This Trailer for Guardians Looks Like Russia’s Take on the Superhero Genre

Buckle in, friends, because this promises to be one hell of a wild ride.

In a trailer that appears to take a lot of its cues from Marvel movies, Russian production company Turbo Films has unveiled their new project: Guardians. Its premise is what you’d likely expect from a superhero movie: a group of superheroes comes together during the Cold War to stop a villain from marching on Moscow. Russia’s traditional army proves powerless, as the villain seems to have the ability to shut down all machinery, rendering weapons and the like useless.

According to the Wikipedia page for the movie, the superheroes present in the trailer are:

• Ler, or “Landman,” played by Sebastien Sisak. He’s the one with the elemental powers, with a bit of costume and fighting style inspiration seemingly pulled from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Khan, or “Windman,” played by Sanzhar Madiev. He’s the swordsman, and he has superhuman strength to go with his unnatural quickness and martial arts skills. Nobody’s going to tell me that he doesn’t look like The Winter Soldier.
• Xenia, or “Waterwoman,” played by Alina Lanina. She’s the one who can go invisible, but not exactly through psychic means. She transforms herself into clear water, with the ability to go transparent or remain visible and tangible. Again, her reappearance at the end of the trailer is reminiscent of the Invisible Woman from Fantastic Four, though her powers are based in the elements.
• Finally, Ursus, or “Wildman,” played by Anton Pampushniy. Literally a man who can transform into a bear, he’s kind of a berserker or brawler-type. At the end of the trailer, when the heroes are given their supersuits, he’s presented with a gatling gun, the unveiling of which bears a similarity to when Rocket Raccoon and the Guardians of the Galaxy were first revealed in their initial trailer.

Again, there are a lot of distinct parallels with Marvel’s pantheon of superheroes. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I don’t think, and I’m curious to see how each of these takes on different hero archetypes fares. While the plot itself feels very summer blockbuster movie-ish, I’m still, again, curious about the cast.

What’s especially interesting is that each of the characters represents a different nationality within the Soviet Union. Each of them has to set aside their differences to fight for a greater good, which is a theme consistent with many superhero movies. It’s certainly an interesting facet of what looks like a pretty out there movie.

And I mean, there’s a bear man. What the heck else do you want?

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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