As I’ve said many times over the last several years, it’s a good time to be a superhero fan. Not only have they gone a lot more mainstream (how many people do you know who have seen none of the Marvel or DC movies?), but there’s a lot of quality product coming out. I do hear a few folks going on about “superhero fatigue,” but to me, it seems like that’s either something they really want to have happen, or they have a specific agenda.

Over the last half week or so (at least, as of the time I’m writing this) several trailers have come out. I’m going to do a quick round up of them below. I guess there might be spoilers if you haven’t seen the trailers, but I don’t have any inside information on the movies (and one show) or anything. In order of the actual release date of the movies/show, we have:

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3: The Guardians are known in the MCU for their more humorous take on things, and found family. Granted, you can cut a trailer to look like anything you want, but this one appears to be a bit more serious than the last two movies (or the Christmas special, which was great). This movie will bring us Adam Warlock (a relatively obscure but very powerful character from the comics), more about Cosmo (a psychic dog we’ve seen little bits from), and it’s said to be the final Guardians movie. Given that Dave Bautista has said it’s his last time as Drax, and some of the scenes in the trailer, I can make a few guesses about how that ties in with the more somber tone they’re showing in general. We’re also supposed to learn more about Rocket’s backstory, which isn’t exactly a warm-hearted tale in any version I’ve seen anywhere. They also seem to be wearing costumes more in line with their recent comic book appearances. Guardians releases May 5^th.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: A sequel to 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse, this looks like another great movie. The first one was unexpectedly fantastic, and this seems to be setting up for more of the same. Miles is still a kid, making bad kid choices on occasion (see the scenes with his parents), but also living the life of a hero. I’m happy to see Gwen and Peter B. back, although I’ve heard nothing about John Mulaney’s very entertaining Spider-Ham. This one seems to lean harder into the multiverse aspect, and there’s even a passing reference to Spider-Man: No Way Home. They seem to be setting up Spider-Man 2099 as the major antagonist, which I’m not crazy about as the original comic run of his was fantastic. Marvel alums from previous projects include Hailee (Kate Bishop) Stansfield voicing Gwen, and Oscar (Moon Knight and company) Isaac as Miguel O’Hara. We revisit the Spider-Verse on June 2^nd.

Secret Invasion: This was a major storyline in the comics, where we found out that, among other things, Skrulls (shapeshifting aliens) had been infiltrating Earth for years, even replacing various superheroes. I’m not sure they’re taking quite that tack with this interpretation, but it does seem to be very espionage heavy, featuring, among others, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Everett K. Ross, Contessa “don’t call me Val,” Talos, and James Rhodes. Among various points of interest from the trailer: aside from a passing mention, the absence of superheroes, James Rhodes appears to be in a position of power but we don’t see the War Machine armor, and the introduction of Sonya Falsworth. The Falsworth name is related to several different superheroes in Marvel Comics, and it will be interesting to see how they link to that, because of course, they’re going to (they wouldn’t be using the name otherwise). Considering how many heroes have ties to Fury, SHIELD, the Skrulls, and Rhodes, the lack of costumed characters is noteworthy. The Invasion begins on June 21^st, airing on Disney+ and giving us two Marvel releases in that month.

Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes is the third character to use that name in DC Comics. They seem to be doing a rough version of his origin (the one from the comics tied directly to a major event the various DC movies haven’t touched on). Oddly, his two closest friends from the comics don’t seem to be in the movie at all. There are definite ties to Ted Kord, who was the Beetle before Jaime, and what appears to be a new and non-sympathetic character with the Kord name. The costume is just about dead-perfect from the comics, and so is the brief glimpse we get of Ted Kord’s Bug, a unique airship. I’m sure we’ll learn more about the movie as it gets closer to the release date. The Blue Beetle soars into the theaters on August 18^th.

I’ll be doing some features on various characters related to these movies as we move closer to the projects coming out.

Which one are you looking forward to the most?