While praise for Robert Rodriguez’s impressive direction on the sixth episode of The Mandalorian took up most of the headlines Friday (Dec. 4), the release of the first trailer for the Texas-based filmmaker’s new family adventure We Can Be Heroes was forced to take a back seat to Stormtrooper shootouts and the return of Boba Fett.
Now that Star Wars nerds have seen the episode at least a dozen times in the last 24 hours, everyone can focus on Rodriguez’s return to the superhero genre with the story of a group of kids whose superhero parents are kidnapped by alien invaders.
The film stars Pedro Pascal (TV’s The Mandalorian) as Marcus Moreno, one of the parents with superhero abilities, and YaYa Gosselin as his daughter, Missy, who teams up with the other children to bring their parents home and possibly save the world.
In the trailer, Missy is brought to Heroics Headquarters for her safety after her father is taken captive. While in hiding, she meets the other kids, who all have their own unique superpowers. For example, the young daughter of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, who Rodriguez featured in a 2005 movie, can control water.
Unwilling to just sit back while her father is missing, Missy recruits the other children to break out of their underground bunker and fight for their moms and dads. “If we want to rescue our parents and save the planet, we’re gonna need to do it now,” Missy tells the kids.
The trailer continues with scenes of the kids battling all sorts of characters–from a villain that resembles a laser-powered samurai to a giant purple lizard that looks like a creature from Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. “Alone, our powers are special,” Missy says. “Together, we’re unstoppable.”
We Can Be Heroes debuts on Netflix Jan. 1, 2021.