Top 15 Most Anticipated Comic Book Movies (And When You Can See Them)

Julien Neaves – Editor

Thanks to covid-19 a number of comic book movies have been forced to social distance from their original release date, and have been pushed back like a handsy guy in a cosplay convention. For this list we will be taking a look at 15 of those films and ranking my level of anticipation. What, it’s my list. And we will also be including their current release dates, because we at RMR are helpful like that.

With a SPOILER ALERT let’s go:

#15 Black Adam – December 2021

I may not be a comic book expert but I know Black Adam is a villain. So why is he getting his own movie? Two of the reasons may be that Joker did so well and the character is played by megastar Dwayne Johnson. But I have little interest in the character or another villain-centric film right now so it is at the bottom of the list.

#14 The New Mutants – Sometime this year. Maybe. Who knows?

I am excited to see this movie – it’s a horror movie featuring the quirky characters from The New Mutants and starring Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams and genre darling Anya Taylor-Joy – but it has been delayed more than the Avatar sequels. Last word was that we would be getting it in late 2020. I’ll believe it when I see it.

#13 Morbius – March 19, 2021

So I enjoyed Venom but with this movie Sony’s Marvel Universe may already start to be wearing thin. I mean seriously, who asked for a Morbius movie? Show of hands. Anyone? Bueller. The next vampire superhero film I want is Blade. Let’s just hope Morbius doesn’t suck. Get it? Suck? You get it.

#12 The Flash – June 3, 2022

The DCEU has righted the ship following successes like Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Shazam! but The Flash film seems to still be up in the air. Add to that the recent video of star Ezra Miller allegedly choking a fan and the situation does not look promising. But with talk the film will use The Flashpoint comic storyline as inspiration I am intrigued by the concept, and it would be a golden opportunity to do a much needed soft reboot of the DCEU.

#11 Shazam! 2 – November 4, 2022

The original Shazam! was an unexpectedly fun movie and also a surprisingly dark one. And I am enthused to see more. I do hope they make more of an effort to make Zachary Levi’s Shazam and Asher Angel’s Billy Batson seem like a cohesive character, because they really felt like completely different people. #justsaying

#10 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – May 7, 2021

A martial-arts based superhero film? This could be cool. But I am not at all familiar with the character of Shang-Chi so I am more excited about the concept and seeing a non-fake-out version of the villain The Mandarin.

#9 Eternals – February 12, 2021

In a post-Endgame MCU Marvel is really digging into its lesser-known properties. Like Shang-Chi I am not at all familiar with the Eternals. But the cast, including Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Kit Harrington, is interesting and a more cosmic Marvel adventure is always a welcome change of pace.

#8 Thor Love and Thunder – February 11, 2022

You may be shocked to see this entry so low on this list but I may be one of the few people who didn’t absolutely love Thor: Ragnarok. I found that director Taika Waititi went too overboard with the humour and undercut a lot of the more dramatic moments. So with him back for a second time I am measuring my expectations. But Jane Foster’s female Thor is an intriguing concept and hopefully Waititi can do a better tonal balancing act this time around.

#7 Venom: Let There Be Carnage – June 25, 2021

As I said above I enjoyed Venom. Sure it was very generic but Tom Hardy’s energetic performance pushed it above mediocrity. The sequel will have Venom facing off against one of Marvel’s most dastardly (I just love that word) and deadly villains in Carnage which could be so epic if done right. I am also excited to see what Woody Harrelson does with the Cletus Cassidy/Carnage character.

#6 Aquaman 2 – December 22, 2022

So nobody was expecting the first film to be as good as it was or to make as much money as it did. But director James Wan, star Jason Momoa and the rest of the cast and crew really delivered the goods. So yeah, I am ready to dive in again.

#5 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – March 22, 2022

The first Doctor Strange film was not the strongest entry in the MCU but it was a solid enough film, carried by Benedict Cumberbatch’s unending charm. But I am far more excited for the sequel which will not be bogged down by an origin story and delve into some horror themes. The director is Evil Dead’s Sam Raimi so you know things are going to get very dark. Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch is also joining proceedings which is a welcome addition.

#4 The Suicide Squad – August 6, 2021

When I first saw the original Suicide Squad I was a bit easy on it with my review. But over the years the many, many, many flaws became more and more apparent. And yeah, it is quite a mess. Thankfully the property is getting a soft reboot under new director James Gunn, who has shown with the Guardians of the Galaxy films that he is a master of the ensemble comic book movie.

The new film is also ditching a lot of the original characters but keeping some of the few that worked like Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller. I have a strong feeling we will be getting this new Suicide Squad movie will be doing the property justice.

#3 Wonder Woman 1984 – August 14, 2020

I absolutely loved the first Wonder Woman and it is easily one of the best modern superhero movies,  even with that unnecessary CGI-fight-fest at the end. So of course I want to see Gal Gadot in her sophomore effort. Sadly the trailers didn’t really blow me away. I do, however, have faith in director Patty Jenkins and I want to see what they are going to do with Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah.

#2 Black Widow –  November 6, 2020

Black Widow finally got her own movie. And all she had to do was die. Whayuhgodo? I was actually expect a more grounded spy thriller adventure in the vein of The Winter Soldier, but from the trailers it seems like we will be getting the usual MCU bombast. I do hope we get to dig deeply into Widow’s past, get some spy intrigue and they do the crafty villain Taskmaster justice. And we definitely need to find out what the heck happened in Budapest.

#1 The Batman – October 1, 2021

This may be a controversial number one but as I said this is my list, so you can @me all you want. You see Batman is my all-time favourite superhero (and yes he is “super” even without powers) but things have been shaky with him on the big screen in recent years. After the masterful The Dark Knight we had The Dark Knight Rises, which was just not great. And Batfleck, while good, never got a story worthy of his talents. So I am excited to see a new Batman film and the caped crusader outside of a team-up movie.

For all those still worried about Robert Pattison’s performance check him out in the recent horror film The Lighthouse and you will see what a fantastic actor he is. And the casting of Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano and Jeffrey Wright as Catwoman, Riddler and Commissioner Gordon respectively is just spot on. So yeah, I think The Batman is both the film we deserve and we need right now. Even if we have to wait until October next year.

So what’s your most anticipated comic book movie? For DC fans you can check out the Top 10 DC Live Action Movies list here and for Marvel fans the Top 10 MCU Movies here. 

Julien Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. Also loves promoting Caribbean film, creating board games and is an aspiring author. Says things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Can also be found talking about TV and movie stuff on Instagram as redmanwriter and on Facebook at Movieville