The Hilarious Superhero Movie Tearing It Up On Netflix Right Now

In 2021, Netflix has been killing the game, releasing a big new movie every single week. Netflix's newest hit is Thunder Force, a hilarious superhero comedy starring two of America's funniest people: Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer. The movie is currently No. 1 on Netflix's daily Top 10 chart in the U.S.

Thunder Force was written and directed by Ben Falcone, Melissa McCarthy's husband and Thor: Love and Thunder co-star. It tells the story of two formerly estranged best friends who reunite and become a superhero team battling supervillains in their hometown of Chicago.

Thunder Force is set in a world where there are no superheroes, only supervillains, who are called "Miscreants" and terrorize their communities. McCarthy plays Lydia Berman and Spencer plays Emily Stanton, childhood friends who grow apart because Emily is intelligent and ambitious and Lydia is a slacker. Many years later, Emily is the head of a cutting-edge scientific research and development company, and Lydia is a construction worker whose passions are drinking beer, watching Chicago sports, and listening to the same hard rock bands she loved when she was a kid. They meet back up when Emily returns to Chicago, and Lydia accidentally injects herself with a superhero serum Emily has developed. Lydia gets superhuman strength. Emily has invisibility. Together, they're the only people who can stop the city's worst villain, William "The King" Stevens (Bobby Cannavale), who has plans to take over the whole country with his secret army of Miscreants.

The film has gotten negative reviews from critics, and has a 24% "Rotten" score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. But fans on Twitter are enjoying it plenty, thanks to McCarthy and Spencer's chemistry and its goofy sense of humor. "I read someone said 'Thunder Force' felt like it was making fun of the superhero genre and I beg to differ, it was doing a lighthearted version of it if anything and though it seemed unserious, it was still far from a parody," @ronniejupiter tweeted.

If you go into Thunder Force not expecting too much, you'll find plenty to enjoy. "So, #ThunderForce is stupid. Very entertainingly stupid. I had a good time watching it," said @JohnFPLane.

A lot of people's favorite part of Thunder Force is Jason Bateman as "The Crab," a claw-armed Miscreant (well, "half-creant") with that classic Jason Bateman smart-aleck attitude. He walks sideways out of every room, because he's, you know, a crab. As tweeted by @dfoliver68, "Jason Bateman crab-walking away in Thunder Force is the funniest thing I think I will see this year." The cast also includes Pom Klementieff, best known as Marvel's Mantis, as Laser, a femme fatale Miscreant with bleached eyebrows, and Melissa Leo as Allie, Emily's right hand woman. Fun fact: Leo and Spencer won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in successive years, Leo in 2010 for The Fighter, and Spencer in 2011 for The Help.

If you're in the mood for a light superhero action-comedy with some very funny actors who know how to elevate less-than-stellar material, Thunder Force should be up next in your Netflix queue.