(AfroGamers.com) The Meteor Man was a 1993 superhero film starring comedian Robert Townsend as the titular hero. Now, if you only vaguely remember the film or don’t remember it all, don’t worry. The movie was pretty much a flop as it had about a $20 million budget and only made $8 million at the box office. However, it has a bit of a cult following for being an early Black superhero movie and just being a memorable film from that period.
What Was Meteor Man?
The Meteor Man was a film written by, produced by, directed by, and starring Townsend. It was a comedic superhero film but it was more that it had comedic parts and was more of a superhero adventure. Jefferson Reed is a Washington D.C school teacher who isn’t the bravest guy around but cares about his students and his neighborhood.
After fleeing while trying save a woman from local menace the Golden Lords, he hides in a dumpster and gets struck by a meteor while climbing out. It’s random but many superheroes get their powers from freak accidents. As you probably guessed, this was a special meteor and parts of meteorite are left in his body.
When he awakens from his injuries, they are all healed faster than expected. Reed finds out that he has gained powers from the accident such as super strength, X-Ray vision, and the ability to talk to dogs—just to name a few. He would tell his parents about his new powers and they convince him to actually use them for good.
Thus, Meteor Man is born. With the powers, Reed gains confidence, does good deeds, and fights crime in his neighborhood. With this costumed hero ruining thing for them, the Golden Lords put him on their hit list.
Way Ahead of Its Time but Very Dated for Today
As far as Black superheroes on the screen, it predated another superhero comedy—Damon Wayans’ Blankman—by a year, Spawn by almost four years, and Blade by five years. The story was pretty white bread with a hero who just does good because they’re a good person who finally has the power to do something.
However, that kind of worked as this was a time when comic book superheroes were mostly still doing the right thing without shades of gray. If there were shades of grey or the stories were a little dark, it didn’t really raise questions of if the hero did the right thing or at what cost.
Once comic book imprints such as Image Comics, Valiant, Milestone, and Malibu started to get their shine in the early 90s, we got darker storylines and superheroes who did their job but sometimes it was questionable how they did it.
It was the rise of the anti-hero, basically. The Meteor Man hit theaters just as that change was happening in comics. However, by today’s writing and the depth of characters now, it was pretty basic. It’s still fun to watch but this wasn’t the most layered superhero story.
Reviving or Rebooting the Film
You know what, though? Films only have so many hours to tell a story. If anything, The Meteor Man could’ve been an origin story if it had done well and a sequel was on the docket. In 90s, superhero films weren’t eating up a ton of time exploring origins and relationships with characters. The focus was on the adventure and villain of the film.
With that said, if The Meteor Man was brought back today, it would definitely benefit from better writing. Townsend did well for a superhero flick for the early 90s but today’s fans want more background in everything: comics, film, superhero film and television shows, horror—everything needs lore.
A revival now would see the first film be mostly origin and battling with doing right instead of just being a do-gooder. Also, the need for Meteor Man might be explored more. I mean, he was pretty damn powerful for the area he was focused. It was as if Iron Man or Captain America were exclusively based in Daredevil’s Hell Kitchen and didn’t handle national or global threats.
I believe a modern Meteor Man film would probably see him challenged with a larger threat than the Golden Lords. It would likely even be the origin of Simon Caine and Anthony Byers as supervillains for potential future films.
A Darker, Grittier Meteor Man?
Honestly, a television show with six or twelve episodes would probably handle all of this easier. There’s just more time to explore everything at a good pace instead of speedball-ing through the story to get to the epic fight.
In a way, it would be like Luke Cage or other Netflix-Marvel shows which focused on street-level heroes. Yes, we’re talking about a darker, grittier Meteor Man. Would it work? I believe it could but what do you think?
Would a modernized reboot of the film work or should it just be left alone? Is it even necessary to reboot or revive the film and turn it into something of a series? Let us know in the comments! Also, let us know if you enjoyed the film or if you thought it was bad and shouldn’t have been produced in the first place.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.