GregHowley.com

Upcoming Comic Book Films

June 25, 2015 - - -

I recently happened across this article, which provides a list of 51 upcoming comic films. Many were ones I knew of, but some I'd had no idea about. I thought it would be fun to go through the list and comment on my excitement/anticipation for each film and my expectation of how good each might be. I'm going to leave certain ones out, especially sequels and films with no release dates, but if you want the full list along with DenOfGeek's commentary, check out the above link.

Ant-Man (2015) - Coming out next month, this is one of only 2 or 3 must-see films for me in 2015. I expect it to be as much an action-comedy as Guardians of the Galaxy was. I'm also hopeful that even though it's a one-off Marvel film, far less integrated than Captain America or Thor, that we'll see Ant-Man make an appearance in future Marvel films like Civil War or Infinity War.

Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four (2015) - My hopes are low. Reed Richards still looks way too young, The Thing actually doesn't look as good as Michael Chiklis's depiction, and I've got the sneaking suspicion that they're going to turn The Invisible Woman into a sexpot again. Ugh. Johnny Storm being black confuses me a bit - as much as if they'd made Wolverine blond or Black Widow an old lady - but I think he'll work out much better than the other three.

Bananaman (2015) - This one is... wait, what?? Did that say Bananaman??? Okay - I've got no idea about this movie. What is this malarkey? #PeelThePower?? Okay I don't even. It seems like this movie knows that it will be ridiculous, so maybe it will be worth renting. There doesn't seem to be much of anything online about who will be in it, and it's slated for 2015. Weird.

Deadpool (2015) - Everyone seems super-excited for the R-rated hijinx of Deadpool. I guess the movie will probably be pretty good. I'll be renting it sometime in 2016, I imagine.

Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) - This one looks to be horribly train-wreck terrible. I'm not even sure I want to rent it. DC has just been making awful movies. How many other synonyms for bad can I come up with? Also, Dawn of Justice? Yeah - I get that they're trying to kickstart the Justice League, but seriously. Each Superman movie has been worse than the one before it.

Captain America: Civil War (2016) - This is probably the movie I'm looking forward to most right now. Even more than Star Wars or Doctor Strange. Tom Holland's new Spider-man will be first appearing here, and I couldn't be more excited to see Spider-man trading quips with Iron Man.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - I'm moderately hopeful for the next X-Men movie, given how great Days of Future Past turned out. I'll be hoping for more amazing Quicksilver scenes, as his set piece in his first film was the best part of that movie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (2016) - Could not care less.

Suicide Squad (2016) - I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I guess it could go either way. So The Joker and Harley Quinn go super goth and join up with some other villains on a mission like the effing A-Team. Alright, I'll give it a shot. But when the only publicity the film has gotten so far is Joker slapping Harley around abusively, it's difficult to get excited about the film.

Gambit (2016) - This one feels like a serious gamble, pun intended. People seem to either love or hate Gambit, and it seems like it would be so so easy to make him into a terrible caricature of himself. The character could so easily become stupid. And Channing Tatum is going to play Gambit? I don't know - I just don't know.

Doctor Strange (2016) - Another one I'm really looking forward to. Benedict Cumberbatch is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and will be taking a place alongside The Avengers. He'll be a magic man just like Scarlet Witch, and you know we'll see him in The Infinity Wars.

Bloodshot (2017) - I had no idea what this one was until I read up on it. I've got low hopes for this film, given that it's Sony rather than Marvel making it. I expect the film's quality to fall somewhere between Green Lantern and the standalone Wolverine movie.

Untitled Wolverine Sequel (2017) - Another one? Whatever. I'll rent it. The Wolverine-only bits in Days of Future Past were good enough, and Hugh Jackman is doing a great job with the character, but the Wolverine films aren't nearly as good as the ensemble films that he joins.

Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 (2017) - Yes! Yes. Just yes. I'm all on-board for this one. You know that this sequel will set up Infinity War in a big way.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman (2017) - I so wanted the Wonder Woman movie to be good. I really wanted it to be something I'd like. But they should have cast Gina Carano rather than Gal Godot. When you've got a film in which a woman needs to be intimidating, you need me as the audience to believe that were I in a room with the woman, I'd be scared of getting my ass kicked. When I saw Gina Carano in Haywire, I got that. All too often, it's visible from the way an actress moves that her punches and kicks don't carry a lot of force. I don't at the moment have the confidence that Gal Godot will pull off a convincingly intimidating Wonder Woman. I suppose that's in part because of my expectation that DC will screw things up yet again.

