7 Upcoming Superhero Films That Are Really Unnecessary

While there's a palpable excitement in the air for the likes of Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League and Avengers: Infinity War, there are a lot more superhero films coming in the next few years. Suffice it to say, it's a good time to be a comic book fan right now. Initial hype aside, though, we're running the risk of severe superhero fatigue in the not-too-distant future. Much like with anything else in life, the more you have of something, the less value it ends up having. We're already seeing the audience numbers dwindling in the superhero TV world, and the film side of things could follow soon as well - especially if the properties are only being used to jump on the comic book movie bandwagon. Now, we don't want to appear like a bunch of naysayers here, but we do need to talk about the many elephants in the room. There are a couple of movies being made that we really don't need to see or experience. Sure, we'll probably end up watching all of them when they're released - and some might surprise us in a good way - but it's still important to highlight how they aren't necessary in the first place. So, without further ado, let's have a look at 7 upcoming and unnecessary superhero films. As always, we encourage debate on this topic. Whether you agree or disagree with us, please let us know your thoughts in the comments section. Silver & Black In what's a clear case of the cart pulling the non-existent donkey, Sony has announced Silver & Black, a film based on Spider-Man supporting characters Silver Sable and Black Cat. The best part? Neither of them has been introduced in a Spidey movie, nor will the Web-Crawler be present in their outing. Yes, we're face-palming as well at the thought of a Spiderverse without Spider-Man. Well done, Sony! One would think that the company had learned from its previous mistakes, but no. It appears the execs are adamant that two C-grade characters will put butts in cinema chairs and be the riveting extravaganza of the summer. This shouldn't come as a major surprise to anyone, though, since the Sony leaks did teach us a major lesson: no one in that company has ever read a comic book, or given a damn about any comic book character. While the concept of Venom, starring Tom Hardy, is still borderline acceptable, this seems to be the biggest WTF of the lot. It's not like social media is buzzing with fans clamoring for a Black Cat and Silver Sable movie, so why do it? The honest answer is: the feeling of cold, hard cash in the Sony execs' hands. Suicide Squad 2 Regardless of what you thought about David Ayer's Suicide Squad, you need to ask yourself, is a sequel necessary? The worst of the worst - in more ways than one - didn't do much for its characters, bar Harley Quinn, Deadshot, and Slipknot (purely for the ridiculous memes). It's not like any of us would cry if Enchantress or Rick Flag disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again. In truth, Gotham City Sirens makes much more sense than this sequel. While it'll still contain the villainous team-up angle, it'll have more interesting and iconic characters to invest in. Who wouldn't want to see Harley, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy causing havoc in Gotham City? Hopefully, Ayer (if he's still involved by the time of production) is given adequate time to make this movie and won't create something subpar like his first stab at superhero films. Suicide Squad made a ton of money, sure, but that doesn't change the fact that it was arguably the poorest effort produced by the DCEU to date. Maybe there was a good film hidden somewhere between the different cuts and edits. Nonetheless, we can only make conclusions based on the final product that we saw - and quite frankly, it sucked. Hellboy Get this: Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman were both keen to come back for another cinematic round of Hellboy. The two main catalysts that made the first two films so incredible and different from any other comic book movie wanted to make a threequel. So, what happens? The franchise gets rebooted with a new lead and director. Doh! Take nothing away from David Harbour, who we're sure will do a stellar job in the lead role, but Perlman was Hellboy for a generation. From the look of the character to the mannerisms, this was a match made in Heaven (or should we say Hell?). So, it's bizarre to fathom why anyone would even want to reboot this franchise when the actor was ready to portray the demon again. If he wanted out, by all means start afresh, but this is just a strange decision. Look, with Neil Marshall involved as the director, the reboot is in good hands. However, we still can't shake off the feel of what could've been had del Toro and Perlman gotten another go at Mike Mignola's popular superhero. Surely, they deserved at least