Featured image: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, via Sony Pictures Animation. © Sony Pictures Animation / Marvel.
In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Miles leaps from a rooftop and the inverted camera makes his fall look like an ascent. It is a beautiful shot, supported by all the less successful attempts that precede it. He has spent much of the film unsure whether he can do this. Here, he finally trusts himself enough to try.
I also like the scene with his father outside the dorm-room door. His father does not know what Miles is going through, and neither finds it easy to say what he means. The film spends time on the difficulties between them. When Miles is in danger later, I care about whether he gets home.
Across the Spider-Verse makes those relationships more complicated. Miles expects the other Spider-People to understand him, only to discover that they, too, want to decide how he should live. His conflict with the Spider Society deepened my interest in the series. These people have experience, losses and reasons of their own. That does not mean Miles can accept the decision they have made for him.
I like his refusal. The person he wants to save is his father; an explanation of why sacrifice is necessary will be hard for him to accept at a distance. The film gives him a conflict I can follow closely, which holds my attention more readily than the scale of the multiverse's troubles.
The ending still leaves me dissatisfied. The central conflict is developing when the film stops. It has brought its characters to an interesting place, but leaves the hardest part to another film.
That is why Beyond the Spider-Verse, scheduled for June 18, 2027, in the US, is my most anticipated of these upcoming movies. I want to see how Miles responds to the danger facing his father and how he and Gwen deal with the hurt between them. Those relationships need time. New arrivals should not keep taking it away.
In an older fan countdown thread, some people are planning repeat viewings while others worry about another delay. I understand that combination. Two films have already asked for an emotional investment; a long wait for the third makes impatience unsurprising. Its conclusion will also affect how I judge the ending of Across.
My anticipation for Avengers: Doomsday is less clear.
Endgame is not among my favorite Marvel films. A few entrances and callbacks feel as though the film is waiting for applause. But Tony's farewell and Steve's dance with Peggy give a long story an ending. Despite my reservations, taking those characters to that point feels worthwhile.
That affects my interest in another installment. Doomsday is scheduled for December 18, 2026, in the US, with Robert Downey Jr. in the announced cast. Familiar names get my attention, but I want to know what makes this story worth starting again.
A reunion could be uncomfortable. People who have been through a great deal together may no longer understand one another as they once did. If the film explores those changes, that would interest me more than the return of familiar faces alone.
There are Marvel fans hoping the film will restore their confidence in the series, and others who question its dependence on nostalgia. I am more concerned with whether there is still something to write about these people. Endgame gave me a conclusion I could accept. The new film needs a reason to continue.
Rogue One also shows how a story within a large series can reach an ending of its own. The group's mission to steal the Death Star plans costs them their lives. Their ending gives weight to the hesitation, disagreement and cooperation that precede it. There is more history ahead for the galaxy, but this film has followed through on its story.
That is part of my interest in the Gosling-led Starfighter, scheduled for May 28, 2027. A new protagonist makes me willing to get to know this world again, beyond following what happens next to people I already recognize.
The requests for flying adventures and a complete story in this Star Wars fan discussion are close to what I want. I hope Starfighter gives its new lead enough time for his choices and adventure to matter. Even if more films are planned, this one's story needs to work by its ending.
Release information checked October 16, 2026. This is an advance opinion column with discussion of earlier films. Fan threads are illustrative; the Spider-Verse discussion cited above is an older sample.