Marvel-assisted Spider-Man movie (2017) - The first Spider-Man movie in a while for which I've got seriously high hopes. This time, Marvel is on-board. The kid they've got playing Spider-man looks too young, but apparently the photos on the internet are from 4-5 years ago. And this movie is still a while out, so maybe the age thing isn't so much an issue. I wonder who we'll get as a villain. Kraven? Mysterio? The Vulture? They've gone through so much of his Rogue's gallery that they may have to recycle villains. I'd love it if they saved Doc Oc for a third sequel and then led that into Superior Spider-man. They could even keep the same actor if they did that.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - The Thor movies haven't grabbed me as much as some of the other Avenger films, but I'm all on board for Thor's finale.

The Justice League: Part One (2017) - Do we have to? Okay, fine.

The LEGO Batman Movie - I guess this will have the same Batman from the Lego movie. To me, this barely qualifies as a super hero film, but whatever.

The Flash (2018) - They're recasting The Flash again? And this is in the same universe as the new Justice League? No way that this movie will be as good as the new Flash TV series.

Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (2018) - The big one that all the Marvel movies have been leading up to. I put my money on one or more Avengers being killed off. Or perhaps this is the movie where Hulk has flown away to nobody-knows-where, Tony Stark has retired, and Thor is busy with Ragnarok. So Captain America leads The Vision, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Falcon, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, and Black Panther to face Thanos. And they get their asses handed to them. Then in the second film, Captain Marvel and the original Avengers show up to help.

Black Panther (2018) - I know nothing about the character, but I expect the movie to be excellent.

VideomanAnimated Spider-Man movie (2018) - Animated? Interesting. I loved the old Spider-friends cartoon when I was a kid. Maybe this one will have Video Man or Swarm.

Aquaman (2018) - Seriously? I mean, if anything could be worse than the train wreck of a movie that was the new Superman, it would be this. What is wrong with you, DC?

Captain Marvel (2018) - Along with Civil War and Infinity War, this is my most-looked-forward-to Marvel film. I know very little about Captain Marvel, but I've got a great feeling about the character.

Shazam! - It's... ugh. It's DC's Captain Marvel. I mean, seriously. They should just have let this one go.

Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 (2019) - Yess. See above.

Inhumans (2019) - I expect a lot of character from the Agents of SHIELD TV show to make an appearance in the Inhumans film. And the tie-ins will be great if the TV show is still around in four more years.

Cyborg (2020) - So apparently Cyborg is a cyborg. That's what I know. Oh, wait... it's a DC movie? Too bad.

Green Lantern (2020) - Another Green Lantern movie? Sigh.

Chew (2020) - What's this one? Oh interesting. This might actually be really good. Tony Chu is a police detective in a weird dystopia where poultry is illegal because ZOMG BIRD FLU! And he has the power to learn how anything died by eating it. In a weird flesh-eating-related link, Tony Chu is going to be played by Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead, whom I really like. Also good: David Tennant and Felicia Day in the film.

The New Mutants (2020) - This will apparently be the follow-up to the X-Men movies because, you know, the First Class cast will be too old. Expect Cannonball, Karma, Mirage, Wolfsbane, and Sunspot. I do not know any of those characters. Still, if it's the same makers as the other films, it may be good.

Starlight - An old retired hero comes back for one job. There's no info by which to guess whether it will be any good or not.

Chrononauts - This sounds a lot like Voyagers without Phineas Bogg. Two guys travelling through time, fixing problems, and fighting supervillains. Could be good. Who knows?

SandmanSandman - This is the Neil Gaiman story. I have no clue about the plot, but the story is supposed to be good, so I'm hopeful.

X-Force - Seems like another ensemble movie with a cast from other X-Men universe movies. Maybe Wolverine, maybe Deadpool, maybe Cable, maybe Cyclops, Colossus, or Archangel.

Untitled Female Superhero Spider-Man Movie - Weird. So, I'm guessing The Black Cat? They've done her terribly in the past, so I'm hopeful a new one can be good. I wonder if Marvel is at the helm?

Untitled Venom Movie - I really don't know how I feel about the villain-as-main-character movies. Venom is a really interesting character, but he's kind of indelibly tied in with Spider-Man's costume. The original story comes from back when I used to actually buy Spider-Man comics, and I remember Spidey in the black outfit before Venom was a thing. I think he got that costume in the Beyond Wars or something, which I never read. They could really do that story well, especially if they give Spider-Man the costume as a reward at the end of Infinity War and then have him do an entire movie with the black outfit before we even get a hint of Venom. Maybe have the suit by itself move at the end in the stinger.

So that's it. Super hero movies are the new thing, and that's one hell of a list. It was cool to learn about things like Chew and Chrononauts, which I'd known nothing about. Which movies are you most looking forward to?