Yeah yeah yeah, it's a great time to be a comic book fan. Both companies are great, bla bla bla. I'm not a Marvel guy and I'm not a DC guy. Let be known that I am completely neutural here. Batman may be my favorite superhero, but X-Men are actually my favorite comics. Now that the diplomacy is out of the way... what we have here is a good old fashioned THROWDOWN!
Shots were fired. Bombs were dropped. Over the past couple of weeks, the two comic industrusty titans revealed their plans for the next 5 to 6 years, and truth be told, it's a ton of awesome stuff! And when you take into account FOX's franchises, and whatever Sony can bring, you have a full-fledged era of action movies- and they belong to superheroes.
Sure, we're getting more Batman and Ironman of course, but I'd like to zero in on things I think were very calculated with these announcements. I'm not concered with dates at all because they are subject to change, and it is almost a certainty that at least half of these will be pushed back (some of the ones already in production, already have). From what I can see, both DC and Marvel are aiming to do similar things with the slate they've announced, and i'd like to categorize them. And, for the sake of argument, I'll throw in where I think the advantage goes. I'm sure I will anger everybody, but I don't mean to incite a flame war, just a debate in good fun, but feel free to chime in on who takes what!
THE GIRL POWER:
Obviously this is where I'm starting. There has been a call to arms for a female-powered superhero to take the stage, and there was certainly a 'space race' feel to see who would get there first. And even though that will technically be Wonder Woman (or will it? Again, release dates are unreliable), it's not about quickness, it's about quality. Of course Wonder Woman is the most famous of all, but that also means higher expectations. I have little confidence in Gal Gadot. Prediction: Captain Marvel flies, and Wonder Woman dies
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN:
This is no coincidence. Many were begging for a Black Panther movie, but when it seemed like that was a long ways off, those people were quick to laud DC for having the balls to launch Cyborg, which would have been the first major black lead of this Superhero Era. Lo and behold, Marvel have had plans for BP all along (patience is a virtue), and considering he is the more popular character, with much richer material, I gotta go with Marvel on this one. Prediction: Black Panther roars while Cyborg bores
THE LAUGHING STOCKS:
Just from the name, Ant-Man is tough to take seriously. As if Aquaman isn't. Both characters are inherently silly (one talks to sea animals, while the other...shrinks?) but over the years, writers have done their damnedest to make them as cool as possible. Now it's the movies' turn. Aquaman has probably had it a bit rougher- at least Ant-Man can grow into a giant! But since that project has had major development woes, I think AQ's potential to be badass is much greater: Prediction Aquaman splashes while Ant-Man crashes
(I can do this all day, lol)
THE MAGIC TOUCH:
Getting all mystical and magic-y will be new territory for both universes. Doctor Strange seems to have a pretty vocal following, with an origin story that sounds as good as Iron Man's. But the rest of it sounds like its pretty out there. Shazam already has a great villain in The Rock. Black Adam is the Zod to Shazam's Kal-El, and this movie has the potential to be like another Superman but lighter in tone, which I think will make a lot of people happy. Prediction: Shazam Rocks (heh), but Doctor Strange...does not
THE REDEMPTION:
Marvel and DC's first attempts at going cosmic in 2011 were both meh. Furthermore, Thor The Dark World wasn't much better. Both these properties need to bounce back. Ragnorok looks to be doing that in a big way, with another supposed game-changing event for Phase 3 similar to that of The Winter Solider. It's unfair to say anything about GL since we know nothing about it, and it's so far off, but at the very least, we have to assume it will have a better Lantern than Reynolds. Prediction: I have no friggin clue!
THE BAD BOYS:
Oh, this is going to be so much fun! GotG might have a bit of an advantage, because they are the smash hit of the year, and a little more fun-loving. But never underestimate the appeal of breaking the rules. It's good to be bad, and a motley crew of villains in a heist movie should really shake up the CBM formula around here. I actually think both movies will work. Prediction: Guardians reigns AND Suicide gains!
THE SUPERS:
This one is tough. Considering all the super powers on display between these two flicks, I'm betting these might be the two purist, old-fashioned superhero movies out of the slates, without too many of the twists on the genre. The inhumans may not be as obscure as the Guardians of the Galaxy, but they aren't well known outside nerd circles. But I like the X-Men comparisons I'm hearing. The Flash on the other hand is widely popular, and has just released a hit show. There's a good chance that plays against them. But I stand by my belief that it's better creative freedom. Prediction: The Flash earns while Inhumans burns.
THE GAME-CHANGERS:
These are the game-changers because both these movies are going to be epic set ups for much of what's to come after. In a way, they have already faced off, when they both had the same release date, and DC finally flinched, moving to another time. Batman vs. Superman is arguably going to be the biggest event of the past few years. But will Zack Snyder botch it? I still don't love much of the casting (Eisenberg as Luthor) and Man of Steel left a bad taste in most people's mouths. Captain America is coming of one of the best comic book movies ever, and moving into one of the best comic book storylines ever. No contest. Prediction: Cap rules while Batman drools! (You know I had to)
THE EVENT:
These are the big movies we're all moving towards. Sort of. DC plans on spinning off their heroes in between JL movies, and a little bit afterwards too, which is interesting, and different. But this is one area where I think they should follow Marvel's rock-solid formula for building universe momentum. Both event pictures are divided into "Parts One and Two" (I call foul, btw), but at least we know they are going as epic as possible. The infinity war feels like the summation of everything we've had so far. For my Justice League worries, see BvS. Prediction: Avengers glows while Justice League blows
So I guess, overall, I have a little more faith in what Marvel's bringing, but there are some DC movies that I think will legitimately own all. Of course, I hope that
everything is good, but its always best to manage expectations. I even hope I'm wrong about some of these. But for now, considering what the companies are doing in common, these are my predictions. What are yours?