What a year, huh, Lemon? So much happened in 2024, and we at Supanova were certainly busy with our little slice of it: pop culture! Entertainment may not be the most important thing in the world; however, what you watched hopefully did make a positive impact on you this year.

Pop culture is just one lens through which we can view the world; a prism through which we can reflect on society, culture, and what we value! So, what did our crew and contributing writers value this year? Well, we played, watched, and read a lot in 2024, and it’s never easy to narrow down the best of the best, but we gave it a shot anyway!

Let’s jump right in and find out what the team loved in 2024, and what we’re keen for next year! Bring on 2025!

ASHLEY (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

Deadpool and Wolverine. Call me basic if you’d like, but it was just so satisfying to see Hugh Jackman finally decked out in that suit, getting up to crazy hijinks with Deadpool. His real-life chemistry with Ryan Reynolds translated perfectly to the screen and both of them brought their A-game. If that wasn’t enough, the whole thing felt like a love letter to pre-MCU Marvel films, chock full of cameos and a touching tribute in the credits that made me tear up.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Superman. This is the dawn of a new era for DC’s cinematic output and I can’t wait to see James Gunn’s vision brought to life. Whether I love it or hate it, I know Gunn will have thrown his whole heart and soul into it. Now more than ever, we need to believe that a man can fly again.

How did your most-anticipated 2024 release stack up?

Last year I said Deadpool and Wolverine was my most anticipated release, and boy did it exceed my expectations in every possible way.

Deadpool & Wolverine

CRISTIAN (SOCIAL MEDIA OFFICER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

Ultimates. At a time when they were needed most, comic books returned. The 2024 Ultimates run is a ray of light cutting through the dark, a breath of fresh air, whatever metaphor you want to use to express that something genuinely unique, inspiring and edgy has come along. I don’t mean “edgy” in an ironic way either, this book is actually subversive and punk and edgy!

Cover artist: Dike Ruan

Deniz Camp’s Ultimates is the unapologetically political comic run we need right now, it can’t afford not to be. With absolutely zero subtlety, Camp’s interpretation of The Avengers reckon with the evils of America’s capitalism, colonialism, the prison-industrial complex, and more. A daring and intelligent title in its own right, Camp’s book benefits by also being in direct conversation with Mark Millar’s original Ultimates run, a series that was no stranger to contentious topics of its own, such as overreach of the United States government, police escalation at home and abroad, interference in the Middle-East, etc.

Camp’s run reflects the existential anger and bitterness of the youth of today, in a world stolen from them by a ruling class of billionaire oligarchs destroying the world, but also the optimism that we really need to hold onto right now, that things can get better if we reject individualism and embrace community and action, and that makes it my best release of 2024.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up. By all accounts from reviewers on the festival circuit, when this movie releases properly in cinemas, we are in for one of the funniest movies in years. The Looney Tunes are the kings and queens of visual comedy. If you’ve ever looked up at the moon and been amazed that it’s the same moon your ancestors looked up at, and you feel connected to people that you never even met, that’s the feeling Looney Tunes evokes for me, because, despite being around for decades, some things will always be funny, and Daffy Duck being cartoonishly injured is proof of that.

How did your most-anticipated 2024 release stack up?

It didn’t, I’m giving up on it. I have been talking about Netflix and Adi Shankar’s Devil May Cry anime, and putting it on most-anticipated lists SINCE IT WAS ANNOUNCED IN 2018. I have been writing articles for this very website about Devil May Cry since then, and I will no longer mention it, or get excited for it, or tell other people to be excited for it, until I am physically sat down watching it, because until I actually see it with my own eyes, I am not convinced that it’s ever actually going to come out. Anyway fingers crossed that 2025 is finally the year, right?

CONNOR (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

Kaos. As a sucker for anything Greek mythology related (and come on, Jeff Goldblum), I love how it twists the myths into a more modern setting. In addition, there were plenty of surprises that kept me on the edge of my seat. I binged it in one sitting.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Wicked: Part Two. Even though I couldn’t list Wicked: Part One as my favourite release (since I haven’t seen it yet), the theatre nerd in me is already excited just from the clips and trailers I’ve seen. I grew up on Wicked and was ecstatic when I heard it was finally becoming a live-action film.

KAOS

COURTNEY (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

The Substance. ‘Pump It Up’ has been stuck in my head ever since! Chaotic, sexy, bloody, with a great message behind it, The Substance stays with you!

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Screamboat. Finally, we get to see Mickey Mouse in a whole new light!

The Substance

DAN (MANAGING EDITOR & SCREEN INDUSTRY OUTREACH)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

The fourth season of The Boys. The addition of Jeffrey Dean Morgan alongside a few twists and the usual chaos made it a great watch (not to mention we hosted Karen Fukuhara as a Supa-Star in April). There’s something to be said for episodes dropping weekly too. I was hoping for more from Rick Grimes’ return to The Walking Dead, but The Ones Who Live spin-off series didn’t live up to the hype.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

*Current Matt Johnson Project* (Refer to my answer from last year for context.) But also, really excited to see more from The Boys spin-off, Gen V.

