These movies are worth waiting for! (we hope) Super hero movies have been gaining in popularity since Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins/The Dark Knight franchise debuted in 2005. Since then we have had at least 40 main stream super hero movies. That’s an average of 3.5 major releases per year.
What does 2018 look like? Well from the looks of it, it could be our biggest super hero movie year yet with 10 slated big screen releases!
February 2018 – Black Panther ( Marvel )
Following his debut in Captain America: Civil War, Chadwick Boseman is slated to return as everyone’s favorite Wakandan Super Hero. The Black Panther fever has gripped the comics industry as Black Panther cosplay has become a staple at most major shows across the US. The only thing that the movie might lack is super hero name recognition, with a villain called Erik Killmonger, it doesn’t exactly strike the same fear into one’s heart as Venom or Carnage. But here’s hoping that the stakes will be high enough and it will be a movie worthy of a sequel.
March 2018 ( Postponed ) – The Flash
Although the WB’s Flash TV series has been rolling along nicely since 2014, executives can’t seem to come to an accord on Barry’s big screen debut. Countless rewrites have plagued the production of the movie and the director’s helm has been passed back and forth. With the uncertainty looming over the movie, we think it’s safe to say 2018 will be another year without the flash. But, if the stars aligned and did bring us a surprise, we would welcome it with open arms. We hope that the next release date executives give the movie will hold because Flashpoint or a big screen debut of Impulse sound very enticing!
April 2018 – New Mutants ( Fox )
Every now and then a movie’s subject matter will throw you for a loop. And although mutants with super hero abilities is nothing new, The New Mutants franchise (one of the more obscure hero franchises in the world of comics) will be coming to life in their very own movie rendition. This one was as surprising an announcement as the original announcement of Scott Lang / The Ant Man. It’s wonderful to see the lesser known characters getting their big screen debut and we can’t wait to see what Fox will do with the New Mutants franchise. We relish the opportunity to not only see Cable, Domino and Deadpool, but also Cannonball, Blink, Boom-Boom, Shatterstar and Warpath!
May 2018 – Avengers Infinity War 1/2 ( Marvel )
Of course you saw this one coming from a mile away. The Avengers movie franchise has been one of the biggest grossing movie franchises of all time. What’s not to love about eight of your favorite super heroes all crushing the bad guys in a single flick? So the long awaited infinity war will be coming to fruition in a two-parter, culminating Thanos’ rise to power and the infinity gauntlet that they’ve been building up to throughout the marvel movie universe. We hope they can give it the grandness that it deserves when the team and Thanos square off!
June 2018 – Deadpool 2 ( Fox )
Yeay! Everyone’s favorite wise cracking smart-alec is back. Ryan Reynolds returns to the cast to put his signature vulgar spin on America’s favorite super hero. Deadpool mania has gripped comic-cons across the nation as he has turned out in spades to be the most cosplayed hero of the 2016 and 2017 con seasons. Will the deadpools be back to run amok in 2018? You better believe it. Deadpool 2 is bringing a set of new characters to the big screen including Josh Brolin’s Cable and Zazie Beetz’ Domino. Deadpool 2 promises all the hype and we hope that it delivers on its promises.
July 2018 – Ant Man & TheWasp ( Marvel )
Next to The New Mutants movie release, this one could prove the biggest sleeper, mainly because The Wasp is a lesser known character in the Marvel Universe. The Ant-Man was a sleeper hit in 2015 doing half of a bil’ at the box office. Marvel looks to capitalize on the series and its sleeper status by rolling out a much anticipated sequel. Maybe it was just Paul Rudd’s charisma that had everyone clamoring like ants to see this one? Whatever the magic was, we hope it’s back in Antman and the Wasp!
October 2018 – Venom ( Sony )
This one is a personal favorite and we hope they get it right! Ever since the cameo of Venom in the Toby Maguire Spiderman run, we got Venom fever. He’s everyone’s favorite Anti-Hero after all. And now he finally gets his own flick. So while he probably won’t be his more notorious/villainous side in the latest installment–hey, even villains have a heart–we can see him kicking some villain butt to the tune of Carnage or some of his other antagonists. We hope the special effects are up to grade as this is going to be some serious alien vs. alien action!
November 2018 – Dark Phoenix ( Fox )
While Jean Grey has been portrayed by several actresses over the years, there’s something about the explosive power of the Phoenix that has us turning up the anticipation a notch for the latest X-Men franchise big screen bash. And while X-Men Apocalypse was more like X-Men Flopalypse by the numbers, we hope that the Dark Phoenix will spice things up a little for the movie franchise. If they can capture the scale of her powers and match them with smart special effects and costuming, Dark Phoenix has a chance at bringing home the gold!
December 2018 – Animated Spider-Man ( Sony )
What’s not to love about a love-able friendly neighborhood spider-man? We can’t think of very much. Enter Miles Morales, next to Peter, he’s one of the most beloved figures in the marvel universe. We are excited to see a super hero movie release in the form of an animated flick, mostly because The Incredibles did such an incredible job for pixar on the big screen. Also, the entire villain roster could be up for grabs since animation isn’t limited in the same way as live action. Go Miles!
December 2018 – Aqua Man ( Warner Bros.)
When Dr. Strange was announced and then Benedict Cumberbatch was attached to the title, we got goosebumps. We started thinking, what if Aquaman got a crack at the big screen? And then what if Jason Momoa got added to the cast? Well lookey what we got here. We hope that Aquaman can follow in Wonder Woman’s footsteps and really blow it out of the water for the DC universe since they need a pick me up following a sluggish run with some of their recent releases at the box office. Aquaman may just have the same charisma that carried Wonder Woman across the gates of Valhalla.
Which movie for 2018 are you most excited to see? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Joseph A. Michael
twitter.com/josephamichael