Sharkboy And Lavagirl Return In New Netflix Movie We Can Be Heroes

Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez's next movie is the family superhero adventure We Can Be Heroes, which hits Netflix in January. The film is set in the same universe as his 2005 movie The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and the first images of those familiar characters in the new film have now been released.

Sharkboy and Lavagirl are no longer teenagers, but adults with a child of their own. Nevertheless, they're still wearing the same costumes as they did in the earlier movie, and they still their powers. While Taylor Dooley is back as Lavagirl, Taylor Lautner isn't returning as Sharkboy. He's been replaced by JJ Dashnaw, who previously appeared in Rodriguez's Spy Kids movies, while their half-shark daughter Guppy is played by Bird Box's Vivien Lyra Blair. Check the images out below:

We Can Be Heroes focuses on the children of a group of superheroes, who have been captured by alien invaders. The kids must team up to save their parents--and save the world in the process. The movie stars Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, YaYa Gosselin, Christian Slater, Christopher McDonald, and Vivien Blair. It hits Netflix on January 1.

During Comic-Con this year, Rodriguez explained it was the popularity of his earlier family movies that led him to make We Can Be Heroes for Netflix. "Kids watch those movies over and over because they're action films made for children and families," he said, via Collider. "Netflix came to me because the Spy Kids movies had done just so well on their service. They said 'could you make a series of films that do that?' And I said, 'I'd love to!'

"It was hard to make them for the theater because kids couldn't drive themselves to the theater and watch it a thousand times. Parents would have to take them. With Netflix, they can just sit there. I don't have to sit there and watch Glitter Force with my daughter, she can just click it as many times as she wants. That's why they get such high numbers on those types of films."