Ben Child

As a standalone, the new adventure is perfectly fine matinee fodder – but the galaxy is now so congested that we seem doomed to shiny retreads of the same old story

Is the promotion to the big screen of Star Wars’ breakout Disney+ show just a delightful distraction – or exactly what the franchise needs?

Cinema’s great maximalist going full pumpkin-bomb pantomime in the 2002 film might have dragged it into an even more operatically deranged dimension

The hooded supervillain is a scientist, a sorcerer, a monarch and a mummy’s boy – Robert Downey Jr’s Doom should be all these things and more, radiating history, magic and the biggest ego

By the power of Grayskull, Amazon MGM has the power to revive a franchise that hasn’t been big since Choppers were the coolest bikes in town

Andy Serkis has picked the perfect actor for the next iteration of the Lord of the Rings franchise. But if Tolkien didn’t linger over this subplot, should we?

Will X-Men’s Jean Grey be in the fourth Marvel Spidey film? What about Spider-Girl? Which Hulk will we see? Who is the real villain? And is Marvel fuelling the internet’s frenzied rumour machine on purpose?

Ben Child James Gunn's Superman was the major make-or-break moment for DC's latest cinematic reboot.

Cinematic universes rely on audiences investing in minor characters – but as that interest wanes, it may be up to the big guns to keep the genre afloat

Introducing a new sadistic psychopath and a secret society of Gotham grandees would mean Harvey Dent takes a backseat to Victor Zsasz and the Court of Owls