Spider-Manshoots viscous webs from the palms of his hands onto Midtown Manhattan’s rows of rectangular concrete superstructures and uses them to propel himself across the city. Big deal. Superman flies vertically up the side of the Paramount Building to catch a free-falling Lois Lane. Meh.Captain Americawakes up after a 70-year slumber and finds his senses overloaded by the giant flashing billboards and deafening cacophony of Times Square. Yawn. Sure,New York is a favorite filming locationfor superhero movies. After all, the metropolis has tall buildings and lights and noise and…well, that’s about it.
Herculean crime fighters don’t have a lot of options when it comes to plying their trade in The Big Apple. Sure, the city is the ideal place in which to set up a thriving corporation. Just ask Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), whose Stark Tower, transformed from the Condé Nast Building in 2012’sThe Avengers, became the epicenter for all activities related to perfecting his evil-repelling suit of armor. Beyond that, though, what can a guardian against all that is malevolent do in Gotham besides leap tall buildings in a single bound, hop over rows of taxicabs stuck in traffic, and maybe once in a while do battle with the bad guys in Lady Liberty’s crown? It makes sense that New York City has housed a spate of superheroes when you think about the origins of some of the earliest comic book conquerors. Needing a location where criminals ran rampant and law-abiding citizens sought protection, WriterJerry Siegeland artistJoel Shustercreated Superman in the 1930s and set their adventures in Metropolis, a thinly veiled New York City.Stan LeeandSteve Ditkogave Spider-Man life in 1962 and put his nerdy alter-ego Peter Parker in the working class community of Queens, the perfect place to hone one’s crime fighting skills. But when it comes to our favorite good guys delivering thrills, spills, and chills on the big screen, Manhattan has become a somewhat played out backdrop. What’s needed today is an urban landscape that works like a living canvas upon which superheroes can paint a vivid picture of their valiant exploits, a place that can become a part of the story that’s as important as the character in itself. And there’s no American city that can do it better than San Francisco.
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‘Hulk’ and San Francisco as Symbols of Mayhem and Beauty
Long before the Marvel universe claimed domination of IMAX screens around the globe, San Francisco had been a cinematic favorite, providing a dynamic scrim for everything from gritty noirs like 1941’sThe Maltese Falconto heart-wrenching dramas like 1962’sDays of Wine and Rosesto screwball comedies like 1972’sWhat’s Up, Doc?. And who could forget 1968’sBullitt,the film that made stars of the city’s steep mountain-like streets, soared over bySteve McQueenin his Mustang GT? San Francisco provides more than just scenery for movies. Its unique look, its architecture, its breathtaking location on the tip of a fog-enshrouded peninsula — the city has a chameleon-like ambiance that, in the hands of a skilled director and cinematographer, can be used to create a sense of doom and foreboding, as well as one of warmth and whimsy. And when it comes to the superhero genre, San Francisco is a civic jungle gym, just waiting for a superhuman with otherworldly powers to climb all over it.Take the gripping action of 2003’sHulk, where emotionally distraught and physically warped Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) takes his rage to the city. The arduous streets of Telegraph Hill begin to buckle and crumble just as one of the town’s famous cable cars passes by, sending passengers tumbling to the ground. Banner emerges from the underground as The Hulk, his power so overwhelming that cars are propelled into the air and sent flying down the nearly perpendicular hills. As the violent and deadly Hulk stands at the intersection of Montgomery and Vallejo Streets, he’s framed by the startlingly beautiful juxtaposition of the calm waters and towering San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge behind him, just asBetty Ross(Jennifer Connelly), the only woman who loves Banner and can calm the beast within, arrives via helicopter to rescue him. DirectorAng Leeand cinematographerFrederick Elmesuse the city to create tension and tranquility in the same scene, something that would be difficult to master in any other location.
From ‘Shang-Chi’ to ‘Venom’ to ‘Ant-Man,’ the City’s Streets are Tailor-Made for Superheroes
It’s not just the city’s iconic cable cars that are fodder for superhero movie sequences. 2021’sShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsadded a twist by substituting the clanging trolleys with aSan Francisco articulated bus, a kind of “super vehicle” consisting of two passenger carriers joined by a flexible accordion-like pivot. While martial arts phenom Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) fights off evildoers aboard the 1 California line, the vehicle, of course, loses its brakes and goes careening down the sharp streets. Passenger Katy (Awkwafina) gets behind the wheel in a tribute toSandra BullockinSpeedwhile audiences get a front row view of the giant metal coach dodging pedestrians, barricades, and automobiles.The pièce de résistance of the scenecomes when the Slinky-like connector of the bus begins to come apart, leaving the movie’s hero dangling precariously on the outside as the vehicle swerves to miss even more obstacles, including a massive construction project. DirectorDestin Daniel Crettonexpertly balances interior and exterior action, showcasing a well-known part of San Francisco’s infrastructure without neglecting the city’s seminal outward motif.
In 2018,Venom, the story of a mild-mannered reporter invaded by an alien entity, the action is again taken to the streets. This time, however, directorRuben Fleischereschews cable cars and buses andputs protagonist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) on a motorcycle. To add more tension, Fleischer chooses to highlight the city at night, when the beauty of the urban landscape is hidden and the town becomes a brilliant display of light. Eddie flees the villains on his two-wheeled hog, first dodging traffic on the rarely seen flat streets of the South of Market area before ascending the lantern-adorned thoroughfares of Chinatown and neon-covered turf of North Beach. As Brock’s chopper soars over the crest of a hill, he shoots off the cycle and floats in midair past a row of Victorian-era buildings with illuminated bay windows, and for a moment, the nail-biting sequence becomes a serene tableau that shows off the city’s unparalleled artistry.
That same year,Ant-Man and the Wasptook a similar approach, incorporating athrilling chase sceneinvolving a motorcycle and minivan on a high speed adventure through the city’s downtown streets. In the same movie, directorPeyton Reedmoves the fun from the street to the water. Superhero Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) grows into Giant-Man and wades into the San Francisco Bay toward a tourist ferry to pluck a lethal suitcase from the hands of his nemesis, then tosses the case onto the city’s famous Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf, causing a mini-tsunami.
Alcatraz Island, The Perfect Setting for a Superhero Showdown
And what superhero movie featuring San Francisco would be complete without one of the city’s most recognizable attractions, Alcatraz? The infamous prison island has been featured in a number of classic action films (Point Blank,Escape from Alcatraz,The Rock), but it was 2006’sX-Men: The Last Standthat brought the best of the Marvel superheroes to the jutting slab of sandstone perched less than two miles off the city’s shore. In this eighth installment of the film franchise, Alcatraz is a laboratory housing a formula that can turn mutants into “normal” human beings. The island becomesthe scene of a final battlebetween the X-Men and villain Magneto (Ian McKellen),who has already destroyed the Golden Gate Bridgeand turned it into a walkway to the laboratory. The epic battle scene accentuates the dark history behind Alcatraz while also using it as a symbol of victory. There could simply be no more apt location for a legendary conflict between good and evil in any other American city.
In these films, San Francisco isn’t merely a location; it’s a player. And if the definition of a superhero is someone defined by their rare capabilities, their strength, and their invincibility, then the City by the Bay, defined by its rare beauty, its ongoing strength and endurance, and its ability to continually rebuild and redefine itself, is also a superhero. It’s no wonder so many movie winners gravitate to an equally winning city. Keep Manhattan. We’ll take San Francisco.
