Mystery Men is a 1999 comedy film directed by TV commercial director Kinka Usher. It starred William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, and Hank Azaria as a trio of lesser superheroes with fairly unimpressive superpowers who need to save the day. The film's two great strengths were considered to be the art direction and the dialogue, much of which was improvised by the cast. Despite its list of stars, Mystery Men was widely considered to be a flop with a final box office gross of just $29,762,011 within the USA and $3,699,000 outside the USA blank">http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mysterymen.htm.

It has since been developing something of a cult following. The soundtrack prominently featured the _Smash Mouth song "All Star" and clips from the film form the basis of the song's video.

In order to generate more endorsement revenue, Champion City's resident superhero Captain Amazing arranges for the release of supervillian Casanova Frankenstein, only to be captured by him. The city's fate rests in the hands of seven loser superhero wannabes: the fork-flinging Blue Rajah, the shovel-wielding Shoveler, the posessed bowling ball-hurling Bowler, the flatulent Spleen, the only-when-nobody's-looking Invisible Boy, the mysterious Sphinx, and the perpetually-angry Mr. Furious. Written by Jeff Cross

In Champion City, would be superheroes like The Shoveler, The Blue Raja and Mr. Furious can't seem to make a difference and impress either the city or its greatest superhero, Captain Amazing. However, when Captain Amazing is captured by his greatest enemy, Cassanova Frankenstein, these stumblebum heroes must join with other superhero hopefuls to save the Captain and the city. Written by Kenneth Chisholm