Category Speculation & Analysis

Aug 11 2025

We Are The Winners Of The Summer 2025 Superhero Film War

It sounds like a cliche by now to make a statement that we fans are the true winners of summer 2025’s superhero film wars between Marvel and DC, but it’s true. It does not matter which of the two films, Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, is better, although fans have made arguments that Superman was better than The Fantastic Four: First Steps and vice versa. It’s all subjective and open to interpretation. What matters is that we finally got a summer where the two superhero-based film studios, Marvel Studios and DC Studios, went head to head with top-tier film releases that were well made and successful (more on that soon).

The result was that we were treated to two great superhero films in a relatively short amount of time. It would have been better if they performed better at the box office but they are not flops. Who knows what would have happened if both films pulled in a billion dollars? Would this have triggered some kind of race between the two studios to outdo each other at every turn? This would not be realistic or viable and probably lead to a huge crash after some of their films failed. Perhaps the films would have made a lot more money if their releases were not so close to each other since the films came out in a two-week period. Both studios should adjust their release schedules to consider this.

One thing to dispel is that there isn’t superhero fatigue. That is something that trolls and others want to create a narrative in order to drive clicks and views. Sure, we are past the heyday of the superhero craze and the new normal is that they are not guaranteed box office gold. But that is because too many inferior films came out which turned off many to superhero films. The two studios should share some blame for that but other studios, especially Sony Pictures, dumped out garbage like Madame Web and Morbius, which diluted the Marvel name and superhero films in general. It does not matter that the Sony Spider-Man-less films were not part of the Marvel Studios films; the average moviegoer does not know or pay attention to such subtleties. Even though Sony announced they won’t produce any more of these films, the damage has been done.

Right now both Marvel Studios and DC Studios are in a rebuilding phase. Both of this summer’s superhero films launched new phases for their shared cinematic universes and past history has shown that the early films of the studios started off relatively small but they built interest for the characters who later on headlined blockbuster films. For example, Man of Steel earned $670 million dollars, while that is great for most films, Warner Bros., the parent company of DC Studios, would have preferred it earned more. The following film after Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was more successful in part because it featured Superman. The problem for Warner Bros. is that they got greedy and impatient and jumped into the big tentpole epics like Justice League, which did not allow for the characters and events to grow naturally. In the end, these films failed to make the money Warner Bros. wanted and eventually the first DC shared universe collapsed.

James Gunn took over the DC films and is now carefully launching a new cinematic universe. For the most part, he is keeping things close as to what direction the films will take. As far as we know the only followup film in the new DC universe that is coming out will be Supergirl, while on TV Lanterns and Peacemaker will be streaming soon. Gunn has made it clear, that future films will only go into production once a complete script satisfies everyone, which is how it should be. Right now, Superman will have earned $600 very soon and maybe will finish out its run earning a bit more, which means it is profitable. This is a promising start for the new DC films but it’s important that Superman appear soon in future films in order to keep the character fresh with audiences.

Meanwhile, the early Marvel Studios films did not even come close to making a billion dollars until The Avengers. The Marvel films released this year were not outright flops nor were they were humongous successes, although the final numbers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps is not known at this time. The films earned from as low as $382 million (for Thunderbolts*) to $434 million and counting for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In the end, the latter film will probably finish its run with over $500 million, which is respectable.

Marvel Studios tried to repeat this pattern with Phase Four of their films after the Infinity Saga ended. But circumstances prevented followups to the Phase Four films TV shows and characters. Sure, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a hit back in 2021 and all, but where is the sequel? Where is Shang-Chi for that matter? Yes, he will appear in Avengers: Doomsday but that will be a time gap of five years between appearances, which is too long. This lack of followup was a huge error on Marvel’s part. They had to keep to momentum going with Shang-Chi, especially since he was an unknown character. In the past, after minor and unknown characters made their debuts, Marvel Studios quickly featured them in other films to keep up interest. Examples of this include the Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange, who rocketed in popularity after they made appearances in Avengers films and their future films earned much more than their debut films. This even happened with the Marvel Studios version of Spider-Man. His debut film, Spider-Man: Homecoming, did not make a billion dollars but his second and third films did so, easily. This formula will work with the Fantastic Four and other new characters. Thankfully, Marvel Studios will repeat this formula in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday as that film will feature the Fantastic Four, the Sam Wilson Captain America, and the Thunderbolts.

