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WHAT did superheroes do during lockdown? Quarantine in Valhalla? Bake sourdough in Stark Towers? One thing’s for sure, they were largely missing from cinemas. No longer. Next week’s Wonder Woman 1984 should herald a charge of Covid-delayed superblockbuster releases. With at least seven out in 2021, we remind you of our heroes’ stories so far…
MORBIUS
WHO HE AGAIN? Don’t panic – he’s new. Michael Morbius is a scientist with a dangerous rare blood disease. His attempts to cure himself transform him into a vampire (of sorts). Stars Jared Leto – let’s hope his Morbius proves more popular than his Joker. WHAT’S THE STORY? Morbius first appeared as Spider-Man’s enemy in a 1971 Marvel comic. This spin-off movie is the second film in the shared Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters that started with 2018’s Venom so we’d expect it to be dark and edgy. Ooooh.
WHEN (FINGERS CROSSED) CAN I SEE IT? March 19
BLACK WIDOW
WHO HE AGAIN? She! Over a decade
Joke’s over: Leto’s Morbius and Johansson’s Black Widow since Scarlett Johansson first peeled herself into a skintight cat suit as Natasha Romanoff, a highly trained former KGB assassin, for Iron Man 2, Marvel’s first (and for a long time only) female Avenger finally gets her own solo movie
WHAT’S THE STORY? Who cares? By this time it will have been 22 months since fans enjoyed a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in cinemas. Directly following the events of Captain America: Civil War
(2016), this Time’s Up-friendly story apparently forces Romanoff ‘to confront a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past’. Britain’s own Florence Pugh co-stars.
WHEN (FINGERS CROSSED) CAN I SEE IT? May 7
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE
WHO’S HE AGAIN? Tom Hardy is back as journalist Eddie Brock, who transforms into a slathering, villainous Alien-looking symbiote in what appears to be a gimp outfit. WHAT’S THE STORY? Good question. It’s possible even the writers aren’t sure given the reported reshoots. ‘There will be Carnage,’ promises Woody Harrelson in the 30-second teaser trailer. And that’s a play on words, see, because Harrelson plays a baddie called Carnage. That it’s directed by Andy Serkis gives us hope.
WHEN (FINGERS CROSSED) CAN I SEE IT? June 25
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
WHO’S HE AGAIN? Originating in the ‘Bronze Age’ of Marvel Comics, Shang-Chi, aka ‘the Master of Kung Fu’, can infinitely duplicate himself. This marks his big-screen debut, embodied by ChineseCanadian actor Simu Liu.
WHAT’S THE STORY? A Shang-Chi movie has been in development since 2001 but what form it would take has shifted with the times. For example, Hong Kong legend Tony Leung plays Shang-Chi’s father, Mandarin. This is part of Marvel’s Phase Four, also including Black Widow, TV’s Wandavision, the Eternals and the next Spider-Man (see box, top left).
WHEN (FINGERS CROSSED) CAN I SEE IT? July 9
THE SUICIDE SQUAD
WHO’S HE AGAIN? They/them. DC’s anti-hero gang of black ops rabble rousers are back – or, rather, some of them are. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman’s Rick
Flagg and Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller (Will Smith’s Deadshot and Jared Leto’s Joker left the building). Plus umpteen new recruits played by the lies of Idris Elba (Bloodsport), Peter Capaldi (Thinker), Storm Reid (Tyla) and Sylvester Stallone – seemingly as himself.
WHAT’S THE STORY? This is described as both a standalone sequel to and a soft reboot of 2016’s appalling Suicide Squad. Let’s hope Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn has done more than just add a ‘The’. WHEN (FINGERS CROSSED) CAN I SEE IT? August 6
ETERNALS
WHO’S HE AGAIN? Another joint effort. Richard ‘Bodyguard’ Madden and Angelina Jolie head up a classy ensemble of celestial superbeings, as directed by critical darling Chloé Zhao (the auteur behind the upcoming, Oscar-tipped Nomadland)
WHAT’S THE STORY? Official summary states: ‘After an unexpected tragedy following the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), the Eternals – an immortal alien race created by the Celestials who have secretly lived on Earth for over 7,000 years – reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants.’ Got that? Good. The Eternals is also rumoured to feature Marvel’s first openly gay hero.
WHEN (FINGERS CROSSED) CAN
I SEE IT? Nov 5