Netflix’s newest original movie, iBoy, has an official trailer up on YouTube that imagines an extremely modern, if somewhat unorthodox, superhero origin story. Just as Spiderman was bitten by a spider and injected with its venom and then subsequently became a spider, the hero of this new movie wound up with some smartphone bits inside his head, and became a smartphone. In a very interesting portrayal of mixed reality, our protagonist gains a number of superpowers, such as being able to control electronic systems and view data floating in the air, by having some pieces of a smartphone inside of him. While thoroughly unrealistic, the pseudo-science on show gives way to a somewhat compelling superhero flick, if the trailer is any indication.
For starters, the origin story itself is one of the focal points of the film, and certainly one of the stranger origin stories in superhero history. Our hero, Tom, is just another hapless teen trying to visit a girl named Lucy. He happens to stumble in as a robbery is in progress, and the thugs involved chase him down and attack him, during which the smartphone he was trying to use to call 911 is broken into pieces. As fate would have it, the thugs leave him clinging to life and during the attack some parts of the phone end up in his brain. Apparently powered and connected by the electricity traveling through his brain, the phone parts give Tom an augmented reality overlay showing various bits of data about the world and the people in it, and the power to control electronic devices like car stereos.
These are the only powers shown in the trailer, but there may be more in the final movie. Our hero, played by Bill Milner, stars alongside Maisie Williams, of Game of Thrones fame. The story is your run of the mill revenge fantasy from there, with Tom using his new powers to thwart the gangsters that gave him his powers, while saving Lucy from their clutches. There’s action to go around, and it would seem a fair bit of drama is in the mix as well; all of the usual ingredients are there for a decent hero movie. Fans of strange superhero origin stories the world over can get their fix when iBoy drops on Jan. 27.