I remember standing in a theater ten years ago as a roar rose at the sight of a new cape. The applause felt less like approval and more like an experiment—would these characters stick? I’ll walk you through what landed and what vanished, and why you should care.
Which superhero from 2016 made the most enduring impression?
Where are the 2016 heroes now?
8) The (New) X-Men
At a mall, teenagers check a movie poster and act like any other Saturday afternoon crowd—then you remember they’re mutants in a blockbuster.
How they were treated: I felt the film trying to stitch a reboot into the old trilogy’s fabric, with young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Nightcrawler introduced as if to leap straight into canon. You get glimpses—Scott’s power reveal, a mall hangout with Jubilee—but the movie rarely trusts them with a full scene.
How they compare: The earlier X-Men movies loved their established leads so much other players felt like background noise. These newcomers had less breathing room than Jamie’s sidekick in a heist movie, which left Jean Grey the only fully realized presence as the plot nudged toward a familiar Phoenix arc.
Where are they now: Fox closed that chapter with Dark Phoenix, and those young actors largely drift without a vivid cultural footprint. If you follow industry chatter on Twitter/X or casting pages on IMDb, you’ll find names—but not a franchise footprint that demands sequels.
7) Ben Affleck’s Batman
On a humid afternoon I watched a trailer and thought: that’s not Bale—that’s older, angrier, and oddly proud of it.
How they were treated: You get a full arc for Bruce Wayne—his grief, paranoia, and why Superman becomes a target. The film frames him with Snyder’s camera like a relic that still has teeth, and Affleck carries that weariness.
How they compare: This Batman borrows heavily from Dark Knight Returns—it’s not subtle about it. Compared to Bale’s leaner menace, Affleck’s is broader, harsher, a version that could have grown into something singular if behind-the-scenes winds hadn’t shifted.
Where is he now: Affleck’s run ended with a cameo-style goodbye in the later multiverse shuffles. If you track James Gunn and WB announcements on Deadline or The Hollywood Reporter, you’ll see Batfleck kept enough goodwill to be recycled in cameos, but his era is effectively closed.
6) The Suicide Squad
I once sat through David Ayer’s press tour and heard the word “messy” used with fondness—then watched the movie and felt the same tug.
How they were treated: Ayer wanted gritty antiheroes to land as the DCEU’s chaotic family. He gave them attitude and a killer soundtrack, but the theater edit never matched the trailer’s promise. You see potential, but it’s splintered.
How they compare: Different versions—Gunn’s film, the animated squads, even Rocksteady’s brief game—have taken the same concept and refined or re-angled it. Ayer’s had grit and texture, but not the narrative glue other iterations applied.
Where are they now: Several characters survived into Gunn’s era—Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller among them—and Warner Bros. has recycled the idea across shows and games. Follow Rocksteady and DC announcements to watch how the squad’s membership keeps shifting.
5) The Justice League (sans Batman)
At home, I watched Wonder Woman scroll through old footage of Cyborg, Flash, and Aquaman like a recruiter flipping a highlight reel.
How they were treated: The cameos do one job: promise a team. Wonder Woman makes the only real impact in that film, and the others show flashes of character rather than fully formed presences. The intent was clear, execution less so.
How they compare: The DCAU casts a long shadow—those animated beats set expectations. The DCEU’s League had grandeur but was fractured by production upheaval; only later restoration efforts gave fans a fuller vision of Snyder’s intent.
Where are they now: The lineup was whittled down over time. Aquaman carved out his own lane, Jason Momoa’s star surviving when others didn’t. If you follow streaming platform news—HBO Max and the DCU relaunch—you’ll see the team repeatedly re-imagined.
4) Doctor Strange
I watched the first spell-casting sequence with my jaw slightly open, and realized Marvel had made magic accessible to a global audience.
How they were treated: Marvel framed Strange as a pivotal MCU architect—mystic yet connected to the larger machine. Cumberbatch’s Strange arrived with a Time Stone and a narrative thread that plugged neatly into the Infinity saga.
How they compare: Strange had appeared in cartoons and a straight-to-DVD movie, but Marvel’s version turned him into a cinematic lynchpin. The film made sorcery feel like an interface you could learn to use.
Where are they now: He got a second solo feature and countless crossovers. If you track Marvel Studios on Disney+ and their Phase plans, Strange’s hand in multiversal storytelling keeps him central to the MCU’s next acts.
3) Black Panther
In the middle of Civil War, T’Challa arrives and the room changes—debate about politics and legacy replaces the usual fight chatter.
How they were treated: Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa was almost a secondary lead in Civil War, but his presence carried weight and set a moral tone that foreshadowed his solo film. You could tell the studio was building a legacy hero.
How they compare: Previous animated versions hinted at T’Challa’s royal side, but Boseman brought gravitas and youthful restraint. His screen time in Civil War was a promise of something fuller.
Where are they now: Boseman’s passing changed everything. Marvel has shifted T’Challa’s story to Shuri in the MCU, and the industry’s reaction—from tributes on Twitter/X to box office retrospectives—is part of a larger conversation about legacy and respect.
2) Spider-Man
Tom Holland’s first swing felt like a text from a friend: surprising, familiar, and a promise of more to come.
How they were treated: Holland’s Spider-Man was a cameo with a mission: prove he fits into the MCU. He’s playful, physical, and built to be a connective tissue between teenage stakes and world-sized threats.
How they compare: Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield left emotional marks; Holland brought a different kind of adolescence that leaned into quips and tech. It took later films to round him into a fuller Peter Parker.
Where are they now: Holland’s role keeps evolving. With upcoming solo entries and a shifting relationship to the Avengers, his presence matters to both Sony and Marvel calendars—and to streaming deals that shape where you can watch him.
1) Deadpool
I laughed until the credits rolled, then laughed at the audacity of a mercenary who talks to you from inside the movie.
How they were treated: Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson is adored by the film in a way that practically rips the lens off the fourth wall. The movie is a concentrated dose of his humor, rage, and gallows charm; it asks you to laugh and keeps asking until you do.
How they compare: The botched version in X-Men Origins had already tainted the character. This reboot reclaimed him—Reynolds’ performance set the tone for every following incarnation, to the point where future writers and directors bend to that voice.
Where are they now: Deadpool’s future sits between studio negotiations, potential MCU crossovers, and franchise ambitions. If you track box office chatter on Box Office Mojo and casting scoops on Deadline, you’ll see that Wade’s next act is as much about corporate deals as creative choices.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
I’ve ranked these debuts not by their movies’ Rotten Tomatoes scores, but by the traction each character earned in your cultural feed—across Twitter/X, Disney+, HBO Max, and box office chatter. Some arrived like a thunderclap; others rippled like a coin dropped in a well. Which 2016 debut do you think aged best, and who do you miss the most?