The upcoming superhero movies of 2011 include plenty of green on the silver screen; a Norse God; the most patriotic comic book character of all time; and some more X-Men movies. So whether you’re a Marvel fan or want to see masked men from other superhero worlds save our world on the silver screen, there’s sure to be some upcoming action-packed superhero movies of 2011 here for you to look forward to:
Captain America: The First Avenger – The most patriotic superhero with one of the most ridiculous costumes is one of many from the Marvel universe getting a movie in 2011, and his stars and stripes attire have likely made his story one of the hardest upcoming superhero movies to make. Fortunately (I hope), the director of ‘The Wolfman’ and ‘The Rocketeer’ has decided to explain the character’s patriotic theme by making him a USO performer after it is deemed too risky by the military to test their supersoldier in battle. Chris Evans is the lucky guy that gets to do battle with Nazis and arch nemesis the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), before being put on ice for a few decades and revived to help modern-day Americans. Other names attached to the movie are Hayley Atwell, who will be playing the Cap’s love interest, and Dominic Cooper as the father of Tony Stark/Iron Man. So will this be one of the best upcoming superhero movies of 2011? With an origins storyline that stretches from WWII to modern day, it’s going to be hard to cram so much into so little time, but I can’t help but be very curious to see how this one turns out when it hits theaters during the patriotic month of July 2011.
Green Lantern – Here’s one of the upcoming superhero movies of 2011 that isn’t brought to you by Marvel, as DC’s comic book character with a weakness for the color yellow uses a piece of jewelry to do battle against evil. So can the director of ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘The Mask of Zorro’ make a man in a goofy green costume with a ridiculous weakness a little grittier (the way the world likes their superheroes lately)? The origin story follows Hal Jordan, the first human welcomed into a brotherhood of intergalactic enforcers protecting the galaxy from evil. The test pilot will be using his new ring and superpowers to do battle against Parallax, a demonic parasitic entity that travels from universe to universe causing civilizations to wipe themselves out. It’s one of the two upcoming superhero movies of 2011 that Ryan Reynolds will be starring in, joining Blake Lively as his love interest and Mark Strong as Sinestro, the Green Lantern’s mentor and fellow member of the Green Lantern Corps. Other big names attached include Tim Robbins and Peter Sarsgaard. I’m not sure if this will be one of the best upcoming superhero movies of 2011, but some of the intergalactic concept art looks pretty cool, and it will be fun to see a superhero in action whose superpowers are truly out-of-this-world.
The Green Hornet – This is one of the only upcoming superheroes of 2011 whose star didn’t originate in ink form on the pages of a comic book. Rather, the Green Hornet was born on the radio, as audiences used to sit on the edges of their seats just listening to the adventures of he and manservant Kato. With Seth Rogen in the starring role, I kind of hope they go with a campy style here, but it’s going to be hard for Jay Chou to compete with Bruce Lee as Kato in the 60’s TV series. The Green Hornet is a newspaper publisher by day and a crimefighter by night (he takes on the crimefighting gig in the tried-and-true vowing vengeance origin story). Cameron Diaz will be playing his love interest, an amateur detective with a love of crime investigation TV shows, and Christoph Waltz (the brightest spot in the movie!) will be playing gangster villain Chudnofsky, a powerful man with a plan to form a “supermafia” in L.A. So will the director of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ be able to make this movie the perfect blend of camp and crime fighting action? It’s January 14, 2011 release date doesn’t look promising, but a least it’s one of the upcoming superhero movies of 2011 that we don’t have to wait long to see (plus you’ve almost got to see it to see how in the world this could possibly work).
Thor – The director of ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ and ‘Valkyrie’ brings us another of the many upcoming superhero movies of 2011 straight from the pages of a Marvel comic book, but I’m a little more interested to see this one than previous movies on this list. Chris Hemsworth stars as the Norse God of Thunder whose journey spans from his world, Asgard, to our modern-day society, as the arrogant Thor is cast down to Earth as punishment for reawakening an ancient war. Equipped with his mighty hammer, he eventually has to do battle with evil forces from his own world, including his adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Thor has two love interests in the form of a beautiful deity from his own world, Sif (Jaimie Alexander), and human nurse Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Anthony Hopkin also stars as Odin, the ruler of Asgard. I really like the idea of having some mythology infused in a comic book movie, and this is definitely one of the upcoming superhero movies of 2011 that will be refreshingly different (plus, Natalie Portman is in it. Isn’t that reason enough to watch it?).
X-Men: First Class – Frankly, I’m getting rather tired of these comic book movies, but with so many different X-Men, there are plenty of tales to be told, so I don’t think they will stop as long as movie tickets are sold. This one is the story of a young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto, back when the two were still best buds discovering their powers. Of course this opens the movie up to introducing us to a whole new set of mutants (as well as taking a look back at what some of our favorites were like in their early days), but I’ve never been a fan of prequels. Still, you know ‘Kick-Ass’ director Matthew Vaughn’s next superhero flick will be one of the biggest upcoming movies of 2011 when it hits theaters next June.
Deadpool – And here’s Ryan Reynolds’ other upcoming superhero movie of 2011, as he reprises his role as Wade Wilson/Deadpool from ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ for this origin story. So will audiences enjoy seeing Reynolds as the mercenary with a merciless mouth (his way with swords matches his way with words) and the ability to heal himself, or as the guy in green? I think it’s fun that his character will reportedly be breaking the fourth wall just as he does in the comic books, and I have a feeling that this could be one of the upcoming superhero movies of 2011 to surprise us as Ryan Reynolds breaks through as an action star.
So from more X-Men to lots of green, gods, and stars and stripes, the upcoming superhero movies of 2011 will likely upset quite a few comic book fans, but that isn’t going to stop mainstream audiences from making them blockbusters.
SOURCES: www.imdb.com
www.themovieinsider.com
www.wikipedia.com
http://www.fusedfilm.com/2010/05/official-green-lantern-synopsis-arrives/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=official-green-lantern-synopsis-arrives
