Gotham Central and Ordinary are a couple good graphic novels that explore this idea.
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
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Sounds good
Not a movie, but the song Jimmy Olsen Blues by the Spin Doctors seems on point.
I'll have to check that out
Monty Python's Life of Brian is the first one that came to mind
Ah yes, the one about a normal guy living in the time of Jesus
Interior China town is tangentially related. Not super hero world but procedural police show world and it follows people not part of the cast
Think "law and order" if it followed the guy who they interviewed once at a bar to ask about a murder. It's a show following that guy's life, but you see "marishka hargatay" sometimes, but only briefly as they cross paths. It's also a surreal show that knows it's filming a show while the characters don't know they are characters in a show.
Sounds interesting
Since Batman has been mentioned a bunch, you may like a twist on his formula. In the Absolute Batman comics, Bruce Wayne isn’t rich at all - and engineered some of his gadgets off his job at a construction site. But The Joker? Obscenely rich.
Sounds interesting
Mystery Men is all about the B-Team superheroes who have to step up after Captain Amazing, super hero of Champion City, releases Casanova Frankenstein from the insane asylum in order to get better ratings and sponsorships but instead gets kidnapped and accidentally psycho-frakulated. Their powers are: get mad, throw forks, fart, bowling ball, shovel, and invisible when nobody is looking. Doug Jones shows up as Pencilhead and Dane Cook as The Waffler during tryouts. Tom Waits also shows up as basically Tom Waits.
Hey, that bowling ball was sentient!
Sounds funny
"We're not your classic heroes. We're the other guys."
The movie is on YouTube in full
You might check out Free Guy. It's about a video game NPC who comes to life in a Grand Theft Auto themed universe.
That's a good movie
Breaking Bad actually happens in the Marvel universe. They just don't mention any of it because they are busy selling drugs and such.
Any sources on this, or are you just joking?
I like to think The Breakfast Club is in the marvel universe. No reason it can't be
It is. If the last scene doesn't freeze, that guy throws his fist up so he can fly away home.
Andor, depending on whether you consider Jedi superheroes.
Came here to say Rogue One but also this yeah
Jedi/Force users... definitely have superpowers
We have a few pieces of Star Wars media that aren't about the jedi. Yet still no Star Trek media that isn't about Starfleet. I guess Picard and Prodigy kinda sorta qualify
Wonder Man has powers, but we see very little of them. It's mostly about a persecuted minority trying to get work as an actor. Ben Kingsley is fantastic in the show.
I like that show
Not a movie but The Boys is a show that largely follows a regular guy impacted by the fallout of living in a world with superpowered people. Solid show though!
Also The Watchmen show and movie are mostly regular people with no actual powers. The show is excellent, the movie is pretty decent.
There's other stuff out there (Agents of Shield, Gotham, Arrow, etc.), but most of it is not nearly as good as the above two shows IMO.
gotham I think is the closest idea I have seen based on OP.
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Marves Agents of Shield? Season 1 specifically. Season 2 and on goes into metahuman territory
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Extraordinary, was a British show about the only girl that didn't get a superpower, in a world where everyone does.
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There was a show called powerless. It was about employees at Wayne enterprises. It was a comedy. It didn’t last long.
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I’d say that the show Gotham is primarily about Jim Gordon and an adolescent Bruce Wayne dealing with all of the supervillains in Gotham City, but, drama queens that they all are, the show is a lot about them too
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Agents of Shield was about Shield: The Marvel universe non-superhero government agency made to... Uh... Keep superheroes in check? I don't even remember, lol.
But they're just regular ass people who are badasses without super powers.
They're far from regular ass people. Some are borderline geniuses, some are non-powered who can nearly go toe-to-toe with powered villains, artificially enhanced in some way, and are/become powered themselves.
yeah there was a super powered member of the team I think to eventually. still I do think its a good example although like technically iron man has no superpowers its just technology from the universe.
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Encanto.
Would The Penguin count?
No powers, just a fantastic gangster's rise to power story. The setting occurs in the aftermath of superhero events, so I think it checks all the boxes (and it's fantastic!)
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