The Secret Headquarters trailer basically turns Owen Wilson into Iron Man

If you ever doubt the influence and reach of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, just look at the impact it’s had on superhero movies. The MCU made every other studio hungry for its own multimedia, cross-platform “cinematic universe” series, but it’s also heavily influenced the look, feel, and tone of most of the superhero movies and TV in its wake. Look at the trailer. Secret Headquarters, Paramount’s upcoming hero film starring Owen Wilson as a tech-based superhero.

According to the trailer, his character was empowered as Earth’s guardian by an alien intelligence, Green Lantern-style. But the iconography, from the glowing blue object in the center of his super-suit’s chest plate to the glowing HUD that surrounds him in his suit when he flies, is pure MCU Iron Man imagery. Even bringing in Michael Peña as comic relief (and maybe a bad guy, unless that brief glimpse of a face-off is a red herring) is a previous MCU move.

It’s not so Secret Headquarters It feels very much like an MCU movie, in terms of the intended audience and central story. It actually looks much more like Robert Rodriguez’s 2001 movie Spy Kids, where the children of a couple of high-tech international super-spies learn their parents’ secret, then get involved in an international thriller. Spy Kids Energy, which was once the predominant mode of family-friendly action filmmaking, is now rare. However Secret Headquarters takes it more literally than most, with a plot that sounds like a straight-up hero-era update of Rodriguez’s film.

CatfishHenry Joost and Ariel Schulman, filmmakers, co-wrote and directed the movie. Wilson plays Charlie, who accidentally gets access to his underground lair, which is full of high-tech alien equipment. His friends and he are both shocked to discover that their father is a hero. Paramount’s summary of what comes next is brief and to the point: “When villains attack, they must team up to defend the headquarters and save the world.”

Paramount Plus debuts Secret Headquarters August 12.