Marvel Studios has successfully turned its filmmaking department into an efficient machine capable of delivering one box office hit after another while receiving critical acclaim as well. But they’ve struggled to achieve the same level of effectiveness with their shows. Even though Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ran for seven seasons, it witnessed a gradual decline in quality. Cloak & Dagger showed promise and then fizzled into oblivion. The Disney+ shows are going in interesting directions to defy genre expectations by taking characters like Wanda, Vision, Loki, Bucky, Sam Wilson, and Hawkeye from their sidekick roles rooted in the action genre and plunging them into conversations about religion, racism, cross-country politics, moral dilemma, and more. But they are consistently bungling it in the finale by resorting to the same-old, over-edited, CGI-heavy fight sequences that the MCU is infamous for. Which leaves us with the Netflix shows: even though Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage weren’t promising in their first seasons, they showed a marked improvement later on, and the immaculate three-season run of Daredevil set a dizzyingly high standard for the superhero sub-genre. Now, can Hulu’s Hit-Monkey match up to it? Probably.
Hit-Monkey is created by Will Speck and Josh Gordon. It is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, birthed by writer Daniel Way and artist Dalibor Talajić. And as you can guess by the title, the protagonist is a gun-wielding Japanese snow monkey, who is voiced by Fred Tatasciore. Before getting to him, though, the show follows Bryce (Jason Sudeikis), an American assassin hired to kill a Prime Ministerial candidate ahead of the elections in Japan. He gets the job done. However, on his way back to the USA, Bryce is attacked and almost killed by the Japanese army. He is then rescued by a group of monkeys, who take him to their home in the mountains and help him heal. But one monkey (who later on becomes the titular Hit-Monkey) protests his presence as he fears that the people who are after Bryce are going to track him down and kill him along with the monkeys.
After a particularly violent argument with the head of the monkey clan, who thinks that it’s the clan’s duty to look after Bryce, Hit-Monkey is unceremoniously banished. Soon after that, his trepidations are proven right with the arrival of the Japanese army. Bryce is shot to death. So are the monkeys. This triggers Hit-Monkey to pick up Bryce’s guns and kill the soldiers in a violent fit of rage. Motivated by unfiltered revenge and Bryce’s last words about finding out who double-crossed him, Hit-Monkey then ventures into Tokyo to unearth the city’s dirtiest secrets. In a curious twist of fate, he’s accompanied by Bryce’s ghost, looking for closure due to his untimely death.
Overall, Hit-Monkey is one of the best shows of the year, with every department knocking it out of the park. But the one aspect that truly stands out is the animation. The artwork working in tandem with the editing is teased pretty early on in the show when Bryce spends his first night in Tokyo drinking anything and everything. He falls in one bar and rises in a different one. A shot of a drink blends into that of the rising sun to depict Bryce’s fluctuating levels of consciousness. It’s simply wild, because something with this level of creativity hasn’t been displayed in the Marvel properties that precede Hit-Monkey. As the show progresses, you begin to notice that these flourishes are not limited to a few scenes and used as a gimmick. Instead, that form of visual storytelling is peppered throughout every episode to help the audience experience this wacky world just like Hit-Monkey and Bryce are experiencing it. The art direction is reminiscent of Genndy Tartakovsky’s work in Samurai Jack, with the frame rate varying between 24 frames per second (animating on ones; i.e., for each second of animation, there are 24 new drawings or “frames,” thereby making the scene flow smoothly) and 12 frames per second (animating on twos; i.e., for each second of animation, there are 12 new frames, thereby making the scene appear rougher and bumpier than usual), just like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The violence and action direction are surprisingly stylish and hugely enjoyable since Marvel hadn’t exhibited this level of hyper-stylised violence prior to Hit-Monkey. And it features some of the best title-card reveals since Barry.
All this style is brilliantly balanced by the substance. Speck and Gordon put as much focus on the insecurities and character defects in this trigger-happy monkey and the spirit of an alcoholic assassin as they do on the visuals and action around them. Through Hit-Monkey and Bryce, the show delves into themes of loneliness, the feeling of not having a family or a father figure, and being destined to gravitate towards the worst corners of the planet. The show spends a healthy amount of time trying to find solutions to all the aforementioned themes and delivering a message about self-acceptance and the importance of recycling anger for a good cause.
Since Bryce is the only one who can speak, Sudeikis is tasked with spewing all the heavy jargon with next-to-nothing to bounce off of. Yes, Tatasciore’s melancholic grunts and angry screeches add a lot to the beautiful character animation of Hit-Monkey, but in terms of interaction and improvisation, Sudeikis is all on his own. He channels a lot of vulnerability, doubt, mistrust, and helplessness, all wrapped in a sheet of faux cockiness in his vocal performance to make Bryce feel tangible.
Hit-Monkey’s political commentary is as undiluted and potent as Daredevil’s religious commentary. Many of Marvel’s movies and shows have touched upon politics and religion, with Loki tackling free will and atheism and Captain America: The Winter Soldier hitting out at authoritarianism and governmental corruption. But, in hindsight, they were undermined by the studio’s love for big action set pieces and teasing the next entry in the franchise. Daredevil, on the other hand, managed to make Matt Murdock’s (Charlie Cox) religious roots an integral part of his journey. Similarly, hyper-nationalism, high-level corruption in the government, and the police’s penchant for extra-judicial punishment are injected into the very DNA of Hit-Monkey. It’s quite a bold move. It is also highly relevant. Because with each passing day, we are seeing in real time how religiously fueled nationalism is becoming one with politics, thereby giving rise to self-appointed gatekeepers of a country’s culture who prioritise fascism over democracy.
At the time of writing this article, there is no confirmation that Hit-Monkey has been picked up for a second season. And, to be honest, it’s likely not going to be, since Marvel is canceling shows that were previously in the hands of other streaming platforms such as Hulu. So, all we can do is hope that those in charge appreciate Hit-Monkey and give Will Speck and Josh Gordon free rein to make as many episodes of this show as they want to. Because the world needs more of a gun-wielding monkey and the spirit of an assassin commenting on the problematic socio-political institutions that are governing society, while beheading, skewering, and shooting down a bunch of goons.
