2025 May Be The Best Year Ever For Superhero Films. Here's Why
It's been a rough few years for superheroes at the movies. From depressing box office returns to unusually cold critical receptions, comic book fans would be forgiven for feeling as though the genre's popularity truly peaked with "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019.
Even though astonishing works of cape-fiction have been created in the years since — "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," "Invincible," Max's "Harley Quinn," and "Watchmen," to name a few — the overwhelming mood among Marvel and DC fans alike is unusually pessimistic these days. Where we once looked forward to these films as exciting blockbuster events, it's now all too easy for us to wait with cringing anticipation, hoping for a sign that the golden age of heroes isn't over just yet.
Fortunately, it appears as though one such sign is just beyond the horizon — and it's a fairly massive one, too. As of writing, the slate of superhero films due out in 2025 is the most promising we've ever seen, so much so that its success could potentially revitalize the genre for a new generation.
James Gunn is kicking off his DC Universe in earnest
The past two years have been absolutely brutal for the DC Comics arm of Warner Bros. From "Black Adam" to "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," the powers that be — or, in certain cases, were — quickly drove an unreliable but intriguingly polarizing universe into a dysfunctional mess plagued by cringeworthy behind-the-scenes drama and abysmal box office returns. And yet, in this painfully drawn-out Krypton-level disaster, the choice to bring Marvel Studios' prodigal son James Gunn aboard as their new creative lead was one of the boldest, smartest moves Warner Bros. has made in the last several years.
Gunn's work within the Marvel Cinematic Universe more than proved his status as one of the defining voices in modern superhero cinema, with "The Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker" confirming his skill wasn't predicated on the specific characters he had access to. Even during the DC Extended Universe's admittedly spectacular 11th-hour nosedive, fans were blessed with the promise of an impending rebooted continuity carefully crafted by one of the most passionate voices in a waning genre.
"Superman" (recently retitled from "Superman: Legacy") is due out July 11, 2025, and while we won't know whether or not it succeeds critically or financially until then, its release marks an exciting new chapter for DC Comics films that finally won't be dragged down by what came before. For the first time in many years, DC won't be fighting against its past, but building a future — and with a largely respected creative mind at the helm, to boot.
Marvel's First Family is finally coming to the MCU
Speaking of historically troubled intellectual properties finally finding steady hands to guide them, Marvel Studios' "Fantastic Four" will be hitting cinemas on July 25, 2025. It's almost unanimously agreed among fans and critics alike that there's never been a good comics-to-film translation of Marvel's first and most beloved family (no, "The Incredibles" doesn't really count). The 1994 film was a shoddy, artistically dubious product that was allegedly made for less-than-altruistic reasons; the 2000s Tim Story films are charitably "of their time;" and Josh Trank's 2015 version was created under such creative duress that not even the director himself stands behind the final product.
But while it would be disingenuous to imply that putting the Fantastic Four in the same universe as the Avengers will suddenly make the team, well, fantastic, moving them under the Marvel Studios roof solves many of the problems they once faced. The upcoming film is in a diametrically opposite position to its 1994 counterpart, as it appears to be one of the most high-priority projects currently in development at Marvel — a company that also just so happens to have discovered the exact formula for superhero stories to thrive past several early-2000s misfires. A harmonious, fully committed production at a studio that understands superhero stories at a fundamental level is precisely what a "Fantastic Four" film needs. It also helps that the recently revealed, Pedro Pascal-led cast is stacked with prestige talent, and there's even a rumor Marvel wants Javier Bardem as the main villain, Galactus.
Sam Wilson is finally Captain America — with none of the baggage
When Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) passed down his star-spangled vibranium shield to his longtime partner and co-star Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), it was abundantly clear that the plan for the future of the MCU was for The Falcon to become the next Captain America (as he had relatively recently in Marvel Comics). Aside from sidestepping Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), there was nothing surprising or even meaningfully controversial about this move — which probably made it frustrating for many viewers when Marvel's next project with Wilson was a so-called six-hour movie debating whether or not he was going to take the mantle everyone had assumed he would for two years at that point. Even if "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" occasionally explored some genuinely complex ideas, a true Sam Wilson Captain America project has been long overdue.
