The coming year has a comic book movie coming out just about every other month. DC Comics/Warner Bros. officially starts their shared cinematic universe, while Marvel/Disney begins Phase 3 of theirs.
DC Films:
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice – Man of Steel is disliked in the comic community but it’s at least entertaining, and I expect this movie to follow in suit. Big explosions and a lot of posturing. The biggest problem I see it having is with the large amount of characters and concepts they plan on introducing in it.
Suicide Squad – I really wish they just made a Jared Leto Joker movie. I don’t find anything appealing about this. It will probably be an “edgy” movie and have a big youth following (like the next movie), but this is a trainwreck waiting to happen.
Marvel Films:
Deadpool – Deadpool was created as a shameless rip-off of DC’s Deathstroke, but over the years his book became more comedic to the point of Deadpool breaking the fourth wall regularly. Somewhere along the way kids latched onto the character. He’s just just edgy enough for kids to read, but still think they’re doing something they’re not supposed to (see Five Nights at Freddie’s). So what was once cool became commercialized and oversaturated. X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t help, considering that version of Deadpool is the least faithful interpretation ever. This new movie’s trailers do look great though. The costume works, the comedy works, and the action is as good as any other movie here.
Captain America: Civil War – The last offering in this series was one of my favorite movies ever, so I trust the Russo brothers to come correct. This could have a similar problem to BMvsSM in having too many things to focus on.
X-Men: Apocalypse – The X-Men are my favorite comic book franchise and Apocalypse is my favorite character. I have been waiting for this for 30 years. I wouldn’t have thought of Oscar Issac for the role, but I’ve loved him in everything I’ve seen him in. I like that they seem to be fully embracing the comic mythology.
Doctor Strange – Not much is known about this, but the supporting cast is solid. I couldn’t quite picture Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, but the first few set photos they’ve released look great. Marvel may have another sleeper like Guardians or Ant-Man on their hands.