The biggest trend for studios recently has been the superhero movie. With so many properties available for the big screen treatment and the sheer number of dollars each film has the potential of making its no surprise more and more are finding their way into theaters. This year doesn't see a big gamble by studios but does see some properties that haven't been around for a little awhile. So let's run down each film, the expectations, and then I want to hear what you think will be the big superhero release of the year and which will be the one we regret spending money on.
Superhero Movies of 2013
 | 1. Iron Man 3 Coming out on May 3rd this looks to be a possible tipping point for the Iron Man franchise. Not every fan was excited over the direction of Iron Man 2 and there is only so much villain in another Iron Man suit people can take. But with the recent Super Bowl teaser hinting at the things to come and a truly struggling Tony Stark it could be a triumphant return to form. The bigger question for fans may be how this impacts The Avengers sequel and if all these story lines will come together in one grand series of films. |
 | 2. Man of Steel Possibly the biggest question mark among all these films. The next Superman film comes out in June attempting a big summer release for a franchise that hasn't had heated fervor around itself since Christopher Reeve was donning the tights. After Superman Returns received a lukewarm reaction we're now getting a full reboot to possibly the best known comic book character. Do moviegoers really want to see another origin story and another Lex Luther battle? Will this be the typical "paint by numbers" Superman film? |
 | 3. The Wolverine Wolverine in the movies is a bastardized child the result of adamantium bullets and rewrites to the comic book stories. Hearing now that he will be traveling to Japan and somehow shove another story into his already filled background doesn't exactly fill be with joy and expectation. And with the knowledge that this started as a Darren Aronofsky film but seemingly has flattened into a typical action film doesn't find me buying my tickets in advance. But Wolverine seems to always be a character fans rally around and support so perhaps this film can help revive a seemingly stagnant X-man franchise too. |
 | 4. Thor: The Dark World The last major superhero release has us returning to Asgard with the first sequel to Thor, possibly the weakest of the original slew of hero movies but whose story line impacted the Avengers movie the most. I personally enjoy the world of Thor and returning to that world filled with both fantasy and superheroes seems like fun. Will this film have the same impact as the original one on a larger story line? Or will this just be anotherLoki hunt as a lot of the Thor story lines tend to be? We will have to wait all the way until late November to get our many questions answered. |
I imagine I'll be seeing Iron Man 3 and given that my dad is a huge Superman fan, Man of Steel will be on my must watch list. Which of these films are a must see for you? Which will be skipped no matter what?
Where is Kick-Ass? are there only 5 comic book movies coming out?
@Watcherg44: That completely slipped my mind. So many of these are getting piled on it's hard to keep them all straight. I did try to focus on the major ones however, the movies that will (more than likely) be the bigger money-makers and get the most people to see them.
Iron Man 3: This one looks like it has the most potential to me. Mostly because indications seem to be they will be delving deeper into Tony Stark as a person.
Man of Steel: I predict this is the Superman version of The Amazing Spider-man: a reboot we don't need but that is fairly well executed. Still isn't going to amount to anything we haven't seen before.
The Wolverine: My prediction for worst of the lot. Wolverine as a character suffers tremendously from overexposure. What made this character great was that he was a mysterious loner that somehow got teamed up with a group (The X-Men) that emphasized family dynamics. All of this has been lost on the film version Wolverine since way back around X2.
Thor, I expect will be much as before. It will probably suffer the inevitable drop in quality of a sequel, but that will probably be counterbalanced by the setting - Thor is better in a place like Asgard where he can cut loose and take on foes who are also gods. If they succeed in creating a more interesting Asgard than the first film, this might be the dark horse candidate of the lot.
So (intentionally avoiding publicity, trailers and cast/crew lists) my uninformed picks are:
Iron Man 3 = the one to see
The Wolverine = the one to skip
Iron Man 3 is a given, more because of Shane Black then anything really. Iron Man 2 was just bloated. Thor: The Dark World has me hype since I don't know thaaat much about Thor but enough to be interested. Superman I'm seeing this more because of movie fan related things then any love for Superman. He is my least favorite superhero.
