Thanks to the coronavirus delays, it would seem that DC will win the superhero movie battle with Marvel Studios in both 2020 and 2021. For a long time now, Marvel has been the one making the biggest and most successful comic book movies, but with recent hits like Aquaman and Wonder Woman, DC's fortunes appear to changing for the better.
Both studios have eight films scheduled to release between 2020 and 2022. In 2020, Marvel 's plan was to release Black Widow in the summer, followed by Eternals in November, whereas DC released Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) in February, with Wonder Woman 1984 planned for June 2020. For 2021, Marvel was expected to release four films for the first time in MCU history. Meanwhile, DC had a full slate of three movies. Schedules for both Marvel and DC have since changed, however, on account of the production delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. These delays have forced studios to change release dates for a long list of upcoming movies.
Looking at the current schedule the two studios have in 2020 and 2021, DC's is arguably more exciting. First of all, Marvel has had to move Eternals to 2021, which means that Black Widow is the lone MCU installment this year. This is strange for Marvel, but an unavoidable situation at the same time. DC, on the other hand, suffered from a disappointing box office performance from Birds of Prey, but still gets to release Wonder Woman 1984, which has generated a significant amount of buzz. Black Widow is, unfortunately, a movie that many feel is happening too late (even before its coronavirus delay).
The idea that DC is making bigger and more exciting movies than Marvel will continue into 2021, which has become an interesting situation for the studios. Marvel's release date changes were much greater than DC's. DC changed its release dates for The Batman and Black Adam, but managed to keep them in 2021. The Suicide Squad hasn't moved from its August 2021 slot. Marvel, though, had to push Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder to 2022. Being two of Marvel's most highly anticipated movies, they provided Marvel Studios with a solid 2021 line-up, but now Marvel is left with Eternals in February, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in May, and its third Spider-Man film in November.
Spider-Man is one of the biggest names in comics, but the same can't be said for the Eternals and Shang-Chi, which unsurprisingly aren't drawing the same level of enthusiasm and interest surrounding James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, or Matt Reeves' The Batman. Right now, it looks like DC has a more exciting slate than Marvel for two years in a row, but it's important to note that this may not translate to a better box office turnout. Admittedly, Eternals and Shang-Chi are based on obscure Marvel characters, but given Marvel's reputation of turning lesser-known heroes into household names, it's not hard to imagine Marvel making Shang-Chi and Eternals into massive box office hits.
