Animation | Comedy | Drama | Horror | Period Pieces | Sci-Fi | Spy Fiction | Superhero | War | Cross-Genre
- Initiators / Followers
- Capsule Pitch Description: Description
- Implementation: Implementation
- Mystery Men (1999) / The Specials (2000)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Semi-deconstructive parodies about loser/inept/oddly-abled underdog superheroes.
- Implementation:
- Daredevil (2003) / Hulk (2003)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2003 superhero films. The main contenders here are both origin stories for Marvel superheroes making their theatrical debut.
- Implementation: While both films had started production by the time Sam Raimi's Spider-Man came out, its success and popularity is often attributed to having influenced how these films were perceived. Both were intended to be darker and more psychological films, though Daredevil wound up getting cut down and edited on the mandate of Avi Arad in order to try and make it feel more like Spider-Man which most will agree was to its detriment. Hulk was not altered in such a way, but many theorize that the general audience had a hard time gravitating to its darker tone and psychological approach because of it.
- Sky High (2005) / Zoom: Academy for Superheroes (2006)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Kid superheroes learn to use their powers.
- Implementation: While Sky High focuses on an entire school for superpowered teens, Zoom is simply about a former hero training four superpowered youths to defeat a great threat.
- Iron Man (2008) / The Dark Knight (2008)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two movies that came out the same summer in which, after traumatic events, wealthy sons become masked super heroes with pimped-out mechanical aids; they also have butlers and a really Cool/Weaponized Car. The heroes pose as apathetic playboys who own their own corporations and have a close friend/business partner who is also a minority.
- Implementation: Not only were Iron Man and The Dark Knight dueling movies, but they were also dueling between Marvel and DC respectively during their release in 2008.
- Defendor (2009) / Kick-Ass (2010) & Super (2010)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Three indie superhero movies about average people trying to become gadget-based, low-budget vigilantes and end up having brushes with local organized crime.
- Implementation: The major difference definitely falls in the personalities of the superheroes. Kick-Ass is an average nerdy teen, while Defendor is a mentally-disturbed homeless man that has delusions of certain supervillains. Supers Crimson Bolt suffers similar deranged illusions, but is slightly more stable. Kick-Ass becomes more stylized as it goes along, while the other two have a more realistic look to them. This could be chalked up to budget differences, as Kick-Ass (while low budget by Hollywood standards) cost over ten times as much as either of the other two.
- The Green Hornet (2011) / Green Lantern (2011)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Green-themed superheroes. & There would have been a third contender, Green Arrow: Escape From Super Max, but it got stuck in Development Hell.
- Implementation: One is based on a long-running second-tier (perhaps) DC icon, one is based on a cult TV show. Both had to correct for silly weaknesses (yellow and reliance on Bruce Lee, respectively).
- Thor (2011) / Green Lantern (2011)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Superhero movies with the involvement of forces from beyond our world, whether alien or divine.
- Implementation: Another Marvel vs. DC duel.
- The Avengers (2012) / The Dark Knight Rises (2012) & The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Superhero films released in 2012 and showcasing some of the biggest characters in Comic Books.
- Implementation: The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises are the culmination of their respective franchises spanning over several years. The Avengers is the climax of phase one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (phase two launched with Iron Man 3, with more films to come), while The Dark Knight Rises is the definite end of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. The Amazing Spider-Man, meanwhile, is a reboot of the Spider-Man film series, and is part of a separate continuity from the MCU, what with it still being owned by Sony.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) / The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) & X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
- Capsule Pitch Description: It's 2012 all over again as Marvel Comics movies by three different studios (Disney, Sony and Fox respectively) compete for the 2014 summer box-office crown.
