Superheroes are, by their very nature, pretty weird and wacky.

There really are some bizarre characters out there, and here are 10 craziest international heroes.

10. Zebraman (Japan)

Zebraman is the name of a Japanese superhero who was introduced in a 2004 live action movie of the same name.

The movie follows the antics of the titular character – a school teacher and family man called Shinichi Ichikawa – who dresses up as a character from a television show he watched when he was a kid.

An unpopular tokusatsu show, it was cancelled after just seven episodes, much to Ichikawa’s disappointment.

9. Cicak Man (Malyasia)

Cicak Man is a movie superhero from a 2004 offering in Malaysia. It’s a comedy in which the titular character – which translates to “Gecko-Man” for English speaking people.

Hairi Yatim, a loser who lives in the city of Metrofulus and accidentally drinks a coffee that is contaminated with a virus (Virus 266), thanks to an infected gecko.

He soon finds himself sticking to walls and making gecko noises inexplicably and he turns to his best friend, Danny Yusry Abdul, for help.

When more and more people in Metofulus start being infected by the virus, Hairi and Danny uncover some leads to a laboratory ran by Professor Klon, who it turns out is creating the virus with profits and nefarious intentions in mind.

Using his powers – which he discovers are actually threatening his own life – Danny must bring Professor Klun down before his own time runs out.

8. Super Commando Dhruva (India)

Coming out of India and from the pages of Raj Comics, Super Commando Dhruva is the closest thing on this list to the comic book characters that readers traditionally associate with the likes of Marvel and DC.

His real name is Dhruva Mehra and, when he first appeared, he was already an established hero, but his origin would be touched upon fairly quickly.

He was brought up in a circus and developed a means of communicating with the animals – an ability that would be the closest thing he ever had to an actual superpower.

He turned to fighting crime when Jubisko – the henchman of a rival circus boss – was sent to kill everyone in his circus, including Dhruva’s parents.

Utilising his genius intellect and mastery of various performing arts and related abilities (stunt biking, acrobatics, enhanced reflexes, expert marksmanship etc), he vowed revenge and then decided to continue as a hero even after he achieved it.

7. Bananaman (England)

No list about crazy international superheroes would ever be complete without England’s Bananaman.

His origin varied from source to source but, generally speaking, he was a boy named Eric, who was an ordinary school pupil living at 29 Acacia Road, Nuttytown.

Every time he ate a banana he would transform into the superhero Bananaman – essentially a banana-themed parody of Superman – who possessed powers like super-strength, super-durability and flight.

Amusingly, his “Kryptonite” was mouldy bananas.

He generally fought different villains every week, but his arch-enemy was General Blight – a criminal mastermind and a parody of Adolf Hitler, nonetheless.

6. Antboy (Denmark)

Antboy is a 2013 Danish movie with some very familiar superhero stereotypes – and some that really aren’t quite so stereotypical.

The movie follows a 12-year-old boy named Pelle who is bitten by a genetically modified any and develops superpowers as a result (think Ant-Man crossed with Spider-Man, only younger and sillier than them both).

Most of his superpowers are typical of what you might expect of a boy with ant abilities – increased strength and the ability to climb walls, for example – but some aren’t so typical.

Most incredibly, his urine becomes corrosive and, as a result, he can use it to burn through things.

He begins using his abilities to fight crime, but things get more interesting when a supervillain – The Flea – enters the fray and starts making life difficult for him.

5. Super Gran (Scotland)

For two and a half wonderful years in the mid-1980s, Tyne Tees Television produced a fun little show in the United Kingdom featuring Super Gran, a grandmother with superpowers.

While that may have been something of an exaggeration, Super Gran was not to be messed with.

Granny Smith acquired superpowers when she was hit by a magical ray gun and these were generally portrayed as being the ability to jump really high, some moderate super-strength and some more esoteric abilities like x-ray vision.

She used those powers to protect the fictional town of Chiselton from villains like Scunner Campbell, The Muscles and Tub.

4. The Bulb (Mexico)

Arguably the wackiest concept for a superhero ever, El Bulbo (or “The Bulb”) is exactly what he sounds like – a superhero light-bulb.

Featuring in publications by Shibalba Press and created by Sebastian Carrillo AKA “Bachan”, superheroes really don’t come much weirder than this little guy.

El Bulbo came into existence when a magical spell was cast on a television set and all of the bulbs inside it were brought to life.

Seriously. While most of the bulbs created a civil society and went about their bulby lives in peace, one of them thought he was Adolf Hitler and gave himself the name “Adolfo”, prompting El Bulbo to throw on a cape and spring into action as an unlikely hero.

His powers include being able to fly, the ability to fire disintegration rays and size alteration (he can grow pretty big too!).

3. Superdupont (France)

Superdupont is essentially a cross between Superman and everything that is considered to be stereotypical about French people and French national attitudes.

The son of the unknown soldier who is buried under the Arc de Triomphe, Superdupont is quite mysterious in that his real name is unknown and the source of his powers haven’t been revealed.

What is known is that he is essentially Superman-lite when it comes to his abilities (flight, limited super-strength etc).

He is an expert in Savate (a French form of boxing) and he avidly supports economic patriotism, smokes Gauloises cigarettes, drinks red wine, eats french cheese and refuses to be painted with China ink.

His main enemy is a terrorist organisation that is intent on destroying France which is, appropriately, called “Anti-France”.

2. Zooman (Mexico)

Like Antboy, this comic book hero clearly takes some influence from Spider-Man.

Zooman: El Hombre Mosca AKA The Human Fly is a Mexican superhero whose powers are fly-based.

The character’s name is Leny and, after being exposed to a mixture of calamine and silver, he found he had acquired extraordinary agility and the ability to fly.

Information isn’t exactly readily available about the character – in fact it’s extremely scarce – as he only appeared a handful of times.

It is known, however, that in addition to using his powers for good, he also used them to look up girls’ skirts!

1. The Rapeman (Japan)

Yes, really. Japan has a superhero who goes by the name of Rapeman.

Keiko Uasake – a handsome and muscular high school teacher by day and a vigilante by night – dispensing a surreal brand of justice through a business called “Rapeman Services”, which he runs with his uncle.

The business – the motto of which is “Righting wrongs through penetration”  – sees Rapeman doing exactly what it sounds like he does.

(source:whatculture.com)