Both film studios are focusing on quality and long-term strategies, which is great because this will help word of mouth for these superhero films. Marvel Studios now has genuine competition when it comes to producing quality superhero films. Again this is great for us fans. Even the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, has said in the past that he wanted DC films to succeed because the competition would be good for Marvel Studios. Competition generates innovation and creativity and encourages competitors to do their best work. In fact, the lack of competition from DC could be seen as one of the reasons why Marvel Studios floundered for a few years.

It is great that there is genuine competition between the two superhero film studios. Whether or not Superman or The Fantastic Four: First Steps is more successful is irrelevant at this point, although Superman is the clear winner when it comes to box office result. Both films can be enjoyed by fans for what they bring to the table. What matters is that two great superhero films came out in one summer, which is something we have not had in a while. This is why we are the winners in this competition.

Jul 20 2025

The Eve of MCU’s Phase Six

Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) starts this week with the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a film that will begin the finale of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. As Phase Six commences it is clear that the MCU has had some challenges recently and it remains to be seen if the latest phase will course correct the cinematic universe.

A major issue with the last two phases that will affect Phase Six was that they did not tell a cohesive or coherent storyline that progressed the overall story of the Multiverse Saga. This ran counter to the first three phases that told a progressive story that culminated with the last two Avengers films, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. One thing to note with the first three phases was that they concluded more or less with an epic Avengers film. This did not happen with Phase Four (*Thunderbolts the last film of Phase Five ended with the revelation that it was actually a film about a new team of Avengers), and the Multiverse Saga had to do a course correct for outside reasons.

Phase Five of the MCU was plagued with several misfires and undeniable box office disappointments as films and TV shows did not live up to expectations. This was unfortunate since Phase Four was disappointing, as well, and failed to live up to the glory days of the first three phases. Phase Five was supposed to correct this but could not.

Namely that Marvel Studios decided to eliminate the main villain of the Multiverse Saga, Kang the Conqueror, and instead abruptly chose to have Doctor Doom as the main villain. This change happened because the actor who played Kang, Jonathan Majors, was fired by Marvel Studios for being convicted of domestic abuse and the character did not resonate with fans. This happened as Phase Five was well underway and did not allow the MCU to organically pivot to Doctor Doom, but the film studio could have tried. Films and TV shows in the latter half of Phase Five should have, at the bare minimum, dropped Easter eggs and references to Doctor Doom but that has not happened. In fact, many TV shows from Phase Six like Secret Invasion or Agatha All Along did nothing to advance the Mulitverse Saga. Meanwhile, only about half of the Phase Five films were relevant to the Multiverse Saga.

What makes this situation worse is that Doctor Doom, the main villain of the Fantastic Four, will not appear in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. This is a mistake considering that Doom will be the villain of next year’s Avengers: Doomsday and it is unlikely that upcoming MCU projects before that film will include any appearances or references to Doctor Doom and the Multiverse Saga. It is head scratching that Doctor Doom will not at least have a cameo in The Fantastic Four: First Steps but we won’t know this for sure until the film is released. On the other hand, there are reports that one of the post-credits scene from The Fantastic Four: First Steps will directly tie into Avengers: Doomsday so there is that, at least.

