By Andrew A. Smith

Tribune Content Agency

Jan. 7, 2021 — It’s time for the annual look ahead to the new year’s most exciting movies!

Which — thanks to COVID-19 — is going to read a lot like last year’s look ahead to the new year’s most exciting movies. Coronavirus! (Shakes fist at sky.)

Ah, well. With the understanding that premiere dates can change, let’s dive in:

 

THE BIG GUNS

Black Widow (May 7): Finally, finally, finally Scarlett Johansson gets the movie she’s deserved since Natasha Romanoff was introduced in Iron Man 2. It’s a particularly poignant film, given the character’s fate in Avengers: Endgame, but don’t count ScarJo out yet — she could return as a parallel-world version (like Tom Hiddleston’s Loki), or as a clone, or conjured up by the reality-warping Scarlet Witch, or a thousand other ways characters have returned from certain death in Marvel Comics. In the meantime, I expect Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova to carry the Black Widow legacy forward.

 

Scarlett Johansson stars in Black Widow, a prequel exploring her origins. (©Marvel Studios 2020)

Eternals (Nov. 5): Honestly, I always considered this group to be one of Jack Kirby’s lesser creations — sort of Inhumans Lite. But given the star-studded cast and ambitious story, my opinion might be about to change.

No Time to Die (April 2): Of course you’re going to see this movie, Daniel Craig’s fifth and final appearance as 007. Everybody is.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (July 9): A product of the goofy kung fu craze of the late ‘70s, Shang-Chi is nevertheless a terrific character that I have followed avidly. Initially he was the son of Fu Manchu, but Marvel has subsequently lost the rights to that character, so Shang-Chi is the son of … well, somebody else. We’ll know who on July 9.

The Suicide Squad (Aug. 6): The first Suicide Squad fell just short of being a good movie. It sounds like Warner Bros. has figured out how to fix that. There was nothing wrong with Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman or Margot Robbie, so they’ll be back. New to the franchise are a bunch of A-list actors — Pete Davidson, Idris Elba, Nathan Fillion, etc. — who are appearing as a bunch of D-list supervillains, including John Cena as probably insane superhero Peacemaker, who’s getting his own TV show. Which will probably also be insane. James Gunn is directing, and if his Guardians of the Galaxy movies are anything to judge by, we’re in for a treat.

Untitled Spider-Man Sequel (Dec. 17): There are a lot of rumors about this movie, but precious few facts. It may, or may not, include characters from previous Spider-Man franchises. It may, or may not, include Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). All we can be sure of is that Tom Holland will play the lead, and the word “home” is probably going to be in the title somewhere.

 

SLIGHTLY SMALLER GUNS

Dune (Oct. 1): This is deep, layered, hard-core SF, which is why I don’t think it will be a tentpole. Americans don’t like being made to think! But we old-school SF fans — I first read Dune in high school — can’t wait, and hopefully there are enough of us to make Dune a franchise.

F9 (May 28): This long-running, mindless action franchise is a couple quarters short of being a Big Gun, but its rabid, mostly young male fans will make it a success anyway.

Godzilla vs. Kong (May 21): The King of Monsters. The King of Skull Island. Someone’s gonna lose a crown, and it won’t be pretty! Starring Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) as the token sympathetic human, this is a film I’ve waited for my whole life, and just didn’t know it.

 

Ralph Fiennes stars as Oxford in 20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man. (© 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)

The King's Man (March 12): Believe it or not, a third Kingsman movie is in the works, as well as a Statesman spin-off. So what is this? A prequel, it seems, where Ralph Fiennes forms the espionage agency with a bunch of ex-soldiers in the early 20th century.

