It’s only been a few short years since Hollywood worked out that pitching gaggles of superheroes together in a single movie might just be a great way to print money. But in the wake of multiple Avengers outings (and last month’s Captain America: Civil War) storming the global box office, the ensemble comic book flick is almost becoming old hat. Suddenly it’s all about the supervillain combo, a la David Ayer’s upcoming Suicide Squad, and the superhero buddy movie.
Next year promises to deliver at least two of these. Thor: Ragnarok is due to star Chris Hemsworth’s Son of Odin and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk freewheeling merrily together through space, while Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man has signed on to play the wallcrawler’s slightly elderly wingman in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Meanwhile, X-Men: Apocalypse star Evan Peters has pitched the idea of a Quicksilver/Deadpool crossover movie, featuring the Merc with a Mouth alongside that guy from the X-Men movies who likes to slow down time and mess with people’s stuff while listening to killer tunes on his headphones.
So with dynamic duos suddenly all the rage, which other comic book titans should suit up for all-new, shiny superhero double acts?
Batman and Daredevil
With Hell’s Kitchen these days more likely to host swanky craft beer “brewtiques” than gangland showdowns, Matt Murdock’s nightly escapades in search of worthy targets upon whom to reap justice are just not what they used to be. Luckily, Batman lives in Gotham, which being an entirely fictional city is not subject to the horror of real-life tumbling crime rates. So Daredevil jumps ship (we realise there might be some licensing issues here since the two are on opposite sides of the DC/Marvel divide) and forms a new crimefighting duo alongside the Dark Knight. All goes swimmingly until a jealous Robin reports the pair anonymously for wearing “kinky bondage gear” in broad daylight, and they are swiftly carted off to Arkham Asylum by the good men of the Gotham police department.
Dr Manhattan and the Vision
What’s better than one near-omniscient, godlike superhero? How about two of them in one movie? The only concern here is that the pair might prefer twirling through the cosmos while creating new life forms and exploring the spectacular reach of their combined superhuman intellects to vital everyday comic book staples such as saving the world from evil and looking cool in a cape.
Wolverine and Judge Dredd
Hugh Jackman’s adamantium-clawed mutant has already travelled back in time to the 1970s in X-Men: Days of Future Past. So why shouldn’t he still be around (perhaps in Old Man Logan mode) in the post-apocalyptic city of Mega City One to team up with Karl Urban’s taciturn future lawman? Wolverine’s invincibility might come in useful when battling the “muties” of the Cursed Earth, and the movie’s climactic scene could centre on a battle to decide which actor does the best Eastwood-esque lip curl.
Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn
The odd couple galpals are pitched into a Thelma and Louise-style road trip during one of the lovable supervillain’s regular splits from the Joker. Riding the invisible plane from Metropolis to Themyscira, the other princess Diana points out to her good friend that she’ll never make it as an A-list baddie unless she finally kicks the cackling clown prince of Gotham to the kerb. Hurt, Quinn reminds Wonder Woman that despite her credentials as a feminist comic book icon, she didn’t even get a namecheck in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s preposterously elongated title.
Superman and ‘Red Son’ Superman
All-American Supes meets Soviet Supes from Mark Millar’s acclaimed 2003 graphic novel and the pair (both played by Tom Hardy) team up for an LA-set culture clash buddy movie that’s strangely reminiscent of lost 80s Arnie classic Red Heat. Comedy ensues as Red Son Superman completely fails to get his Kryptonian mind round American social norms, and has to be ticked off by his US counterpart for injudicious use of the old x-ray vision and repeated attempts to have Lex Luthor exiled to Siberia.
