If you're a fan of superheroes, get ready to spend some time - and money - at the movies.
By our reckoning, there are 27 big budget movies featuring caped crusaders, masked avengers and entire football teams of superheroes and villains coming to the big screen by 2020.
Marvel's slate includes next year's The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man; Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange in 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther in 2017; The Avengers: Infinity War - Part I, Captain Marvel and Inhumans in 2018; and The Avengers: Infinity War - Part II in 2019.
DC's side of the superhero ledger includes supervillain flick Suicide Squad planned for 2016, Shazam (with Dwayne Johnson playing Black Adam) hitting theatres in 2019, two Justice League movies (for 2017 and 2019), and in 2020, a Cyborg movie and a Green Lantern reboot. More X-Men and Spider-Man films are also planned.
Do we need all these superhero films? Are there enough stories to tell in these universes?
We asked Dominic Corry and Karl Puschmann to assemble to assess their worth ...
May: Avengers: Age Of Ultron
The lynchpin of Marvel's 'Phase Two' strategy is next year's biggest blockbuster and introduces several new characters (Vision, Scarlett Witch, Quicksilver) with longterm futures. It may be the last time we see the "classic"
Avengers
line-up for a while. All signs point to awesome, especially with James Spader as the titular villain.
- Dominic Corry
June: Fantastic Four
The previous Fantastic Four films were bright, colourful nonsense that provided a wild ride for kids and nothing but disappointment for everyone else. That situation looks to be reversed now that hip director Josh Trank (Chronicle) is calling the shots. As long as things don't get too bogged down retelling the boring old origin story this could finally be the film these legacy heroes deserve.
- Karl Puschmann
July: Ant-Man
By rights Ant-Man should have been the crazed acid trip of the Marvel universe. Sadly auteur Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) got up from his director's chair right before filming began and never sat back down again. Talk about a bad buzz. His replacement is journeyman Peyton Reed (Yes Man) so expect Wright's flashy-weirdness to be all but excised. This leaves the success of the obscure hero to now rest entirely, and a little unfairly, on the likeability of star Paul Rudd (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy).
- KP
March: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Warner Bros/DC's late-arriving response to Marvel Studio's incredibly successful cinematic world-building has a lot to prove, especially with the ever-polarising Ben Affleck playing Batman and the relatively muted response to director Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. The corporate rivalry informs anticipation for the film to a certain degree.
- DC
May: Captain America: Civil War
In comics the
Civil War
storyline is a biggie. It tore the Marvel universe in two, pit hero against hero and threw up all sorts of moral quandaries. Pre-buzz suggests an adherence to the book, so expect Robert Downey Jr's Iron-Man to square off against a renegade Cap' as well as cameos galore from Marvel's merry band of heroes. Just don't expect closure by the end credits.
Civil War
is a big deal and the fallout will likely drag out across many films.
- KP
May: X-Men: Apocalypse
Despite not being terribly good, Days of Future Past made a mint, ensuring this follow-up which will apparently feature some time-travel assisted re-casting. They should just ditch this version of X-Men already and start again. If any superhero franchise has been crying out for a reboot, it's this one.
- DC
July: Doctor Strange
Marvel has again done a great job of matching source material and director with the appointment of Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) to this film. His background in supernatural horror flicks lends itself perfectly to the dark, occultist vibe of sorcerer Doc Strange. With Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek: Edge of Darkness) donning a cape and sprouting his best evil magician goatee for the role, Marvel could be conjuring up its darkest movie yet.
- KP
August: Suicide Squad
One of the more surprising titles amongst Warner Bros' multi-film announcement was this 'team of villains' comic book nobody has heard of. Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor is due to turn up, and Fury's David Ayer is directing. If recently-rumoured potential cast members (Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie) are any indication, they're going big.
- DC
November: Sinister Six
Recent talk suggests Sony may be re-thinking their entire Spider-Man strategy, but this supervillain team-up movie remains on the books for now. The Amazing Spider-Man 2's creative bet-hedging and overall cruddiness has prevented any genuine excitement forming. That title isn't helping. Sounds a bit panto. - DC
March: Untitled Wolverine
He's so great in the X-Men films, but solo Hugh Jackman's Wolverine flicks have offered nothing but rampant disappointment and general suckiness. Frankly it's astonishing to see 20th Century Fox having another crack at getting it right. They're either true believers or gluttons for punishment. Brute numbers dictate that eventually everyone's favourite Canadian mutant will get a decent headline flick, but will it be this one? Dunno. For now it's far too early to be having any hopes, let alone thinking about getting them up. Let's just say we're aware of this movie's existence and leave it at that.
- KP
May: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
The surprise super smash GotG distinguishes itself from its brethren in Marvel's canon because its cult director James Gunn has managed to make himself a crucial part of its marketing narrative and cinematic signature. Even more so than Joss Whedon's steady steerage of The Avengers it's unlikely that another director could capture the spirit of Gunn's galactic ragtag team. So for part two you can expect more of the same. Only sequel-lier. And we're totally okay with that. - KP
June: Wonder Woman
Little is known about Warner Bros cinematic plans for the Amazonian warrior princess other than that they're looking for a female director and that Fast and Furious actress Gal Gadot will be strapping on the heroine's gold bracelets and getting in some practice with a lasso. The big question at this point is will Wonder Woman's arrival on the big screen herald the first real threat to Disney's monopoly on the lucrative princess market? I mean, why would little girls want to let it go when they could instead kick its ass?
