Film Talk: Our critic Dan Morris on his pick of this year's summer blockbusters

The real difference from recent times though is that this is the first year in a while I’ve been excited about said pending Marvel mammoth.

For me, the MCU has lost its way somewhat since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, which saw franchise veterans Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark/Iron Man) and Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America) seemingly bow out for good.

Though last month’s Thunderbolts* was a pleasant surprise, interim MCU entries since Endgame have largely failed to live up the established legacy, primarily due to a focus on minor characters (Spider-man being the exception) from the Marvel pantheon.

This trend, however, is about to be broken with the MCU’s inaugural take on Marvel’s First Family, The Fantastic Four.

Deals and rights changes have finally allowed Kevin Feige and Co. to bring four of Stan Lee’s most iconic spandex-clad creations into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and I’m genuinely excited to see how this turns out.

Previous film incarnations have been, shall we say, a little polarizing. 

With this Feige and the crew will know they have an extra responsibility to do the characters justice, and it seems they’ve wheeled out the big guns to make this so.

Since his head went ‘pop’ back in Game of Thrones season four, I’ve loved Pedro Pascal with all my heart.

I’ve seen him progress through roles in Narcos, Gladiator II and The Last Of Us he is just getting better and better. 

Stretchy scientist and Fantastic Four head honcho Reed Richards is surely in safe hands with him. 

Just as long as The Mountain doesn’t show up again with those thumbs of his.

With fellow Gladiator II alumnus Joseph Quinn taking on the role of Johnny Storm and The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby stepping into the shoes of his invisible sister, I’ve got high hopes for this one and fingers crossed it will herald the MCU’s return to form.

As far as the other big summer flicks on course to drop, the eight-year-old boy within me is positively giddy over the pending arrival of Jurassic World: Rebirth.

Every time a new entry in the groundbreaking franchise lands, sceptics join together in a chorus of “it’ll be just the same as the last one”. Good! If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. 

Since the 1993 masterpiece that is Jurassic Park hit cinemas, we’ve been treated to five larger-than-life sequels of delicious dinosaur disaster. 

Yes, there have been many repeated themes and plot devices, but this is what I want from my trips to the world’s most ill-fated theme park. 

Every few years we are treated to a retelling of the perils of man meddling with Mother Nature’s will, and the solid set form this franchise is built on has delivered banger after banger. Please don’t change this – more of the same is just fine.

With Scarlett Johansson front-and-centre alongside the exceptionally talented Jonathan ‘Bridgerton’ Bailey, this is surely a bit of wholesome, escapist entertainment we can all look forward to.

After the sublime exit of the late, great Dame Maggie Smith’s Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey: A New Era, I wasn’t sure that my heart could take a return to the franchise.

Yet, there is something so delectable about Downton that pending entry, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, has skipped to the top of my ‘must see’ list, regardless of the absence of its biggest gun – now in life as well as on screen. Rest in peace, Dame Maggie.

With the majority of the series’ stellar cast set to return, it will be glorious to pay a visit to the world’s favourite stately home one last time, and I suspect this one will seal the deal on a summer of plenty.