Don Cheadle’s now classic Captain Planet parody sketches went where more general superheroes could not, not even Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League – and indeed, all of Snyder’s entries in the DC Extended Universe – it is figuratively and literally known for its darkness. Snyder looks long at the shadowy side of superheroes and causes great strife among DC believers. But when it comes to the grim implications of gods wandering among mankind, even the Snyder verses cannot compete with Don Cheadle’s removal of Captain Planet in a now classic series of Funny or die clippings. They became almost nihilistic in their darkness, and yet the comedy was very simple: take the eco-friendly 90s cartoon to its logical extremes, and turn the absurdity into a living nightmare.
Captain Planet and the Planetariums first appeared in September 1990 as a well-intentioned attempt to teach children environmental awareness. It was quite ambitious for the time: Whoopi Goldberg provided the voice of Mother Earth (and won an Oscar in the middle of her run), and Tom Cruise apparently reported for the title role before dropping out. It also dated rather poorly, with heavy speeches about the environment, eco-based puns and puns, and some disturbing ethnic stereotypes presented in the name of multiculturalism.
The original Captain Planet was poorly defined, but omnipotent
This left numerous satirical targets to mock. But beneath the superficial details, the cartoon showed a series of ongoing narrative problems that the Funny or die sketches benefited mercilessly. Captain Planet never expressed his core idea in any notable way. His hero was a generic almighty god-being with a wide range of reality-forming powers that could turn on a grill to solve the problem he was currently facing. The show rarely defined these forces, except for faint footage such as beams shot from his hand, and beyond the messages on the surface, he was merely an empty cypher.
The cartoon’s straight universe of good versus evil needed nothing more from the character, and so it did not bother to portray his character. As a result, Captain Planet himself felt less like a personality and more like a vending machine with an environmental theme, created by the energy circles of the show’s teenage heroes and returned to them when the villain was defeated. Like the Funny or die sketches observed, such a figure can be a pure sociopath, especially when confronted with the true cause of ecological devastation.
Cheadle’s Captain Planet Targeted the Real Issue
The original sketch begins with the fun of the various awkward elements of the show – from enticing speeches to tree-based puns – complete with a smiling Cheadle in a green mullet in powder. Then he begins to turn people into trees: first villains, then ordinary civilians, and finally the whole world. Initially excited, his young friends become terrified of his actions, and are then held hostage to an openly psychotic ‘hero’ who aims to make the world green forever.
Subsequent sketches show an Earth beneath the ruthless thumb of Captain Planet, with its few remaining human inhabitants constantly fearing its increasingly erratic whims. It looks more like the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a good life” as any four-color comic book universe. He kills the Planeteers and even Gaia himself before being stabbed to death in a surprisingly gruesome finale by lumberjacks. Then, in an ironic precursor of Avengers: Endgame, the people of the earth are restored, only to start polluting again as always.
The satire remains focused on the cartoon’s simple suggestion that climate change can be beaten by simply recycling and sending some bad guys to jail. More serious comics – Endgame and Avengers: Age of Ultron was good as Snyder’s films – also wrestling with divine beings who can destroy humanity in the name of a greater good. As a humorous work, the Cheadle sketches could go where more mainstream efforts could not, and they could explore the kind of helmet image that could arise under a being that could not be stopped. It’s really scary, and that’s probably why the comedy is still beating.
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