Future Comic Book Movies
Doctor Strange is the next comic book movie due to grace our screens – arriving in theatres on November 4th, 2016. As such, we know who the main players are, and it is fairly clear that the villain of the piece will be the character of Kaecilius, played by Mads Mikkelsen. There could be some question over the morality and motivation of The Ancient One (played by Tilda Swinton), but the status of ‘Big Bad’ will almost certainly go to Kaecilius. It’s a shame, because we could have enjoyed the live-action debuts of Lilith, or Iskelior from the comic book series.
The LEGO Batman Movie is released on February 20th 2017, and we already know that the main villain will be The Joker (voiced by Zach Galifianakis). The rest of the character list is being kept firmly under wraps, however, so might we see the inclusion of some female villains? The Batman canon is rich with wicked women – many of whom we have yet to see on the big screen. This means they would be welcome in this LEGO animation, and also in the planned live-action Batman solo film that will be directed by Ben Affleck at a later date. In Batman projects thus far, we’ve seen Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Talia al Ghul. We could now do with a cinematic introduction to Phantasm, Jane Doe, Mime, Tarantula, and The Carpenter – among others.
There is an as-yet untitled Wolverine movie scheduled for release on March 3rd 2017. Now, The X-Men franchise is one that has a much better record for inclusion and the representation of female characters – despite its inherently patriarchal premise. But, a character as iconic as Wolverine has his own rich history of combating female villains in comic books. With this film, there is an opportunity to introduce Madame Masque, Vertigo, Dr Sybil Zane, Cassandra Nova, or Phaedra.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 is one of the most highly anticipated comic book movies in production, and it is released on May 5th, 2017. The first instalment was a huge hit, and similar success is predicted for its follow-up. The beauty of this franchise is that it has a little female villainy built in, in its core. The team is a group of criminals, and already has Gamora (Zoe Saldana) as a main character. In addition, there is her even more dangerous adoptive sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan) to contend with. In Vol 2, we will also see Mantis (Pom Klementieff) join the action.
