With the recent news of Shazam! 2 being set for an April 2022 release date, 2022 now has nine individual superhero movies slated for release throughout the year. Among the other officially announced superhero movie titles joining Billy Batson’s second adventure in 2022 are a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel, a follow-up to Black Panther, Aquaman 2, The Flash, a DC Super Pets movie and a trio of currently untitled Marvel Cinematic Universe features.

While we may not know yet what three of the four titles Marvel Studios has planned for 2022, it’s apparent 2022 will be a year rife with superhero cinema. Furthermore, it’s likely the amount of superhero titles scheduled for 2022 will only grow as there are projects currently in development that have not been officially scheduled for release. For instance, Paramount Pictures has a deal to produce annual feature films based on Atlas Comics that could likely include a 2022 title. Meanwhile, Sony will likely release one of their numerous brewing live-action titles based on the Marvel Comics characters they have film rights to in 2022.

However, for now, nine superhero movies are penciled in for 2022 release, with three of them currently being scheduled to open within a single six-week-period. Shazam! 2 is set for an April 1, 2022 release, while the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel will arrive one week later. Four weeks after that, Black Panther II leaps into theaters everywhere. That’s quite a packed schedule, especially for the first two titles, which are both aiming directly for the family audience demographic. Scheduling conflicts are less noticeable for the remaining six titles on the 2022 docket, with about a month separating The Flash (July 1, 2022) and an Untitled MCU Title (July 29, 2022), for instance.

Looking over these scheduling issues, as well as the sheer amount of superhero titles set for release in 2022, one must ask if this is the most superhero fare released in a single year. Could so much superhero fare lead to the subgenre’s over-saturation and doom? Looking back on prior amounts of superhero fare released in a single year, however, reveals that this is actually a normal number. 2018, for instance, also saw nine individual superhero titles released theatrically and all but one of those titles managed to clear $190 million+ domestically (Teen Titans Go! To The Movies being the lone exception). 2017 also saw eight superhero movies released, with all but one of those titles clearing $175+ million domestically (Power Rangers was the sole exception there).

Although nine superhero movies in a single year seems like a large figure in the abstract, in actual practice, audiences are more than capable of handling that annual amount. What’ll matter more, in terms of determining audiences’ response to superhero movies, isn’t the overall annual number of superhero movies but the quality of individual superhero movie titles. It’ll be years before we find out if the features currently scheduled for 2022 are actually good movies; however, for 2022 superhero movie sequels like Black Panther II that are bringing back the creative teams from their acclaimed predecessors, the potential for movies as super as their lead characters is certainly there.

Next: Why Marvel & DC Replaced So Many Superheroes In The 1990s

  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Release Date: 2022-11-11 Aquaman 2 Release Date: 2023-12-25 Super Pets Release Date: 2022-07-29 The Flash Movie Release Date: 2023-06-23 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Part One Release Date: 2023-06-02