Next four years bring exciting superhero films

Chiara Ty

From toddlers to twenties, Marvel to DC, everyone loves a good superhero movie.

With powers ranging from flight and super speed, to telekinesis and the strength to defeat enemies in a single punch, it’s no surprise that superheroes have topped the box office time and time again.

Of the top 10 movies with the biggest opening weekends at the domestic box office in history, five are superhero movies. Three of them–“Iron Man 3,” “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and Marvel’s “The Avengers”–are in at the top five spots.

Last year’s superhero movie releases include “Ant Man” and “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” both of which ranked first domestically on their opening weekends along with “Fantastic Four,” which ranked second domestically on its opening weekend.

This year promises to bring even more box office hits with a total of seven superhero movies threatening to empty many wallets.

In early May, expect to see the equally anticipated “Captain America: Civil War,” which includes a huge cast of returning and new-to-the-big-screen Avengers.

May will also bring another Marvel movie with “X-Men: Apocalypse,” the intended sequel to “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and the ninth installment in the X-Men film series.

The movie features characters familiar to the audience from their appearances in “X-Men: First Class,” but in “X-Men Apocalypse” the characters are portrayed by different actors.

DC returns to theaters in early August with the release of “Suicide Squad,” an action packed, slightly darker toned, superhero movie filled with supervillains.

The superhero movie spree wraps up with the release of Marvel’s “Gambit,” starring Channing Tatum, in early October and Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch, in early November.

Marvel fans can prepare for the release of the final “Wolverine” film starring Hugh Jackman in March 2017 and a sequel to “Guardians of the Galaxy” in May 2017. DC promises to excite with “Wonder Woman” in June 2017, a breakthrough for the superhero genre as the first female-led superhero movie.

Marvel Studios will be partnering with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring yet another “Spider-Man” reboot in July before leading into “Thor: Ragnarok” for an early November release.

The year 2017 wraps up with a bang in late November with the prospective release of ‘Justice League – Part 1,” a culmination of heroes that is sure to rival only that of the Avengers.

2018 will start off with the release of “Black Panther” in February and “The Flash” in late March.

Early May 2018 will bring “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1” with the second half of the movie releasing a year later in May 2019. Summer 2018 will host Marvel’s “Ant-Man” and the Wasp and DC’s “Aquaman,” both of which are set to release around July.

In 2019, Marvel will be releasing their first female-led superhero movie with “Captain Marvel” in early March. The movie will be followed by “Shazam” starring Dwayne Johnson just a month later in early April 2019.

“Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2” will be released in May 2019, while DC will also be following up on their two-part movie with “Justice League: Part 2” in mid July 2019. Around the same time, Marvel will be releasing “Inhumans,” a movie that many fans who follow the TV series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be looking forward to.

There is little information in terms of superhero movie releases in 2020, but there are two movies confirmed.

Cyborg, whose main character made his first appearance in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, is expected to release in early April 2020.

Green Lantern Corps., a reboot of 2011’s Green Lantern, is expected to release in mid- June 2020.

Avengers face internal conflict

MacKenzie Brown

The long-awaited “Captain America: Civil War” will be released May 6.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the film will be the third Captain America film to date and the 13th Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

The movie returns its star-studded cast, including Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), and Paul Rudd (Antman), just to name a few.

The film, the longest Marvel movie to date with a running time of 146 minutes, was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

The premise of Civil War (as one would expect from the title and tagline of “Whose side are you on?”) is about a division in the Avengers, with Captain America leading one side, and Iron Man heading the other.

The team of Earth’s mightiest heroes has split into these factions because of the possible installation of a system of accountability and a governing body to decide when to call in the Avengers to deal with a situation.

Captain America believes that the Avengers should be free to defend humanity and have no government interference. Iron Man argues they need to be held accountable for their actions and believes that government oversight is the best option.

When asked about the stance his character takes in the movie by fans at Salt Lake Comic Con, Evans said, “Tony actually thinks we should be signing these accords and reporting to somebody and Cap, who’s always been a company man and has always been a soldier, actually doesn’t trust anymore. Given what happened in Cap 2, I think he kind of feels the safest hands are his own.”

While Civil War is supposedly Evan’s last stand-alone film with Marvel, he has stated that he is open to the idea of extending his contract past the Avengers: Infinity War films.