Another thing that is evident with the slate of Phase Six is that unlike the last two phases there will be noticeably less films and TV shows released. One major complaint about the last two phases, especially with Phase Four, was that too many projects were released, and this stretched the resources of Marvel Studios. The result was that many subpar films and TV shows were released before they could be fine tuned to be better. With Phase Six, Marvel Studios has chosen to emphasize quality over quantity, though this means that many threads and characters introduced in the previous phases will be ignored. This will frustrate many fans, but it was inevitable given that Marvel Studios has to concentrate on popular characters instead of greenlighting TV shows or films about obscure superheroes that may or may not resonate with the larger public. So, expect many films and TV shows dealing with the core Avengers lineup, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four (if the first film is successful) and of course, the mutants.

At this time, we can only speculate on what films and TV shows Marvel Studios will release for Phase Six. Unlike the previous phases the studio is remaining tight lipped about its upcoming releases since they have been burned by prematurely announcing projects before they were ready like Blade. To date, the only known projects are The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Wonder Man, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, second seasons for Daredevil: Born Again and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Vision Quest, a Punisher TV special, Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: Secret Wars, and at least one other film that we have no information about. Who knows what it will be? A new Doctor Strange film? A third Black Panther film?

While it’s regrettable that Marvel Studios is pulling back on the quantity of projects it is for the best since the limited amount of films and TV shows will lead to improved products. We already are seeing this as the more recent offerings from Marvel Studios like Deadpool and Wolverine, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and *Thunderbolts have received a lot of acclaim. It is also interesting to see that certain projects that were not as well received as Ironheart, parts of Daredevil: Born Again and Captain America: Brave New World were produced before Marvel Studios began to course correct with its offerings. Daredevil: Born Again offers clear proof of this as the most acclaimed episodes were made after the film studio decided to emphasize its commitment to quality.

It will take some time for Marvel Studios’ course corrections to resonate with the general public. Not too long ago, the MCU brand was golden and a guarantee of quality and box office success. That’s not the situation anymore as many recent films have underperformed, even if they were acclaimed like *Thunderbolts. It is no longer a guarantee that an MCU film will be a box office hit. But it is important that they maintain a high level of quality because this will create positive buzz for MCU films and TV shows. Do not be surprised if properties like *Thunderbolts develop cult followings, which is good for Marvel Studios as this will demonstrate the studio’s commitment to quality products. Eventually the public will catch on and begin seeing them the films and TV shows in droves again. Then again with important tentpole films like Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: Secret Wars and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it is practically certain that Phase Six of the MCU will be successful.

José Soto

Jul 1 2025

The Eve OF The DCU’s Chapter One: Gods & Monsters

After the downfall of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), the new DC Universe (DCU) cinematic universe has risen from the ashes and kicks off with Superman on July 11, 2025.

Fans of DC have both eagerly anticipated this meant and dreaded it ever since filmmaker James Gunn announced DC Studios’ planned DCU line up in early 2023 with a slate of films and TV shows. The first TV show which actually started the DCU last year was the animated Creature Commandos which streamed on Max. The show received positive reactions although it seemed similar to James Gunn’s DCEU film The Suicide Squad, but with monsters as the main characters forced to work for the government instead of supervillains. One thing that Gunn made clear was that Creature Commandos was canon to the DCU and even one of the featured characters from that show, Rick Flagg, Sr., will appear in Superman.

Right now, fandom and the public at large are focused on Superman, which inaugurates the DCU in live action. The marketing push for the film is very intense and pervasive with the usual deluge of merchandise and trailers (but gotta admit any merch about Krypto the Super Dog is so damn cute; Gunn has a way with animals) and publicity. There is a good reason for the push by DC Studios’ parent company Warner Bros.