- Implementation: Winter Soldier is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and follows Captain America and his allies after the events of 2012's The Avengers. ASM2, meanwhile, is a direct sequel to 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man. DOFP follows from 2011's X-Men: First Class, which was praised for putting the franchise back on track, and follows characters from the original trilogy (including main character Wolverine) in a time-travel plot. Notably, the character Quicksilver appears both in DOFP and in The Stinger of Winter Soldier, in two separate incarnations.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2014, Round Two. Also, both movies revolve around some rather weird concepts (one has a trigger-happy talking space raccoon and a sort-of-talking tree; the other is about ninja mutant turtle teenagers).
- Implementation: Turtles is the big-screen reboot of a franchise that's been around for thirty years, while Guardians is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but otherwise relative newcomers, with their comic book barely older than the MCU itself.note
- Ant-Man (2015) / Fantastic Four (2015)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2015 Marvel Comics-based superhero movies with Troubled Productions
- Implementation: Both movies had a lot riding on them. For Ant-Man, it was another untested Marvel franchise like Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and if it failed it would be the first major stumbling point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For Fantastic Four, it was more or less an attempt to keep the rights away from Marvel; failure could lead to Fox losing one of their two remaining comic franchises.
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) / Captain America: Civil War (2016)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Installments to popular superhero franchises that feature a pair of their company's most well known characters, one who is a patriotic tried and true Boy Scout type and the other a wealthy man without superpowers but has his wits and technology, who are going head to head against each other. Both released in 2016. Each also introduced a prominent minority hero onto the big screen for the first time, who acted as a third party to the two established heroes (Wonder Woman for Dawn of Justice and Black Panther for Civil War).
- Implementation: Once more, a lot of things are riding on these films. Dawn of Justice is Warner Bros.' first superheroes crossover and a huge step to further cement the DC Extended Universe after launching it in Man of Steel, and Civil War is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe installment to include a huge cast of the magnitude it's going for. Originally the films were going to open against each other directly, but Warner Bros/DC lost their nerve and moved the release date of BvS up by a month.
- X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Another action team v. action team matchup, and the second one in a brutal slate for 2016. Apocalypse brings the cast of First Class and Days of Future Past back for a third outing and pits them against the titular Apocalypse. TMNT: Out of the Shadows is the sequel to the reboot from 2014, and has The Shredder escape jail and return. Casey Jones makes his debut in this Turtle continuity with this film.
- Implementation: For Fox, this X-Men movie is coming off the heels of both Fant4stic and Deadpool (2016).
- Power Rangers (2017) / Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2017 superhero films that feature teen heroes and channel the spirit of other teen flicks like The Breakfast Club. Also, both are Continuity Reboots after having prior films.
- Implementation: Power Rangers went through an Adaptational Angst Upgrade compared to the original TV show, but ultimately didn't sacrifice the franchise's signature cheesy Camp. In contrast, Spider-Man's previous films already had their Angst Upgrade, and Homecoming pulls back from that angst to focus more on the Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World aspect.
- Wonder Woman (2017) / Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2017 summer films centered on new incarnations of iconic superheroes that were introduced in ensemble movies (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for Wonder Woman and Captain America: Civil War for Spider-Man) in their respective movie universe in 2016. Plus, it's a Marvel vs DC match.
- Implementation: Wonder Woman had to break the curse of financial and critical failure of female-led superhero films, and had to be less critically divisive than previous DCEU entries. Spider-Man Homecoming had to live up to the ground laid by the Sam Raimi films, be less divisive than the previous reboot, smoothly integrate Spidey in the MCU and overall defy reboot fatigue.
- Venom (2018) / Upgrade (2018)
- Capsule Pitch Description: The films (both released in the fall of 2018) center on protagonists who share their body with an outsider conscience that gives them superpowers — at the price of making them lose control.
- Implementation: The movies star similar-looking actors: Tom Hardy in Venom, and his Identical Stranger Logan Marshall-Green in Upgrade.
- Captain Marvel (2019) / SHAZAM! (2019)
- Capsule Pitch Description: The Captain Marvel of Marvel Comics vs. the Captain Marvel of DC Comics in big-budget movies featuring Djimon Hounsou in the supporting cast set within their respective cinematic universes.
