1989 Marvel Parade Float Review

I’ve been meaning to do this post for a while now. It is the follow up to my 1987 Marvel Parade Float Review. Without further ado let’s dive head long into this nightmare.

Things turn ugly quick as the clip opens with a female announcer who has no idea what the hell she is talking about. In her introduction she makes mention of Metropolis, the hometown of Superman who is very much not a Marvel character. As she continues she begins rattling off names of the Marvel characters and decides to throw in WONDER WOMAN. Now even the most unknowledgeable superhero fan is likely to know that Wonder Woman is in fact a DC character.

Disheartening introduction aside, we now head down to the float itself where we are introduced to a lady clad in black. The lady starts to sing a moving rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s I Need A Hero, which I will admit is a huge improvement over the 1987 float’s use of Back to the Future music. Going a step further I will say, without any shame, that I love the song and her performance is easily the best thing this float has going for it.

So as the lady sings various Marvel characters dance around the float making ridiculous and at times unsettling poses. I must say that it’s nice to see Spidey on this float, as he was painfully absent from the 1987 float.

The keen eyed viewed might note that the collapsing tower from the 1987 float makes a return. An even closer inspection will reveal that the float is basically the same one from 1987 only with a few alterations. It even has the manhole cover which the singing lady rises out of at one point for no particular reason.

Surprisingly there isn’t too much to say about this float. Where as the 1987 float had a bit of a plot with Captain America stopping an enraged Hulk, this float feels more like a surreal music video. I think surreal is good way to put it as I never dreamed I would ever see so many Marvel icons, hero and villain alike, dancing their little hearts to an epic heroic tune.

I must say that in retrospect the 1989 Marvel Parade float is better then 1987 float. But really that’s not saying much as both are failed experiments. It’s obvious to me when looking at both floats that they were made largely by people who didn’t care about the source material. When you are playing superheroes towards a child audience it’s easy to let yourself half-ass it because, let’s fact it, kids don’t really care as long as they get to see their favorite heroes.

But the truth is that it's completely possible to portray superheroes towards a child audience without betraying what it is that makes the heroes who they are. It just requires a little bit of effort. Yet that lesson seems to elude people every now and then and as long as that happens we will get occasional fiascos like the 1989 Marvel parade float.