RIP DCEU

As everyone knows, the DCEU was supposed to be film studio’s answer to Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which has been wildly successful ever since it debuted in 2008. The DCEU had everything going for it: popular superheroes that enjoyed success in the box office and TV with projects like Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, the Arrowverse on TV and Smallville. Even Nolan helped launch the DCEU by helping to create Man of Steel. But for many reasons the DCEU was plagued by many problems, mostly due to studio interference, impatience and greed. Warner Bros. was in a rush to compete with the MCU and didn’t allow the DCEU to grow organically and build up a fanbase like with the MCU. Instead of carefully introducing characters, they were clumsily mashed together just to premiere Justice League, the DCEU answer to The Avengers, just a few short years after Man of Steel. Many of the films were not well received and it seemed as if the DCEU was playing catch up with the MCU. But what really killed the DCEU was interference by studio executives who were chasing the almighty dollar and did not seem to care about the quality of the films.

Despite attempts to salvage the DCEU by the early 2020s it was clear that the cinematic universe was without direction and falling apart. To the studio’s credit, they recognized James Gunn’s talent and vision with The Suicide Squad and offered him the opportunity to revamp its cinematic universe. He essentially started over with the DC properties and has launched the DCU with its initial projects being labeled as Chapter One: Gods & Monsters. Of course, this entailed huge changes including the recasting of the DC characters. Actors, like Henry Cavill, were removed from playing iconic characters and in the case of Jason Momoa, he was recast to play a different role in the DCU. This development was controversial and incense some fans of the DCEU who automatically hated anything to do with the DCU and have taken to the Internet to troll Gunn and the DCU. Unfortunately, that is par for the course with social media these days.

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Jun 22 2025

The Probability Of 28 Days Later

28 Years Later is the latest entry into the 28 Days Later franchise that jumpstarted the zombie genre over 20 years ago. While technically, the “infected” savages that attack humans are still human and not zombies, they are still deadly savages that quickly overran a nation. The premise in the first film is that an artificial virus derived from the Ebola virus is let loose from a lab and soon wipes out the United Kingdom. This happens in the space of about 28 days as the virus was highly contagious and fast spreading. Once infected, the victims of the Rage Virus, turn into mindless, rage-fueled savages in mere seconds and lose all their humanity as they kill anyone within reach. As terrifying as it seems, is this possible? Not just the virus itself, but the entire premise of the films which culminate in 28 Years Later with the UK and Ireland under permanent quarantine from the outside world.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the Rage Virus is by how quickly it turns victims into murderous monsters in seconds. But this is hard to believe. Sure, this is just a film which requires a suspension of belief, but viruses are not capable of having an instant effect in host bodies. Yes, it can rapidly spread in a host body and symptoms can appear quickly, but viruses need some time to manifest. In reality, an infected person will have some time, as short as hours, to remain cognizant and quarantine or kill themselves to protect their loved ones. So while it’s possible that viruses can quickly spread, as we saw with COVID-19, they would not overrun a country the size of the UK within a month. Not with symptoms being so noticeable. Maybe if the virus mutates to be less noticeable and a viral mutation is something that is shown in 28 Years Later.

Then there is the quarantining of the UK. Again as we’ve seen with COVID-19, cutting off communities, even nations won’t stop the spread of a virus. It will slow it down, but in the end, given how interconnected we are, the Rage Virus would’ve been much more widespread by at least in the timeframe of the first sequel 28 Weeks Later. Actually, this was shown to be the case at the end of that film when it’s revealed that the infected reached Paris, France. On the other hand, given how deadly the Rage Virus is, you can bet the world would have gone to great lengths to keep it from spreading. Also, since the UK is largely a group of islands, in theory the spread of the virus could at least be slowed down with a quarantine, but it would not last. Do not be surprised if future sequels have the virus spreading throughout the world.

When it comes to curbing the virus’s spread, as most of us resorted to wearing face masks and did not deny the virus during the pandemic, people would have adapted to wearing full face masks to keep infectious fluids from entering the body. Of course, this would not protect them from the murderous wrath of an infected who would tear and bite them. Then again perhaps most people would have started wearing protective clothing or body armor. We actually saw one of the main characters doing this in the first film.