The Boys

KRISTY (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

Agatha All Along. The story of this series was so well crafted, and many of the acting choices pay off in ways that aren’t clear until you reach the end. This gives it great rewatch value.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

The Thunderbolts*. This film has a really interesting group of characters, and it will be great to see how they bounce off one another and come together as a team.

How did your most-anticipated 2024 release stack up?

My most anticipated release of last year was Deadpool 3, eventually titled Deadpool and Wolverine. A very fun film, and a great MCU debut for Deadpool.

MADDIE (COMMUNICATIONS)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

2024 was admittedly pretty light in terms of first watches for me, but what I saw, I LOVED. Courtney’s already got me covered with The Substance; a career best for the legendary Demi Moore, and I can’t wait to watch Margaret Qualley and Ariana Grande duke it out for Best Supporting Actress. But Coralie Fargeat’s Golden Globe contender wasn’t the only women-led body horror that left me gagging this year.

Love Lies Bleeding, starring the incomparable Kristen Stewart and The Mandalorian up-and-comer Katy O’Brian, was everything I could have wanted and more. Tense, steamy, and unexpectedly weird, it’s a must-watch for Sapphics in the mood for something darker.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

As is tradition, my most anticipated 2024 release did not happen! Again!! Mickey 17, the upcoming sci-fi from Parasite auteur Bong Joon-ho, was repeatedly delayed this year, pushing it into 2025 (as well as my response to this question for a second year running).

Thankfully, the Snowpiercer director seems to have spent his additional months cooking, and with his own recipes no less, citing to Empire that “this film is my cut, and I’m very happy about it. It was a long process, but it was always smooth and respectful”. I guess the hype train has officially left the station, and the engine? Eternal.

Love Lies Bleeding

POKE (AV DEPARTMENT)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

X-Men ’97. It was a masterclass in reviving a property that feels like an extension of the original, and not just a cheap cash grab with the name slapped on it. The love and attention in bringing into the modern era, but keeping the animation style, the character designs, most of the original voice cast where possible, made it far better than other recent attempts to “reboot” classic animated franchises.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Monster Hunter Wilds. Monster Hunter is always a good time, slapping giant monsters silly with equally silly giant weapons with friends, and Wilds is the newest iteration of the series, taking advantage of current generation processing power, and I can’t wait to grind out ridiculous numbers of monster parts to make cool hats.

How did your most-anticipated 2024 release stack up?

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was the team at RGG Studios at the top of their game, and it absolutely ruled. It made me laugh, cry, and throw a controller across the room, and no other game has done that since the original Life is Strange.

SAMMY (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough. I’m a huge Elvis fan and it was both an amazing opportunity to get to know his family and also heartbreaking to read about all that they have been through. I wish he’d been here to help.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Never Flinch by Stephen King. Obviously, I need another King book for my shelf! Can never get enough! We’re so lucky that he is still writing and his work now keeps getting better and better. Even after all this time.

TC PHILLIPS (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

Hazbin Hotel. There was sooooo much awesome stuff released throughout this year, and I was really wowed by Dune Part 2 and Alien: Romulus. That being said, however, Hazbin Hotel really caught me by complete surprise and I adored its twisted Disney-esque musical aesthetic. (I had no idea about the original YouTube pilot.)

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Superman. Again, there’s another massive line-up of releases planned for 2025, but I’m really itching to see the DCU’s first live-action outing with David Corenswet’s Superman. I’m really keen for an unashamedly joyous and optimistic take on the character.

How did your most-anticipated 2024 release stack up?

Alien: Romulus was my pick last year, and it did not disappoint. Not only is it in my top three picks for this year, but it’s my favourite entry in the Alien franchise after the first two. If you haven’t watched it yet, you’re missing out.

Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine in ‘Alien: Romulus’

WILLLIAM (CONTRIBUTING WRITER)

What was your favourite release of 2024?

It’s always the ones you least expect… the film adaptation of Wicked defied gravity (and my expectations). Wicked is a cinematic triumph that blew away all preconceptions. I walked out of the cinema feeling like I watched a live show instead. A true theatre experience at the cost of a movie ticket.

What release are you most excited about in 2025?

Other than Wicked: Part Two, I’m very hyped for Tron: Ares. The original, Tron: Legacy and the extended universe are amazing pieces of science fiction. The premise of the digital and the physical world finally colliding has me cautiously optimistic for this new instalment.

Did we get it right, Supa-Fans? What was your favourite piece of entertainment that came out this year, and what are you excited for that’s coming up, in 2025 or beyond! Have an excellent holiday season, and we can’t wait to see you next year!