- Implementation: Released within a month of each other, with Captain Marvel dropping first.
- Captain Marvel (2019) / Dark Phoenix (2019)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Movies based on Marvel Comics characters released in the first half of 2019, both have space elements, powerful female protagonists, and a 90s setting.
- Implementation: Dark Phoenix is coming off the heels of Disney's buyout of 20th Century Fox, who've owned the X-Men film rights for decades. As such, Dark Phoenix may become the grand finale of Fox's long-running X-Men series, before the characters are rebooted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Interestingly, the film's leading ladies were popularized in the comics by Chris Claremont, who gave them cosmic powers. Captain Marvel's heroine Carol Danvers also became an honorary X-Men in several of Claremont's runs.
- SHAZAM! (2019) / Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
- Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020) / A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting (2020)
- Capsule Pitch Description: In these direct-to-streaming kids' movies, a teenage girl discovers that her lineage/profession inducts her into a secret society of heroes engaged in defending the world from hidden unknown threats, quickly finding herself thrust into action.
- Implementation: Secret Society of Second-Born Royals is a Disney Channel film released on Disney+, in which a rebellious second-born royal child learns she has a superpowered gene that helps her and others in her position to form a team of secret superheroes. Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting is a Netflix original is about a teen babysitter who learns that an organization of babysitters like her have long defended people from a hidden world of monsters. Unlike Secret Society, Babysitter's Guide is based on a book series.
- Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) / Black Widow (2021)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Solo movies of the sole female founding member of a premier superhero team.
- Implementation: Both would've come out the same summer, but then delays due to the COVID-19 Pandemic happened, ultimately pushing them to seven months apart. The movies also had a simultaneous streaming release (HBO Max for Wonder Woman, Disney+ with surcharge for Black Widow).
- Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) / Eternals (2021)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Superhero films featuring an Ensemble Cast (with some similarly powered individuals) and an immortal cosmic race created by Jack Kirby — the New Gods and The Eternals respectively. Eternals director Chloé Zhao also confirmed taking some inspiration from Zack Snyder when making her film.
- Implementation: Zack Snyder's Justice League is the HBO Max / PVOD-released directors's cut of the DC Extended Universe's 2017 film Justice League with none of that latter film's modifications and cuts, while Eternals is the 26th theatrically released film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021) / Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Stories with male leads of Asian descent (Henry Golding & Simu Liu) primarily set in Asia, where they're forced to embrace their roots after spending large chunks of their life in the Western world. Both have plenty of action scenes with an emphasis on martial arts.
- Implementation: Snake Eyes is a reboot of the G.I. Joe movie franchise, while Shang-Chi is another installment of the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Morbius (2022) / Black Adam (2022)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two superhero movies from dueling franchises featuring antiheroes that are both part of a teenage superhero's Rouges Gallery.
- Implementation: Morbius is an installment of Sony's Spider-Man Universe featuring Morbius the Living Vampire, an enemy of the Marvel superhero Spider-Man. On the other hand, Black Adam is part of the DC Extended Universe and features the titular Black Adam, whom in the comics is an enemy of Shazam.
- Secret Headquarters (2022) / Samaritan (2022)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two original superhero movies (not based off pre-existing comics or franchises) centering on a young boy who discovers the identity of his world's greatest superhero and ends up joining him on adventures.
- Implementation: The former is an action-comedy film where the hero (an Iron Man expy) is still active, as well as the boy's father; the latter is an action-drama film where the hero (who takes elements from both Superman and Batman) faked his death and chose to retire, and is otherwise unconnected to the boy.
- Superman Legacy (2025) / Fantastic Four (2025)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Two superhero movies about foundational superheroes for their respective companies, DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Both are set to release in July 2025.
- Implementation: Superman Legacy is a Continuity Reboot following the closure of the DC Extended Universe, while Fantastic Four finally brings the eponymous Super Team into the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity (which is ongoing since 2008).
