Anyone who doesn’t like comic book movies is going to be so fed up by the time we hit 2020, whereas those of us who are fans of the genre are going to have an almighty number of films to keep us going in that time.
Two weeks ago Warner Bros announced their 10 DC Comics films through til 2020 and just yesterday Marvel Studios made their announcement of nine “Phase Three” films which sees them through til 2019.
But which announcement has had the bigger impact? What should we be excited about and what should we be concerned about?
First off let’s remind ourselves at what’s to come from DC/WB:
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – March 25th 2016
- Suicide Squad – August 5th 2016
- Wonder Woman – June 23rd 2017
- Justice League Part One – November 17th 2017
- The Flash – March 23rd 2018
- Aquaman – July 27th 2018
- Shazam – April 5th 2019
- Justice League Part Two – June 14th 2019
- Cyborg – April 3rd 2020
- Green Lantern – June 19th 2020
So what are the big guns in that lineup?
Well it all kicks off with Batman v Superman and let’s face it, we’re all interested in that one. Mostly because… well it’s Superman… and Batman… together! It’s basically a film that millions of fans have wanted forever, and it’s finally going to be happening. But there is concern too, mainly that there’s going to be just too much going on in this one. We know there’s going to be Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, follow up from Man of Steel, setting up the Justice League with undoubted cameos and easter eggs. Is that going to make it all too busy? Time will tell on this one and, just like Man of Steel, I’m sure it will turn out to be a film that divides opinion.
Wonder Woman is finally getting her own film, which is long overdue. Comic Books are full of great, strong female characters and up until now the comic book movie world has been lacking in that area. Granted one out of ten movies with a female lead isn’t brilliant, but it’s a start. And the other problem is if Wonder Woman succeeds at the box office we could have a long wait for a sequel, seeing as there are other movies planned for the following three years (plus other stand alone Batman and Superman films which haven’t yet been announced).
What concerns me about these films are how are the new characters going to be handled? We know DC movies have previously been hit & miss. For every Dark Knight there’s a Green Lantern. I guess their track record is shakey when it comes to these types of film, so there’s an air of caution around many fans.
The other disappointment, for me, is the announcement of Ezra Miller as The Flash. Not because I have anything against Miller, I’ve never seen him in anything and he could turn out to be an awesome Barry Allen, but there’s a side effect of this casting which is my problem. That problem being the very definitive separation of the DC films and TV shows.
While Marvel’s cinema outings are tied in nicely with TV’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and the upcoming Netflix shows like Daredevil, DC has opted to have completely seperate universes for their films and TV shows. That means Ezra Miller as Barry Allen and not Grant Gustin from the CW’s “Flash”. And that in turn means no Stephen Amell as Green Arrow in the Justice League, which in turn means that my wife will be moaning about not being able to see him shirtless on the big screen. All joking aside, Amell’s portrayal of Oliver Queen could have fitted well into the DC movie universe and it’s a shame he (in all likelihood) won’t get that opportunity now.
The one hope to hang onto is that Guillermo del Toro, who is still working on getting Justice League Dark to the big screen, has hinted that he’d be open to casting Matt Ryan (from TV’s Constantine) as John Constantine in his film even though the film and TV worlds are separate. So maybe there’s a chance for Amell yet?
Overall scorecard: Sounds good on paper but based on previous there are concerns. B-
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So what of Marvel’s spread of films, aka Phase 3? Again let’s run through the list:
- Captain America: Civil War – May 6th 2016
- Doctor Strange – November 4th 2016
- Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5th 2017
- Thor: Ragnarok – July 28th 2017
- Black Panther – November 3rd 2017
- Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 – May 4th 2018
- Captain Marvel – July 6th 2018
- Inhumans – November 2nd 2018
- Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 – May 3rd 2019
For starters I think Marvel have had a stroke of genius with their timing of this announcement, coming off the back of the Age of Ultron trailer which hit the internet earlier this week. That trailer has been so popular that there’s a real positive vibe around the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week. And with their track record so far I can understand why.
Guardians of the Galaxy was a big surprise hit when it released this year, so the fact Marvel have brought the sequel forward is good news as far as I’m concerned. James Gunn is behind the camera once again and I’m expecting GotG2 to be a big player in Phase 3. One major question though, can the soundtrack be as good as the first one?
Prior to that though we have Civil War, the third Captain America film. Civil War was one of the first big comic stories I read when I got into comics a couple of years ago and seeing it adapted for the big screen will be interesting. How will they deal with the Superhero Registration Act and what will the big trigger be that sets it in motion? (chances are the events of Age of Ultron)
But adapting this won’t be without it’s problems; will they be turning the popular Iron Man into the big bad of this story? How will fans react to that? Are there enough superheroes in the MCU to make Civil War work yet? Plus we now know that Black Panther will be playing a big part in this film, so with everything that’s going on will this really be a Captain America film or another Avengers film in all but name? Either way I trust the Russo brothers to make it a highly entertaining affair.
Infinity War is coming! The groundwork for this has been laid as far back as the first Thor and Captain America films and the reveal of Thanos at the end of Avengers Assemble’s post-credits scene. It’s been building slowly ever since, with Thanos’ appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy the most recent plot point. And it all comes to a head in another tw0-part story in 2018/19.
This is likely to be a very different Avengers team than the one we’ve seen in Avengers Assemble and the one that we’ll see in Age of Ultron. Expect a couple of the big names to have moved on and some of the newer names (the likes of Ant Man, Black Panther, Doc Strange) to have joined the Avengers ranks. And will Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones be joining after their Netflix runs? The possibilities are exciting.
On the flip side, what of the Inhumans? The Inhumans are not as well known by the general public as some of the other names, but then neither were the Guardians and that seemed to work out ok.
Overall scorecard: Success breeds expectation, hopes are high and are outweighing concerns at present. A-
So, Marvel is coming out ahead of DC/Warner in my book; they are taking little known characters and turning them into box office heavyweights. They’re giving the big guns great storylines. They’re bringing in fan favourite characters like Black Panther and Captain Marvel and continuing to build this huge universe.
While the folks over at DC/Warner are taking massive names and having problems making massive hits. They’re separating their film and TV worlds and cramming a lot into their next offering. It could all turn out to be completely awesome, but the problem is Marvel have stolen a strong lead and everyone else is playing catch-up. It’s not just Warner who has this problem, but Fox and Sony too.
What do you think? Which set of movies are you most excited to see? What are you expecting from both companies? Let us know in the comments.