a trilogy for all their efforts. Gambit Is this even happening? Apparently so. According to our bro Channing Tatum, it's being reworked - hopefully into the bad ideas bin. After losing directors and passing by release dates like they were antelopes at a watering hole, the warning signs are flickering that Gambit shouldn't see the light of day. Despite absolutely no one asking for this flick, Fox is pressing ahead with it, anyway, proving the Fantastic Four won't be the only characters they ruin beyond repair. The weird thing is that Tatum mentioned they're considering an R rating for the movie, which doesn't make any sense at all. Remy LeBeau, as a member of the X-Men, was never a crude guy or someone who pushed the limits of even PG-13, so this appears to be another case of mistaken superhero identity. Maybe Fox thinks Lobo is the Ragin' Cajun and someone hasn't told them his name isn't Gambit? If true, what an excellent troll! Instead of flogging this dead horse, it's time that Simon Kinberg and his people do the obvious and put Gambit in an X-Men film. Depending on his reception in said movie, then consider the possibility of a solo project, rather than run into a project blind and be surprised by how it flops in the end. Sheesh! You'd think that someone would've thought of this by now. Bloodshot Oh, look. It's Sony again. How surprising! In case you didn't know, Bat in the Sun (the team famed for Batman and superhero-related fan films) is already busy adapting the live-action video series Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe, which makes way more sense than a Bloodshot film. Furthermore, in BITS's series, Jason David Frank is portraying Bloodshot; therefore, any argument is invalid because the original Green Ranger is superior to all of us mere mortals. To make matters worse, the latest rumor is that Jared Leto might be in the running to play the titular character. Does this mean he'll be method acting and sending spiked dildos and half-eaten donuts to cast members again? We all saw how his last endeavor as a comic book character panned out, and let's just say he'd make an excellent voice actor for an Ace Ventura animated series. We're all for comic book companies seeing their properties come to life on the big screen, but if there's already a series in the pipeline, why rush out a movie? Personally, out of all the Valiant characters, we think X-O Manowar deserves his own film before Bloodshot. New Mutants We don't know about you, but we're all mutant'd out at the moment. The last couple of X films from Fox - bar Deadpool and Logan - have left us a little bit meh, so there's no genuine excitement to see the studio push forward with New Mutants. On top of that, we can't quite shake off the worrying feeling that this project should've been a TV series and not a feature film. It's blatantly obvious here that Fox is capitalizing on the X-Men brand and creating as many spinoffs as possible, hoping to generate more Benjamins from all the associated properties. Hence, this feature feels quite insincere and pointless to most of us. Also, there's the real possibility that it might turn into another Fantastic Four, and we really don't need more of that crap in our lives. Look around the net and you'll need to search really hard to find people talking about how excited they are for New Mutants. It's not exactly a team of superheroes that we've asked for or need to see in the live-action world. We'd prefer if the powers that be invest more time and money into the second season of Legion instead. Now, that's a worthwhile project. Black Adam Ever since Warner Bros. announced Dwayne Johnson would be lacing up his boots to play Black Adam, we've been freaking out at the thought of the People's Champion becoming the People's Bad Guy. Who wouldn't want to see a film where his powerful character clashes with Captain Marvel, AKA Shazam, especially if Billy Batson's alter ego is portrayed by the Alan "Thad Castle" Ritchson (which we're hoping happens with every beat of our hearts)? However, things took a strange turn as they often do. Shazam was officially announced last month, but we quickly found out that Johnson wouldn't be a part of it. It seems counterproductive to make a movie about Shazam without his biggest antagonist in it. We also need to ask the question here, is Black Adam mainstream enough to merit his own film? He isn't at the same level of infamy as Lex Luthor or the Joker, so the answer is a big, fat no. Sure, you have Johnson's star power to draw on, but will it be enough? Remember, Halle Berry was also a huge Hollywood darling when Catwoman came calling and look how that played out. Instead of creating separate films for these characters, the studio should focus on making the best type of project that accommodates both of them. Having Shazam without Black Adam, or vice versa, does more harm than good.