boy, the notorious Bastard.
While the story shares a lot of similarities with DC’s Suicide Squad, it differs in one key area, namely the intention of the supervillains. The difference in the intentions of the members of the two groups is central to the Super Crooks not only being more likable than the Suicide Squad but also making them the anti-hero super-powered group that DC might have wanted by creating the Suicide Squad in the first place. For the members of the Suicide Squad, their intentions are to get out of prison quicker. This desire is so intense that they are willing to on black ops missions for the government against targets even superheroes wouldn’t touch. Besides these jobs being extremely dangerous, the government holds all the leverage. Accordingly, the jobs don’t help them become better people. In fact, the jobs are likely to make them eviler.
Super Crooks Asks if Villains Can Ever Change Their Way
Conversely, for Johnny and the other members of the Super Crooks, they need to do their job to stay out of prison. They have a personal interest in the job that is more than just “shaving months off a sentence”. The job will have real life-changing effects. In Johnny’s case failure will not only result in him losing the love of his life, but will also most likely make him a supervillain for life. In addition, unlike some “threats” targeted by the Suicide Squad, if the Super Crooks are able to take out “The Bastard”, of the most heinous criminals around, real benefits will manifest in the community, country, and world.
The fact that the Suicide Squad has so little “skin in the game” makes it hard for the creative team to focus on anything but stories and situations that are high on action and classic super-villain themes. There is very little creative room to show any redemptive value for the members in performing the jobs. That is not the case with Super Crooks. They are bad people who have done bad things, but now chose to do a little good, of their own volition want to, and in the process save themselves from ever having to act badly again. A similar or even potential change of heart is unlikely to be found among the Suicide Squad‘s members. Indeed, this makes Super Crooks the ultimate anti-hero team DC wishes it had.
Super Crooks is now available to watch on Neflix.