Morbius (March 19): I’m of two minds about Sony’s efforts to create its own Marvel Cinematic Universe out of nothing but Spider-Man characters. On the one hand, I don’t want them to succeed, because I want them to give up and sell Spidey back to Marvel, where he belongs. On the other hand, I want movies starring characters I’ve loved all my life to be good. Argh! Anyway, this one stars Jared Leto as a character named Michael Morbius, whose attempts to cure his rare blood disease turns him into a science-based vampire.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (June 25): Here’s another Sony-Man effort, a sequel to the Tom Hardy-starring “Venom,” featuring the one Spider-Man character I actively despise. These Kids Today™  love Venom, but the “symbiote” is quite literally a parasite. And when introduced he was a visual in search of a character, whose distinguishing quality was constant threats to eat people. The Eddie Brock version did munch on a guy’s brain, and the Mac Gargan version had no problem consuming stray limbs. The character’s evolved quite a bit from those days, but for me, there’s no coming back from cannibalism.

 

WHAT TO WATCH BETWEEN GUNS

Cruella (May 28): If you’re a genre fan who hadn’t fallen in love with Emma Stone on general principles by 2014, then her turn as Gwen Stacy in the otherwise forgettable Amazing Spider-Man 2 should’ve done it. Now she’s giving us Cruella de Vil’s origin, which will change forever how I see 101 Dalmatians.

Free Guy (May 21): It’s hard to pigeonhole this movie, which stars Ryan Reynolds as an NPC (non-playing character) in a violent, open-world video game, who somehow becomes self-aware. I normally wouldn’t be very interested, but Reynolds has won my undying loyalty for his utterly fearless, R-rated and hilarious take on Deadpool. It was the only way the character could avoid milquetoasty failure, and Reynolds had the guts to fight for it.

Jungle Cruise (July 30): I laughed when Disney announced the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. “How can you make a movie out of a theme park ride,” I snickered. “What a joke!” Five successful “Pirates” movies later, I’m not laughing any more. If I need any more convincing to buy a ticket, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, as the headliner, makes the case.

Last Night in Soho (April 23): Soho is a horror movie, which I don’t normally go to the theater for. But this one is directed by genre veteran Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shaun of the Dead), and stars the white-hot Anya Taylor-Joy (Queen’s Gambit), who is no stranger to genre work (The Witch, New Mutants).  It’s also, evidently, the last performance by the late Diana Rigg (UK’s Avengers, Game of Thrones). Farewell, Mrs. Peel — you will always be needed.

Mortal Kombat (April 16): There are a number of movies based on video games, for players of those games. Here’s another one.

Sherlock Holmes 3 (Dec. 22): The first two movies were funny, but also respectful of Holmesian lore. (I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories in high school, too.) I enjoyed them both, and expect to enjoy another.

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (Oct. 22): G.I. Joe holds a nostalgic allure for those who watched the late ‘80s cartoon as kids. This is for them.

 

SEQUELS NOBODY ASKED FOR

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (June 11): I was rooting for the all-female Ghostbusters (2016), but the negative reaction to that movie in certain quarters almost deep-sixed the franchise. So this movie is pretending the third GB movie didn’t happen, and is instead acting like a sequel to Ghostbusters II (1989). It has an all-new cast, which is worrying, but that cast includes Paul Rudd and Finn Wolfhard, which is reassuring.

The Matrix 4 (Dec. 22): I have completely forgotten everything from the first three movies except the red pill/blue pill bit.

Mission: Impossible 7 (Nov. 19): Wait, there are seven now? I think I’ve missed a few.

 

Millicent Simmonds (from left), Noah Jupe and Emily Blunt brave the unknown in A Quiet Place Part II. (© 2019 Paramount Pictures)

A Quiet Place Part II (April 23): If you saw the first one, you know which major character can’t be in this one.

Top Gun: Maverick (July 2): I didn’t care for the mindless machismo of Top Gun the first time around. I won’t watch, but plenty of other people will.

Find Captain Comics by email (capncomics@aol.com), on his website (captaincomics.ning.com), on Facebook (Andrew Alan Smith) or on Twitter (@CaptainComics). 

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  • A movie version of Dune is like an animated version of Peter and the Wolf

    Beyond that, mark me down for No Time to Die (4/2), Godzilla vs. King Kong (5/21) and Eternals (11/5).

    And one of these days we're going to have to have a discussion about the relative merits of Kirby's '70s Marvel work. 