Fortunately, 2025 is set to bring us just that. Mackie's Cap appears to be the sole, narrative-driving focus of "Captain America: Brave New World." Without the baggage of his messy quasi-origin story that led to his Avengers-level promotion, Sam Wilson can finally be allowed to save the world rather than spending his screen time convincing us he's the guy to do it.
Four MCU movies in one year
2025 marks Marvel's most ambitious projected theatrical output arguably ever, but at least since 2021 (the year they released "Black Widow," "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," "Eternals," and "Spider-Man: No Way Home"). The key difference between the two years is that Marvel was more or less forced to release four films in 2021 in order to steer the universe back on track after months of COVID-19 delays and restrictions.
On the other hand, 2025 seems like a more confident play for the studio, evoking the too-big-to-fail swagger Marvel Studios used to have throughout its first three phases. Is this confidence a good thing? Not necessarily — unless that confidence is coming from historically reliable creators like Kevin Feige, whose only major stumbling blocks with Marvel were arguably caused by COVID-19-related production issues and the hubris of two CEOs who seemed to think the MCU was an infinite money glitch (fortunately, Bob Iger seems to be in a much different mindset now with regards to the volume of Marvel projects Disney greenlights).
As of writing, Marvel is due to release "Blade," "Captain America: Brave New World," "Thunderbolts," and "Fantastic Four" in 2025, all of which are meant to establish new franchise-leading characters or elevate supporting characters to franchise leads. These movies have a lot more riding on them than your average Marvel sequel — so if Iger, Feige, and company are confident about putting them out within one calendar year, they must have an exceptional amount of faith in this lineup.
Captain America and Thunderbolts are coming out back-to-back
The fact that "Captain America: Brave New World" and "Thunderbolts" are scheduled one after the other in Marvel's 2025 release schedule is another reason to hold some cautious optimism about the studio's unusually high volume of theatrical content. Both films — each anchored by one of the two stars from "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," and set within the SHIELD-adjacent spy-thriller world softly established by the second "Captain America" film — could easily be related to one another, potentially in a way that makes them something of a duology.
Their place in the release schedule alone could indicate that Marvel will be gradually returning to the interconnected narrative style that made their first three phases so popular. The majority of films released in Phases Four and Five were disappointingly isolated (again, a factor likely influenced by pandemic-related production woes), robbing the MCU of its most unique quality. And while "Fantastic Four" and "Blade" will likely follow suit — albeit by presumably being set in the 1960s or in whatever timeline the MCU acknowledges "Eternals" — at least "Captain America" and "Thunderbolts" have a chance to strengthen the continuity rather than just flop on top of it.
Blade puts Mahershala Ali on the marquee again
Cards on the table: There are a number of reasons why we're worried about Marvel Studios' "Blade," but Mahershala Ali isn't one of them. Whether featuring in grounded prestige dramas like "Moonlight" and Netflix's "House of Cards" or stepping into fantastical worlds like those of "The Hunger Games" or "Alita: Battle Angel," the two-time Academy Award-winner has proven again and again that he's one of the most reliable and versatile talents working today. He's already responsible for two of the most compelling comic book performances of all time — Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes, the tragic villain of "Luke Cage" Season 1, and, of course, Miles Morales' Uncle Aaron in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."
Yet despite his obvious talents on film, it's been a while since Ali has led a theatrically released film. For almost a decade now, his best work has been confined to the small screen, and while those projects (which include the underrated Hulu series "Ramy" and his AppleTV+ feature "Swan Song") are more than worthy of his talent, it's been far too long since he's been allowed to lead a project meant for cinemas. Even if "Blade" turns out to be the messiest of Marvel's 2025 output, Ali's performance as the titular vampire hunter will make it worthwhile.
