Future Preview
Following
Big Hero 6, I have now caught up on Marvel movie releases, and it’s nearly time
to finish. Before that however, there is a little bit more I want to do. First
will be this quick preview of the superhero offerings for 2015 and 2016, gazing
into my crystal ball to see what lies upon the horizon. We start with a film
that is, to put it mildly, kind of a big deal.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Tony
Stark takes up building robots as a new hobby (maybe he met Hiro and Baymax?),
only to mess up on the morality, resulting in the killer robot Ultron causing a
robot uprising Skynet would be proud of. Ultron also enjoys quoting Pinocchio
and taking long walks on the beach. If the trailer is anything to go by, things
are gonna hit the fan even harder than they did in Captain America: The Winter
Soldier. We also have the full introductions of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch
to look forward to, as well as a brawl between Hulk and the new Hulkbuster
armour, alongside a lot of other things. My one concern is whether everything
will be able to fit into a two hour film, or if it may feel cramped. I hope
that won’t be the case, and after the previous Avengers film, I’m pretty
confident there’s nothing to worry about.
Release
date: May 1, 2015
Anticipation-O-Meter:
4/5
Ant-Man
Small, not far away.
Poor
Ant-Man hasn’t had an easy time getting his own film. There’s the well-documented
story of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World director Edgar Wright working on the film
for the best part of a decade before bailing on the eve of production (rumours
suggest that because Wright started working on the film before the Marvel
Cinematic Universe was a thing, his film stood alone and he didn’t want Marvel
connecting Ant-Man to their other films, so he left), now it’s stuck in the
shadow of the Avengers. Anyway, this one is said to be a heist film featuring
the origin of Scott Lang, who is being mentored by the previous Ant-Man, Hank
Pym. The trailer suggests a smaller scale film that wouldn’t be out of place in
Marvel’s Phase 1, and after Avengers, it could work as a nice breather film in
the vein of Guardians of the Galaxy before things kick off again for Civil War.
Just don’t let Derek Zoolander watch it, or he’ll be confused…
Release
date: July 17, 2015
Anticipation-O-Meter:
3/5
Fant4stic
Now
this one’s had an even rougher time than Ant-Man. This reboot of the Fantastic
Four is set to offer a darker and edgier interpretation of Marvel’s First
Family. That is just one source of controversy, with others including changing
Johnny Storm’s race, but not that of his sister Susan, comments from the cast
and crew that are apathetic of the comics at best and actively hostile at
worst, accusations of nepotism, accusations of the film only being made to hold on to the Fantastic Four rights to spite Marvel, rumours of on-set woes, and the reimagining of
Doctor Doom as an anti-social blogger (And you thought Norman Osborn Doom was
lame!)
The
trailer turned out fairly well, in that it wasn’t the complete disaster that
was expected. Having said that, it is fairly generic with very little
information given to get excited about, and awfully reminiscent of
Interstellar, as if the filmmakers were taking notes. Still, there is a bright
side of expectations being so low, in that it won’t take much to exceed them,
and even an average film will likely be considered a success. However, I've got a Jon Tron clip ready if the film does turn out to be as bad as everyone fears.
Release
date: August 7, 2015
Anticipation-O-Meter:
2/5
Deadpool
For
the brief period of time he was on screen before being replaced by Baraka, Ryan
Reynolds as Deadpool was the highlight of the otherwise dreadful X-Men Origins
Wolverine. Now the Merc with the Mouth is finally getting a chance to shine in
his own spin-off. Good news – he will be aware that he is in a film and will
frequently break the 4th wall (I would love it if that extended to
Deadpool vandalising the credits and giving himself credit for everything, or
the film opening with Deadpool watching X-Men Origins Wolverine and declaring
he could make a better film than that, with blackjack and hookers.) Given how
irreverent and anarchic Deadpool is as a character, this one should be a ton of
fun.
Release
Date: February 12, 2016
Anticipation-O-Meter:
5/5
Captain America: Civil War
Phase
3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to kick off with a major bang, as
Tony Stark plans to atone for creating Ultron by making all superheroes work
for the government. Captain America disagrees, and the result of their
ideological disagreement splits the Avengers in half, not to mention Winter
Soldier is still around and may well take advantage of the chaos. This film is
also set to see the debut of Black Panther and, as is heavily rumoured,
Spider-Man. Considering how good Winter Soldier was, I cannot wait.
Release
Date: May 6, 2016
Anticipation-O-Meter:
5/5
X-Men: Apocalypse
The
second of three X-Men films in 2016 is the biggest. X-Men Apocalypse is set to
end the trilogy that First Class began, and like Days of Future Past before it,
is going with a loose adaptation of a classic comic arc – in this case, the Age
of Apocalypse. The sequel hook at the end of Days of Future Past did a great
job of giving Apocalypse, a 5000 year old mutant who is a big fan of Survival
of the Fittest, a suitably ominous introduction, so hopefully the film will
build on that. This time, the film will be set in the 1980s, and newcomers
include younger versions of Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, Angel and the long
awaited return of Nightcrawler, having been absent since X-Men 2.
Release
date: May 27, 2016
Anticipation-O-Meter:
4/5
Gambit
The
third X-Men film of 2016 is another spin-off. However, unlike Deadpool, very
little is known about this one at the moment, likely because Deadpool and
Apocalypse have priority currently. What is known is that Gambit is set to be
played by handsome leading man Channing Tatum.
Release
date: October 7, 2016
Anticipation-O-Meter:
2/5 (I don’t have anything against this film, but it’s too far away with too
little known about to get excited yet. The score will probably rise given
time.)
Doctor Strange
After
science, mythology, and space, the next dimension to be added to the Marvel
Cinematic Universe is the world of magic. This will be spearheaded by Doctor
Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. The good doctor, who was namedropped in Winter
Soldier, is set to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch, continuing his quest to
be in every film ever made. There is a rumour that Strange will first appear in
Civil War, and he will join Captain America’s side because he wants to fight
Tony Stark over who’s the better Sherlock Holmes. Okay, so I started the rumour
just now…
Release
date: November 4, 2016
Anticipation-O-Meter:
3/5 (Again, this could climb over time.)
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