Part of the beauty of a fan film is that it can revolve around just about any concept, without concerns about expectations, rights, and so on. Often enough, this leads to fans coming up with really interesting and artistic experiments with various low-budget effects. In other cases though, amateur filmmakers are able to get very creative with the simpler elements of a project — namely, character and dialogue.
That idea brings us to our suggestion for today, which is for creative filmmakers to make poker movies out of popular superhero characters. On the surface, this seems to be a random and perhaps unnecessary idea (even if there are instances of some of these heroes playing poker in comic books). But there are a few reasons why an extended poker scene or a full-fledged “poker flick” drama built around superheroes actually makes sense.
It’s Very Low Budget
If you were to think about the best poker films that have ever been made, there’s a good bet “Rounders” would end up topping the list. It’s probably the most famous and influential film in the genre, and it also happens to be a noted triumph of the low-budget approach. This film achieved roughly a $23 million box office performance and became a modern classic on — supposedly — about a $12 million budget. And that’s with the need to pay Matt Damon, Ed Norton, and John Malkovich.
Of course, fan films don’t deal in millions, if they really have “budgets” at all. But when you think about what a poker drama can accomplish “per dollar” compared to other genres, it’s clear that it can be a particularly effective low-budget project option.
Everyone Gets the Subject Matter
When “Rounders” came out in the late ‘90s, poker was not quite as well understood by the general public. Now, however — in part because of the influence of “Rounders” — poker is far more familiar to audiences. In particular, the game of no-limit Texas Hold’em is now second nature even to a lot of people who have never spent time playing. It’s the most popular variety of poker, and one with rules that are pretty simple to grasp in a cinematic scene. Players are dealt two cards each and then, with a betting round and opportunities to fold mixed in, five community cards are ultimately drawn. Players bet based on the best hands they can make with their own two cards and any three of the communal ones.
The game makes for excellent drama, but it’s also a much more familiar subject matter than it once was. That makes poker a little bit less “niche,” and gives this fan film concept a broader reach.
It’s a Chance for Characters to Shine
Superhero films generally can struggle with character development. They’re good at character arcs, but beyond origin stories and shifting motivation we don’t always get to know the personalities. Whether or not a poker move is the best mechanism for solving this problem is up for debate. But plopping a bunch of heroes around a poker table is definitely a better way to fiddle with character exposition and interaction than, say, watching them tear through skyscrapers to gather.
This sort of film is also a great chance to make a bit more out of some less successful cinematic heroes. More than a decade ago, for instance, we posed the question of Superman’s relevancy, and truth be told his latest cinematic appearances haven’t made him much more prevalent in the culture. Now, is a fan film about superhero poker games going to change that? No. But could watching Superman try to bluff Tony Stark out of a big pot be more entertaining than anything we saw from the character in “Man Of Steel”? Well… maybe.
Mingling Franchises Don’t Matter
As for that Superman-Tony Stark showdown, it speaks to another fun point, which is that mingling franchises won’t matter in a superhero poker film. Granted, this could be said of any fan film. But sitting a completely random blend of superheroes down at a poker table makes for a lot of flexibility. Superman, Tony, Magneto, Batman, Wonder Woman, Peter Parker, Gamora, and the Joker at a poker table? Why not!?
We Love to See Heroes Hanging Out
Following up on the idea of that sample crew, the main reason poker specifically makes sense for a scaled-down, character-focused superhero fan film is that we like to see these guys hang out. The best scenes in superhero movies in the last 15 years have largely been those in which key characters are just lounging around trading banter. Marvel’s credit sequence shawarma scene has become somewhat legendary, and one can argue that these sorts of “human” interactions are what the DC universe has been missing (among other things). We just like to see and hear them hanging out, and poker provides a perfect stage for fun, clever interactions between our cloaked and armored friends.
It’s a strange idea, but for all the reasons listed above, a worthwhile one too. Now, some creative filmmakers have at it!
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