Superhero Movies, The Next Two Years

The next two years are huge for superhero movies. Thanks to the success of franchises like Iron Man, Batman, and X-men, we are about to see a glut of costumed adventures. Like them or hate them (I’m a mix), it’s worth taking a quick look at what’s coming and what to expect.

2011

Thor: The next movie in the famed marvel movie universe (meaning it is set in the same world as the events of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk), Thor is Marvel’s take on norse mythology. If the trailer is any indication this movie looks bloated and a bit dull.

Green Lantern: DC’s first major superhero movie in a long time is a space opera epic about an interstellar peace-keeping force. The special effects and sci-fi look amazing, but the cast leaves something to be desired.

Captain America: The First Avenger: Also part of Marvel movie universe, this is the tale of a scrawny world war 2 soldier whose involvement in an army super-soldier project leaves him as a muscled warrior. It stars Chris Evans who is often very good (Sunshine is the best example), but like Thor and Green Lantern, there’s not much that makes this one look great.

X-Men: First Class: After a horrible third installment and a poor prequel, the X-men series (not part of the marvel movie universe) is on the rocks; this movie hopes to change all that. A prequel that will probably be more reinvention than anything, it traces the beginnings of the war between Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto. The only thing to really recommend it so far is the talented James Mcavoy playing Professor X.

The Wolverine: Another part of the X-men series, this film will seek to forget the other wolverine movie, by focusing on wolverine’s famed time in Japan. Being based on a comic by the great frank miller and surprisingly directed by Darren Aronofsky, there’s a surprising amount of hype behind this sequel-to-a-prequel.

2012

Untitled Spider-man reboot: Yawn, another remake/prequel thingy. This is a story with a brand new cast about Spider-man’s days in highschool. Mary Jane is out; Gwen Stacey is in. The only thing that really recommends this is it’s base in the excellent Ultimate Spider-man comics by Brian Bendis.

The Avengers: Yet another part of the Marvel movie universe, this will be a team up of Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye (new for this film, he will played by Jeremy Renner), and Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo). Directed by the amazing Joss Whedon (after Doctor Horrible, I have to call him amazing), this has the potential to be a lot of fun.

The Dark Knight Rises: The third and final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s batman trilogy is easily the superhero movie I am most looking forward to in the next two years. After two stellar Batman Movies and three even more stellar non-batman ones (Memento, The Prestige, Inception), this should be incredible. What do we know? The villain will not be Riddler, Penguin, or Mr. Freeze and Tom Hardy has been cast as someone.

Superman: They tried superman in 2006 playing off the popularity of Batman Begins, and it failed miserably. This time it is written and produced by the genius behind The Dark Knight and directed by Zack Snyder of 300 and Watchmen fame. We don’t know much except it will be a much darker take on “The man of steel”. Written by Chris Nolan? I’m sold.

Other titles that are being possibly developed are the marvel movieverse films Iron Man 3 and War-Machine. Also there is a possible Ant-man movie in the works directed by Scott Pilgrim’s Edgar Wright and starring Nathan Fillion; hopefully, that will happen.