- KP
July: Thor: Ragnorak
Kim from Home & Away's norse lunkhead gets an apocalyptic title for the third entry in the intergalactic franchise, which will no doubt inform a marketing campaign that promises a conclusive storyline. If only. Something suggests there's no tangible end in sight for any of Marvel's heavy-hitters.
- DC
July: Fantastic Four 2
Forget the first one, this is the Fantastic Four flick fans should really be excited about. All the boring introductions and origin blah-blah will have been taken care of meaning it's clobberin' time as soon as the titles finish rolling. And even if the first film is a fantastic fail, this sequel could still turn things around. Don't forget that Captain America's first outing was pretty crappy, whereas its sequel, Winter Soldier, did just about everything right. Iron Man 2 you say? Yes, well... Hmm.
- KP
November: Justice League Part One
Hopefully Batman Vs Superman will prove to be more than just a table-setter for DC's first proper superteam movie. Seems odd that this is coming after Suicide Squad. Brainiac should be the villain. And maybe Joker. All that said, any movie with 'Part One' in the title has a tendency to induce instant fatigue. - DC
November: Black Panther
We know only three things for certain about the Black Panther movie; 1) It's not about a militant civil rights activist in the '70s, 2) Marvel will go out out to protect the historic legacy of the first ever mainstream black comic superhero and 3) After absolutely nailing it in the James Brown biopic Get On Up, star Chadwick Boseman was an inspired choice for the Panther.
- KP
March: The Flash
The big screen Flash is likely to continue DC's favouring of dark, gritty, realism over Marvel's preference for bright, shiny, comic book action. That will be especially handy here giving the flick a point of difference from its surprisingly good, though colourful, television counterpart. Aside from confirmation that Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) is suiting up as the speedy crimefighter there's nothing else to go on - no writer, no director, no nothing. No expectations? Exactly. - KP
May: Avengers: Infinity War Part One
All signs point to this film being populated by second tier characters, functioning both as a table-setter for Part Two and a launching pad for the next generation of Marvel heroes. Just thinking about it is exhausting. Splitting the resolution of the Thanos storyline into two films feels just as shameless as splitting a Twilight or Harry Potter book into two.
- DC
May: The Amazing Spider-Man 3
The only amazing thing about the latest batch of Spider-Man films is how awful they've been. In attempting to find a positive here all I could come up with is that this third film should mercifully close the book on this gen's Spidey trilogy. Ignore this and instead look forward to the inevitable reboot.
- KP
July: Captain Marvel
It surprised many that this character, and not Black Widow, was announced as the subject of Marvel's first lady superhero movie. A Captain Marvel movie offers a much broader scope - it's a positively interstellar character. Anything that brings these characters deeper into space is a good thing. Hooray for space! - DC
July: Aquaman
Who knows what DC are playing at casting ex-Conan Jason Momoa as the king of Atlantis. His hulking physique is hardly hydrodynamic. Still, this should put an end to all the long-running gags about how crappily ineffectual Aquaman is out of the water. Even without any superpowers Momoa could kick ass.
- KP
November: Inhumans
After knocking one of the park with Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel are confident enough to reploy their (admittedly proven) ability to successfully launch characters with little to no name-recognition. This is yet another superhero team, but one with an alien-centric origin story. Like Guardians. But different. Hopefully.
- DC
April: Shazam
If there's any actor working today who looks like he stepped out of a superhero comic book, it's Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. He was rumoured to be involved in this project (about a boy who turns into a Superman-esque figure when he yells 'shazam') for years, but when it was formally announced, he was revealed to be playing the villain, Black Adam. Maybe they're going CG for Shazam himself. Nutty.
- DC
May: Avengers: Infinity War Part Two
Currently the most significant film on the superhero horizon, and the movie on this list I'm personally most excited to see, this is when Marvel will seemingly finally deliver on the Thanos-related promises made during the end credits of 2012's
The Avengers
. Thanos is one of Marvel's best villains, and his universe-threatening plans should provide a suitably epic canvas for the climax to both the Avengers' primary storyline and the actors' existing contracts.
- DC
June: Justice League Part Two
Even if Warners do a good job of building up their shared universe over the next few years, it's difficult to imagine this not being overshadowed by the Avengers climax that comes out a month before it. Even from this early juncture, Infinity War Part Two is an exciting prospect. A second Justice League movie is not. Prove us wrong Zack!
- DC
April: Cyborg
It seemed like Warner Bros were getting a little ahead of themselves when they announced a Justice League spin-off film featuring this second-tier character, who's due to show up first in Batman Vs Superman. Marvel decided to relegate their version of the old school half-man/half-machine character (Dethlok) to television in Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D.. A big screen rendition of the familiar trope will require something special.
- DC
June: The Green Lantern
It's universally agreed that the 2011 Ryan Reynolds vehicle was the Green Lantern's blackest night. By the time this reboot finds its way to cinema screens nine long years will have passed, giving even the staunchest hater plenty of time to mellow. With no concrete details and only a rumour of a possible Cyborg suffix to go on we're gonna go ahead and say that Green Lantern will be the greatest superhero film of all time. Because it's so far away by the time it finally rolls around no one's gonna remember this ridiculous call anyway.
- KP
- nzherald.co.nz
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