Upcoming Superhero Movies Have The Weirdest Titles

As a whole, the upcoming superhero movie offerings in 2021 and 2022 have some of the weirdest titles in their respective franchises. For the past decade or so, both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe kept their movie titles simple and to the point. In the past, superhero movie titles often consisted of the main character or team’s name, like Iron Man or Justice League, with subtitles as a rarity. Films like Captain America: The First Avenger or Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice used them as a way to denote their significance, but it wasn’t common. Still, their implication was straightforward and informed viewers of what they were getting, unlike the Marvel titles of 2021.

Due to the Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic, movie studios are being forced to shuffle their schedules around for the coming months. As a result, 2020 is becoming a release wasteland, either dumping projects on streaming or moving their major blockbusters to 2021 and even 2022 as a safety precaution. Looking over the superhero slate for that year reveals an interesting trend in the genre – a lot of these titles are peculiar when compared to their predecessors.

In 2021, first up is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which does two very intriguing things with its title. First, it breaks the longstanding MCU tradition of hero origin movies being named after the main character alone. It also foreshadows the main antagonist, The Mandarin, a trait it shares with Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The sequel to the 2018 film mentions Cletus Kasady’s alter ego, as where Shang-Chi is a bit more subtle. Meanwhile, 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness leaves plenty of room for speculation. The follow-up to 2016’s Doctor Strange promises a trip through time and space with no other detail. The title alone has made it one of the most anticipated and talked-about releases of the MCU’s Phase 4. Compared to the more straightforward titles fans are used to, these titles seem stranger. Even Thor: Love & Thunder is different from Marvel’s norm, albeit fitting with Taika Waititi’s style.

These weird labels are not for nothing; they heighten the anticipation for these movies. That isn’t to say there was nothing to get excited about for titles like Thor or The Wolverine, but they didn’t pack the same punch. Tossing in a line to make their names more outlandish is a sure-fire way to turn heads. By giving fans a small bit of information to consider, the buzz surrounding the upcoming slate will only continue to grow before they hit theaters. Not to mention, the hints at iconic Marvel villains hitting the big screen for the first time should be more than enough to drive Marvel die-hards to the cinema. Venom 2‘s title is deliberately ridiculous, showing how they’re tapping into that aspect of the first movie; Shang-Chi‘s and Doctor Strange 2‘s highlight their most intriguing elements.

Hollywood is in a strange place right now, charting previously uninhabited waters. A pandemic is a rarity that few were prepared for, which led to multiple upcoming films getting postponed indefinitely. Looking to the future, 2021 and 2022 both show a lot of promise on the big screen for all franchises. Though Marvel Studios’ crumbling Phase 4 begins in November of 2020, the majority of their releases are a while away. With Sony’s recent delay of Venom: Let There Be Carnage pushing it out a few months, 2021 continues to shape up as an impressive year for blockbusters. With some of the cinema’s weirdest titles on the horizon, there is plenty to look forward to in both the MCU and DCU superhero movies.