Oh boy, I've been putting this off for too long. I'll limit myself to talking about what Disney, Warners, and Sony have been up to. There have been a few odd independent superhero films in circulation, like "Secret Headquarters" and "Samaritan," which both ended up on streaming, but nothing big enough to make much of an impact.
First up, the MCU is gearing up for Phase Five. Many updates to many shows and films were presented at the latest D23 event, but honestly nothing that was released to the public much grabbed my attention. I like that Marvel has used their success as an opportunity to delve into some of their more obscure characters, and create different kinds of shows, like the delightfully low-stakes, irreverent "She-Hulk" and the spooky one-off "Werewolf By Night." However, an awful lot of them like "Moon Knight" and "Ms. Marvel" have been oddly formulaic. It also feels like we're overdue for an "Avengers" scale project that will allow all of these characters to interact and introduce some significant threats to the world again.
2023's film slate looks decent, with the new "Ant-Man" film giving new Big Bad, Kang, more screentime, "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3" capping off James Gunn's trilogy, and "The Marvels" having Carol Danvers share top billing with Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan. I'm actually looking forward to "The Marvels" the most since learning what the plot is. 2022, however, had several films that didn't meet expectations. There weren't any outright bombs, and I suspect I like "Love and Thunder" more than most, but I'm tempering expectations. Likewise, while I'll probably watch most of the 2023 Disney+ MCU series, the only one I'm actually looking forward to is the second season of "Loki." The "Echo," "Ironheart," "Secret Invasion," and the Agatha Harkness series have yet to really grab my attention. The new "Daredevil" show premiering in 2024 also worries me, because everything so far points to a toned down, more family friendly show. This isn't necessarily bad, but the existing fanbase will make any discourse unbearable.
Over at Warners, which is now Warner Bros. Discovery, things have been pretty chaotic since the Zaslav regime came in and started canceling projects left and right. James Gunn may now be in charge, but there's a lot in the pipeline from the previous team. Films that were already delayed have been delayed again. 2022's "The Batman," did okay at the box office, but "Black Adam" was a dud. The less said about the "Super Pets" movie, the better. Right now, the 2023 slate includes "Shazam!" and "Aquaman" sequels, "Blue Beetle," and the endlessly beleaguered "The Flash." I expect more delays, so we'll probably see something bumped back to 2024 with non-DCEU film "Joker: Folie a Deux." "Shazam!" is the one I'm most looking forward to, because the first film was genuinely a good time. Also, I gotta see "The Flash" because at this point the potential trainwreck is too big to ignore.
The brightest spot in the DCEU at the moment is arguably their "Peacemaker" HBO Max spinoff, which was a hit earlier in the year. However, at the moment it's the only DCEU series, despite a lot of other DC shows in circulation. With the Arrowverse more or less canceled, most of the remaining DC television projects are unconnected with each other, like "Pennyworth," "Doom Patrol," "The Sandman," the upcoming "Gotham Knights," and the Penguin series. This means a much more diverse set of shows that serve different audiences, though I regret that most of them, like the very YA "Gotham Knights," hold little interest for me.
Finally, Sony is still hanging in there. After the awful "Morbius" film, Sony is still trying to find a "Spider-man" spinoff that will hit the level of success that "Venom" has. "Kraven the Hunter," directed by J.C. Chandor, will be their next attempt in October, with "Madame Web" due sometime in 2024. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse" remains not only my most anticipated Sony film, but most anticipated superhero film. There's no word yet as to whether Tom Holland will be back as Spidey, and that's just fine with me. He deserves a nice, long break.
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