The Wolverine man I REALLY want a good Wolverine movie. Hugh Jackman is badass as that character and the whole Japan story is really good. But Woliver Origins is a thing that still exists so consider me cautious
Kick Ass 2 just shouldn't exist imo. I loved the first one and think Mark Millar should of stopped there, but like the Ultimates he just kept it goin. I'll be skipping it unless I just here GREAT things about this.
Man of Steel is my most anticipated film of the year, mainly because Superman was the first superhero I remember watching the most when I was a kid. He is one of my favorite fictional heroes, along with James Bond and Indiana Jones. I'm really hoping Henry Cavill can show us that he knows how to act. He was just decent, in Cold Light of Day, and Immortals.
Iron Man 3, I am definitely going to see, mainly because Robert Downey Jr. is a fantastic actor, and Tony Stark is his best role yet.
The Wolverine: The only reason I'm looking forward to this is finally seeing a movie where Logan is not with the X-Men anymore. I'll admit that I'm a little skeptical about this one, but The fact that the movie is set in Japan really intrigues me.
Thor 2: Absolutely. I loved the first one, and I'm definitely looking forward to this one.
So right now, the only big question mark for me is The Wolverine. I'm a fan of Hugh Jackman, and I really hope this new Wolverine movie will be great.
They really need to start making new things instead of sequels and reboots. Still waiting for a Wonder Woman movie! Even an Aquaman movie would be sick (he's cool now).
@fables87 said:
So true.
Yup, those are all movies I'm porbably going to see. I'm really curious about Man of Steel since it will probably have a huge impact on the way DC handles their movies in the future (I want to see a good Justice League movie). Didn't care for the last Wolverine movie but if the reviews aren't terrible then why not.
MAN OF STEEL is directed by Zack Snyder, so it is my most anticipated.
Fuck the haters, Thor is the best marvel movie. Yea, I said it.
I really hope Man of Steel is good. Zack Snyder's career needs a hit at this point.
The Wolverine is ostensibly based on the miniseries by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont that took Wolverine from being "angry dangerous guy" to complex character who can hold his own book. If they pull it off it could be wonderful.
Thor 2 can only be better than Thor. I really hope the non-avengers marvel movies pick up some damn slack, Avengers raised the bar to a new game entirely.
@altairre said:
From what I understand if Man of Steel flops this is the end of non-batman DC movies for a long time.
By the way it's going to flop.
Also the next Batman movie will come out to early and flop.
Those last two are uneducated guesses but come on it's inevitable.
@ThePhantomStranger: Superman Returns made $400 million at the box office. So I wouldn't be surprised is Man of Steel did about the same. I don't think it will fail horribly, this isn't Water World after all, but how well it does certainly will impact DC's movie making. I wouldn't be surprised if it effected even future Batman films without Nolan at the helm.
@alexpiercey said:
do you seriously believe THOR is the best Marvel movie? Or did you just mean the best of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
@FinalDasa: Lex Luthor is not the villain in MAN OF STEEL. If he has a role, it's just a cameo, as he hasn't appeared in any casting announcements. The villain is General Zod.
@VioletEyedDragon: Ah ok. All I've heard is casting and very little about actual story line or plot.
@FinalDasa said:
yeah. the main villain is General Zod and he is played by Michael Shannon (TAKE SHELTER). I think this is a good idea as Zod is someone Superman can actually fight hand to hand, whereas Lex Luthor could never face Supes in a head-on battle (unless he had a power suit or Sinestro Corp ring or something).
Here is the only official image of Zod released so far.
@VioletEyedDragon said:
Both of those options sound like the same thing, so I'll just say that it's my favourite Marvel movie out of both Iron Man's, Captain America, the Hulk, and Avengers.
@alexpiercey said:
that would be the MCU. They make up less than half of the Marvel movies. Marvel movies not in the MCU are the four SPIDER-MAN films, the two GHOST RIDER films, DAREDEVIL and ELEKTRA, the two FANTASTIC FOUR movies, the three PUNISHER movies, the five X-MEN movies, and KICK-ASS (to name a few).