2017 was a crowded year for superhero movies, with Wonder Woman and Justice League from DC, Logan from Fox, and Marvel put out three movies all in one year. That's not even including smaller movies like Power Rangers. It was a lot of content for fans, but not so much that they didn't turn out in big numbers to their local movie theaters to see their favorite characters. The superhero genre is stronger than ever and 2018 promises to be another big year with the release of some high profile sequels.
Fox and Marvel Studios are coming in hot in 2018 with three releases each. Warner Bros. is hoping for quality over quantity, with Aquaman being their sole DC release of the year. Not to be forgotten, Sony will be debuting their Spider-Man spin-off universe with the release of Venom and the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. All in all, there are 10 superhero movies releasing in 2018, but not all of them can get all the money. Here's hoping that each one of these films ends up being great quality, but as far as the box office is concerned, I think that these will be the top five superhero movies commercially.
5. X-Men: Dark Phoenix
The future of the X-Men movies may be unclear in the wake of the Disney/Fox deal and what exactly it will mean for this current incarnation of the Merry Mutants on film, but we can still focus on the present with X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The fourth film in the First Class series, Dark Phoenix has a lot to be excited about. It's a second chance for an adaptation of the X-Men's most popular storyline and it has a feeling of new blood thanks to longtime X-Men scribe and producer Simon Kinberg taking over directing duties. However, the previous movie, X-Men: Apocalypse was a low point that failed to crack even the top 10 of highest grossing movies in 2016. While that may have been caused by bad word of mouth, it could potentially be a sign that this franchise doesn't have as much juice left in it as people thought. Still, we think this can earn enough to reach the five spot.
4. The Incredibles 2
Four years before Iron Man and The Dark Knight ignited the superhero boom that we are still experiencing today, Pixar released its own take on the superhero genre: The Incredibles. It was a family drama that just happened to star characters with superpowers and captured the spirit and adventure of the Silver Age of comics so well that few superhero movies since has come close to that feeling. Now over a decade later, a sequel is hitting theaters. Writer-director Brad Bird returns for The Incredibles 2, in addition to most of the original voice cast. A sequel like this should attract grown fans who saw the original and new fans alike with excitement already brewing. The Incredibles 2 teaser is the most viewed trailer for an animated movie ever. Pixar movies tend to bring in big numbers, and Pixar sequels aren't too shabby either. Just look at Finding Dory if you need an example of how well a sequel arriving years later can make an impact.
3. Deadpool 2
It's pretty nuts in retrospective to think how scared executives seemed to be about giving a Deadpool movie the green light. True, he wasn't exactly a well-known character at the time, and R-rated superhero blockbusters were practically unheard of, but millions of dollars later and Deadpool is the highest grossing R-rated movie ever. As you can imagine, Fox was all too eager to get a sequel made, which brings us to Deadpool 2 in 2018. Sequels don't usually score as high as the original, but I think we've learned not to underestimate Deadpool. This sequel seems predestined to make a killing now that the Merc with a Mouth has become a household name. Even more people are aware of his deal now, which means that the chances of even more people turning up opening weekend are that much higher. Plus, the sequel has a dynamite marketing campaign and that has to count for something.
2. Black Panther
In 2017, Marvel Studios released three movies, each of which had a lot of fan excitement going into them. However, the conversation always seems to circle back around to Black Panther. People are incredibly excited about this movie and for plenty of good reason. The trailers make it look amazing, it has a terrific cast, and will be the first major film from Marvel Studios starring a black superhero. True, Black Panther isn't the first superhero film with a black lead, but there's never been one on this big a scale with millions of people paying attention. In a recent poll, Black Panther was named as being one of the most anticipated movies of 2018. People are hungry for this movie. Marvel standalone movies don't usually gross this high, but Black Panther has more going for it than Doctor Strange or Ant-Man did. I would not be surprised in the least if Black Panther became the highest grossing non-sequel film from Marvel Studios.
1. Avengers: Infinity War
This was pretty much a foregone conclusion. There aren't a lot of sure things in this world, but barring a meteorite plummeting into Earth the day before May 4, 2018, Avengers: Infinity War seems destined for great things. It's hard to imagine the type of train wreck Infinity War would have to be for it not to be the highest grossing superhero movie of 2018. Fan hype for this movie is understandably high. It's being billed as the beginning of a culmination of 10 years of storytelling across 18 films. The scale of this movie is ginormous and people are psyched to see everyone from Doctor Strange to Groot interacting with one another. There's also a sense of finality as Infinity War could see several characters die, and it's setting up Avengers 4, the true end to the MCU as we currently know it. That's a lot to take in, but people are already ready to throw every dime they have at this blockbuster to end all blockbusters.
