2018 is shaping up to be a great year for comic book movies with Marvel once again leading the charge. The Avengers will be back, as will the foul-mouthed Deadpool, but there’s also a few new characters getting their first big screen outing. To wet your appetite for the year ahead, here’s everything Marvel has in store for us in 2018.
Chadwick Boseman as The Black Panther
Black Panther – February 16th
The idea of a movie based on Marvel’s Black Panther was first floated in 1992 with Wesley Snipes attached to the project. Now, over 25 years later, the Black Panther’s story will finally make it to the big screen, with Chadwick Boseman in the title role and Ryan Coogler directing. Boseman was first seen as the Black Panther in 2016’s ‘Captain America: Civil War’. The character’s first stand-alone movie will see T’Challa aka Black Panther returning home as king of Wakanda but finding that his sovereignty is under-threat by enemies with global consequences. The movie also features Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, and Angela Bassett.
Maisie Williams in ‘New Mutants’
New Mutants – April 13th
‘New Mutants’ is intended to be the eleventh instalment in the ‘X-Men’ film series and features a group of young mutants who are being held in a secret facility against their will where they must fight to save themselves. The cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams and Charlie Heaton and there’s also rumoured to be an appearance from James McAvoy as Charles Xavier. The film is said to be a departure from previous ‘X-Men’ outings, with director Josh Boone telling Entertainment Weekly in May: “We are making a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe. There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. We’re trying to do something very, very different.”
Avengers Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War – May 3rd
Picking up after the events of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, and ‘Captain America: Civil War’, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ will bring together all the big players from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and then some. The film will see The Avengers (who are still torn apart from the events of Civil War) having to join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy in order to confront Thanos and stop him from collecting the Infinity Stones.
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool
Deadpool 2 – June 1
Everyone’s favourite R-rated superhero is back for more mayhem with Ryan Reynolds once again donning the red suit. This time Deadpool is up against a new enemy, Cable, played by Josh Brolin. Cable, aka Nathan Summers, is described as “a time travelling cybernetic mutant soldier” and “in many ways the opposite of Deadpool”. The film will also feature Morena Baccarat and T.J. Miller, and sees ‘John Wick’ director David Leitch behind the camera.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
The sequel to 2015’s ‘Ant-Man’ will see Paul Rudd’s microscopic superhero having to team up with Hank Pym’s daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) – who now has a suit allowing her to transform into The Wasp. The film will also see the return of Michael Douglas as Hank Pym and the addition of Michelle Pfeiffer as his wife Janet van Dyne.
Venom – October 5
Little is known about ‘Venom’, which is intended to be the first film in Sony’s Marvel Universe and a spin-off from the ‘Spider-Man’ film franchise. The film will star Tom Hardy in the title role of Eddie Brock / Venom, with Michelle Williams as his love interest.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix – November 2
The follow-up to ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is intended to be the beginning of a new ‘X-Men’ trilogy. Set in the 1990s, the film adapts ‘The Dark Phoenix Saga’ comic storyline, which sees Jean Grey lose control of her abilities as the Dark Phoenix which forces her into battle with the X-Men, while the alien empress Lilandra tries to capture and destroy her.