We're finally getting a new, lighter take on Superman
Whatever you think of Zack Snyder's DC films — be they underrated masterpieces ahead of their time or woefully indulgent and fundamentally misguided vanity projects — some credit should be given for tackling a character as fantastical as Superman in the direct aftermath of "The Dark Knight." When they weren't being shown how snarky and self-aware superhero films could be at Marvel Studios, comic book fans were seemingly being primed to expect darker, more adult films from DC.
Snyder's response to this relatively newfound demand was to craft a Man of Steel so hopelessly introspective about whether or not he should be a god among men that he comes off as stoic, brooding, and alienated. Though the Henry Cavill iteration of the character certainly has its fans, it's struck a tone far from that of its comic book counterpart. This is likely why James Gunn's "Superman" will have one important thing Zack Snyder's didn't — a sense of humor.
Speaking to the Associated Press at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards, Lois Lane actor Rachel Brosnahan shared that the cast and crew were intently focused on telling a "Superman" story that was true to the source material, in part by allowing David Corenswet's Clark Kent to have a stronger sense of humor than Cavill's. For those worried that this means Gunn will bring the same sort of jokes heard in "Guardians of the Galaxy," fear not — the writer-director confirmed long before Corenswet or Brosnahan were cast that the tone of "Superman" would be very different from his past work.
One of the greatest indie comic book heroes is getting a second chance
The nature of the current comic book industry landscape and its presence in Hollywood more or less dictates that we spend the vast majority of this article talking about Marvel or DC. But that doesn't mean they're the only companies set to see a revival soon.
A new film based on Todd MacFarlane's groundbreaking Image Comics character "Spawn" is eyeing a 2025 release date, with producer Jason Blum telling ComicBook last year that he predicted the film would arrive in theaters by that time. And while his update that the movie is in "active development" isn't as great as it sounds, his vagueness was seemingly caused by the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that shut down Hollywood for the better part of 2023. Unless the shutdown extended far past what Blum expected, that 2025 estimate is likely still within reach at this point.
Spawn was previously brought to the big screen in 1997, directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé and starring Michael Jai White. It drew a harsh critical reception at the time and failed to make an impression at the box office, seemingly causing Dippé to do a sharp career pivot in which he went from directing one of the most violent PG-13 movies ever to "Halloweentown High" and Netflix's "Marmaduke." Hopefully, the upcoming reboot fares significantly better, allowing MacFarlane's work to benefit from modern effects and storytelling sensibilities.
It's the year of the ensemble superhero film
Of all the aspects of the modern superhero film that need to evolve for the genre to survive, perhaps none are as overlooked as casting. Not casting in the traditional sense, necessarily (though that too could use an overhaul), but rather in how writers, directors, and producers select which characters appear in a given film. The current formula is incredibly limiting — one headlining superhero, a love interest/best friend, another supporting character (with spin-off potential), and a villain. The result is often a wild concept quickly getting dampened by an overabundance of normal people in the cast.
While characters with humanity are central to impactful storytelling, it seems comic book movie creatives confuse them with human characters whose lack of powers, costumes, and history in the source material can greatly hinder their ability to contribute to a genre that emphasizes all three. Excitingly, the films of 2025 appear to be favoring ensemble casts, allowing each story to be told by and populated with a previously rare number of colorful characters at their disposal.
"Fantastic Four," "Thunderbolts," and even "Superman" — as Gunn recently announced the film will debut DC's brutal superhero team The Authority — are ostensibly written to feature majority superheroes and supervillains in their respective stories. Additionally, "Captain America: Brave New World" seems to have a superpowered supporting cast as well, including the Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), Sabra (Shira Haas), a new Falcon (Danny Ramirez), and potentially even the Red Hulk, played by Harrison Ford.