Co-written and directed by Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel for a film school thesis project, The League is a short movie about a superhero union in Chicago.

When the firm decides to expand nationally, old relationships come to the fore, especially that between founder Grey Raven and his former sidekick Sparrow.

Personally, I was amazed that this kind of work could be done in an academic setting. The characters aren’t really original — Batman/Robin as the model, obviously, plus the Blue Blaze, who has a Green Lantern-like power ring — but the execution is quite impressive.