  • If you’re a genre fan who hadn’t fallen in love with Emma Stone on general principles by 2014, then her turn as Gwen Stacy in the otherwise forgettable Amazing Spider-Man 2 should’ve done it.

    Heck, I fell in love with her after seeing Easy A (2010), two years before she was Gwen Stacy.  

  • If you’re a genre fan who hadn’t fallen in love with Emma Stone on general principles by 2014, then her turn as Gwen Stacy in the otherwise forgettable Amazing Spider-Man 2 should’ve done it.

    Heck, I fell in love with her after seeing Easy A (2010), two years before she was Gwen Stacy.  

    I remember seeing Emma Stone in Superbad, and I was pretty sure she would make a couple of B-movies and we'd never see her again. I was, obviously, completely wrong about that

    Is this 3rd time a charm for Dune?

    I know I watched the Sci-Fi channel miniseries. I've never finished the David Lynch version. The last time I tried to watch it was when a friend of mine was reading the novels. he kept pausing every few minutes to explain to us what was going on. I made it about 15-20 minutes before I fell asleep. 

  • Dune is one of only five movies I have ever walked out on in my life.

  • I wonder if the title of the Shang Chi feature is a clue to his origin in this continuity.  Or maybe he is now the son of the Yellow Claw.

  • Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas said:

    I wonder if the title of the Shang Chi feature is a clue to his origin in this continuity.  Or maybe he is now the son of the Yellow Claw.

    I was always hoping Marvel would go that way, since Yellow Claw was a Fu Manchu rip-off, so he was an easy fit that would resurrect a long-forgotten Atlas-era villain. (I know he had a turn in Steranko's S.H.I.E.L.D. But Marvel seemed to avoid the character after that, probably due to racial sensitivities. And that one turned out to be a robot anyway, right?) Another choice would be The Mandarin, a third-generation Fu Manchu rip-off. I mean, come on, those options are just sitting there!

    Instead, they just had Shang refer obliquely to "my father" without naming him for a while, and then Ed Brubaker established that Fu was actually Zheng Zhu, an ancient Chinese sorcerer, who used "Fu Manchu" as an alias in the 20th century. In this iteration, "Fah Lo Suee" was also an alias, but I've forgotten the name Brubaker made up for her.

    This was one of the few Brubaker re-inventions I didn't much care for, because Yellow Claw was available and looking for work. It felt like a missed opportunity. Maybe someone will come along and establish that all of those "yellow peril" types are the same character, using different aliases. That would actually be a pretty cool clean-up on aisle 3.

    Incidentally, I don't keep up with Marvel like I used to, and I have a question. I assume Sir Denis Nayland Smith is also not available to Marvel any more, but they can still use Clive Reston, Leiko Wu and Black Jack Tarr, right?

    Also, now that Jimmy Woo is a regular in Marvel Comics again, does he ever mention Yellow Claw?

  • The genuine Yellow Claw turned up since that Steranko story with the robot.

    As a matter of fact, he made quite a few surprising appearances, fighting IIRC Captain America and the Falcon; the Mandarin; Shang Chi; the Avengers; Nova (Richard Rider); and Captain America and the Leap Frog.

  • Cap said

    Incidentally, I don't keep up with Marvel like I used to, and I have a question. I assume Sir Denis Nayland Smith is also not available to Marvel any more, but they can still use Clive Reston, Leiko Wu and Black Jack Tarr, right?

    Cap, I'm reading the current Shang-Chi miniseries, and Leiko Wu has appeared in that. With one issue to go, I don't remember anyone else on that list showing up. If they did, it wasn't of any import.

  • I read the entire original run of Master of Kung Fu, and I wonder how much the movie makers even have to make out of who Shang-Chi's father is. We never cared about James Bond's father, and most of the fathers of other superheroes are memorable only because they were dead before the hero started heroing (Thomas Wayne, Jor-El, Ben Parker, Brian Banner, John Grayson, etc.).

  • ...Luke Skywalker. :P

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