9 Great Superhero Movies That Weren’t Based On Comic Books

4) Chronicle

By 2012, a lot of us were tired of the once-novel found footage format. However, an exception was made for Chronicle, a movie that mixes the over-used filming technique with a genre that is also exceptionally common; the superhero movie. The result was surprisingly great.

Chronicle sees three Seattle high schoolers develop telekinetic abilities after they encounter a strange alien object. Instead of using their powers to do good, the guys mess around… but they soon have to face up to their responsibilities when one of their number becomes increasingly unhinged. The result is a film that manages to tell familiar elements in a new and refreshing way.

Writer Max Landis and director Josh Trank really hit it out of the park with this one (something Trank sadly couldn’t repeat with last year’s Fantastic 4), giving us a fantastic superhero flick that also launched the careers of Dane DeHaan and Michael B. Jordan.