Super Stooges vs. the Wonder Women: The Defenders on Budget

Wonder Woman and Deadpool draw huge crowds to theaters, Spider-Man has already gone through two reboots, and we can complain about the Justice League with a clear conscience—though fifteen years ago, we would have been thrilled it existed at all. But it wasn’t always so bright and shiny in the world of colorful superheroes… That’s Super Stooges vs. the Wonder Women.

The 1990s. A modestly stocked video rental store, me and my brother fresh from watching the breath-taking Captain America (yes, the 1990 one, directed by the legendary Albert Pyun), asking for something similar—something with superheroes. Today, we’d be placed in front of a towering shelf offering the full Marvel roster and the entire DC lineup, but back then, there wasn’t much to choose from.

After a few minutes of searching, we settled on a tape with an impressive cover. Aside from the giant title “Superman,” it featured a black-clad figure that looked a lot like Spider-Man. At the time, the character was appearing in comics wearing a dark costume, so everything seemed to check out—black-suited Spider-Man, Superman, and Amazons. Plus, a tagline at the top of the cover that doubled as a spoiler: “Love triumphs.” Until we got home and hit play, there was no doubt in our minds that we were about to have an epic adventure we’d excitedly tell our friends about the next day. And then… we experienced the biggest disappointment in VHS rental history. As you might guess, there were no superheroes to be found.

It only took a few minutes of a clumsy opening—random scraps of unconvincing fight scenes covered with a negative filter, accompanied by a cheerful, kitschy tune straight out of a preschool show—for doubt to take root. As an inexperienced kid, I couldn’t appreciate the accidental charm of such creative choices. It took many years of watching pompous arthouse films to recognize the beauty of a “bad” movie, and today I watch Amazons vs. Supermen with far more interest.

An actor once said his favorite theater moments were when, after being hit with a paper pellet, the performer briefly broke character. Alfonso Brescia’s film (and most other low-budget efforts like it) is essentially a 100-minute record of acting under constant paper-pellet fire.

More than two decades after that first viewing, I’ve grown much fonder of it. If you squint, the main trio of characters even resembles a typical comic-book team. There’s Moog, the obligatory indestructible muscle who calls to mind Luke Cage; Chung, the martial arts master reminiscent of Iron Fist; and finally Aru—a masked, mysterious warrior fighting for his local community, clearly echoing Daredevil. The choice of characters isn’t particularly calculated or accidental—it’s the result of Superuomini, superdonne, superbotte (the real title, not Le Amazzoni – donne d’amore e di guerra, as some sites claim) being a unique international co-production. The famous Shaw Brothers studio from Hong Kong brought in the kung-fu fighter, while producers from Mexico contributed the luchador-style Aru.

This bargain-bin version of The Defenders faces off against despotic Amazons who terrorize nearby villages—possibly the only time in film history that a tribe of warrior women has taken on the role of villains. But of course, this is hardly the strangest thing the Italian Z-movie imagination has dreamed up.

The gender clashes here are never meant to be taken seriously (just like the entire Super Stooges vs. the Wonder Women experience), especially since there’s little of the crude stereotyping or gratuitous nudity so common in ’70s video-market productions. Brescia instead went for an almost family-friendly movie, with a few explosions and a ton of gags—slapstick humor that’s funny mainly because, despite all the effort, it’s not funny at all. In short, it’s a pure embodiment of the “so bad it’s good” ethos, so gather some friends and let the absurdity sweep you away.