Another puzzling point in the franchise is that there seems to be little to no effort to fight the Rage Virus in the scientific field. Aside from a plot point in 28 Weeks Later where the U. S. Army doctor wants to study an asymptomatic victim, before everything went to hell, there is not any mention of attempts to combat the virus. As we saw with the recent real-life pandemic, our society threw massive resources to find a way to treat COVID-19 and were able to devise vaccines in months. Shouldn’t a vaccine have been developed to curb the Rage Virus, especially in the years that passed up to the latest film? We see in the sequels that it is possible to be asymptomatic of the virus and in 28 Years Later, an uninfected child is born from an infected mother. It would probably be difficult to find a cure as we see with AIDS and other viruses, but a vaccine would certainly have been created 28 years after the first film.

Is the Rage Virus and what happens after it spreads likely in the real world? Most likely, no. But the chances are not zero. The virus was artificially created in the film, so who knows if in the future some fool will create a similar virus and it gets loose in our world. It is a disturbing thought and part of the reason why the 28 Days Later films are so captivating while being horrifying.

Jun 1 2025

After Andor What’s Next For Star Wars?

The Disney + Star Wars TV series Andor concluded to much deserved acclaim, and it did something that seemed improbable given the state of the Star Wars franchise. Andor has helped create renewed enthusiasm for Star Wars as it showed how versatile and mature the franchise can be.

Ever since Disney acquired Star Wars from its creator George Lucas, the projects the company and Lucasfilm put out have received mixed reactions. At first, the franchise received a lot of renewed enthusiasm after the releases of Disney’s first two Star Wars films, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

But the reception to the following films, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, was a lot less muted as many fans soured against the Disney films. As a result, the box office returns were not quite as high as the early films and in fact, Solo did not perform well in theaters.

This Was the Way

The Star Wars franchise recovered significantly when the first Disney + Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian, debuted on the streaming app in 2019. For a couple of years, Mandalorian fever gripped fans and the larger public as Grogu, the infant Yoda-like co-star of the show captured the public’s hearts and imagination. It seemed as if the TV show single-handedly rescued the franchise and injected new life into it. However, many of the other Star Wars TV shows were not as popular or had the level of quality as The Mandalorian, except for Andor. In fact, although Andor did not have the high viewership numbers that The Mandalorian enjoyed, it was a massive critical hit as it presented a fresh and adult take on Star Wars with its grounded look at how the Rebellion began in earnest against the Galactic Empire.

Still, despite Andor’s critical success, Star Wars on the whole was floundering as inferior TV shows like The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka disappointed fans and emboldened toxic trolls to attack Star Wars. Then there was the fact that the film franchise was essentially dead as many announced films never went into production, except for next year’s The Mandalorian and Grogu. Even recently, The Mandalorian fell out of favor with many fans because of its third season, which was not as well received as its first two seasons.

New Heights of Quality Star Wars Television

When the second season of Andor first streamed fans and critics applauded the show’s mature, sweeping and complex nature with its nuanced and well-developed characters that quickly generated memes and online discussion about the nature of defiance, sacrifice and societies.

What truly captured the hearts of fans were its story arcs devoted to the Ghorman Massacre and the final arc that wrapped up the story lines of many characters including Cassian Andor himself. The last time we see him, he was departing for what would be his final mission in Rogue One. A mission he never returned from. What made his final on screen moments so heartbreaking was the revelation in Andor’s final scene that he fathered a child that he would never know. And no, this child is not Poe Dameron from the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.

What made Andor so great and unique was that it had no connection to the Jedi, the Sith, or the larger Star Wars/Skywalker saga. It instead focused on random, everyday people living regular lives and how the Empire affected them to either join the cause or support the Empire through simple acts that cascaded into mass movements that affected the galaxy.

It should be noted that Andor was not the only TV show to break out of the traditional Star Wars mold. Others like Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte gave us different stories that took place at different time periods and had little to do with the Skywalker Saga. However, they were not as regarded as highly as Andor.

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