Can you believe it’s that time already, Supa-Fans?! Another year over, and a new one just begun… well, just about.

We’ve been spoiled for choice over the past twelve months, with a veritable smorgasbord on offer from the worlds of movies, TV, anime, gaming, and more. We’ve seen franchises and whole universes come to an end, while old favourites have returned and some exciting new releases have taken audiences by storm.

It was the year of Across the Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Baldur’s Gate 3, and more, so picking the cream of the crop is no mean feat. Thankfully though, the Supanova team are ready to give us their picks for the year, as well as what they’re looking forward to in 2024.

So let’s dive in and take a look at what kept us going during 2023!

Ashley (Contributing Writer)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. I’ve always loved the Guardians movies, and after a long and turbulent road, it was great to finally see the team together for one last hurrah. It was heart-wrenching and heart-warming in equal measure, with a liberal dose of humour, leaving me thoroughly satisfied by the end. It was a beautiful final chapter not only for the Guardians crew, but for James Gunn’s time at Marvel as well.

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

Deadpool 3. Come on, who doesn’t love the Merc with a Mouth? The fact that it’ll be Deadpool’s first foray into the MCU, coupled with the fact that Hugh Jackman will be returning as Wolverine, makes this next entry super exciting. The promise of crazy meta adventures through the multiverse is just the cherry on top.

How did your most-anticipated 2023 release stack up?

Last year I said that the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials were my most anticipated release. At the time of writing this, there’s still one special yet to air, but so far I’ve got to say that I’ve been a little underwhelmed. They’ve been good so far, just not what I was hoping for.

Cristian (Social Media Officer)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Street Fighter 6. This is how you make a fighting game! Capcom took everything they learned from how poorly the release of Street Fighter V was handled, and knew they had to come out the gate swinging with a fully furbished, content-rich package, and that’s exactly what they did! A fun, open world with cute stories, extremely expansive tutorials, and the inclusion of modern and classic controls make this the most complete and polished fighting game release we’ve seen from Capgod, and it’s only getting better with the DLC characters!

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

Devil May Cry (Netflix). Adi Shankar, also behind the Castlevania anime on Netflix, announced in 2018 that he was working on a Devil May Cry anime, an adaptation of my favourite series ever… AND THEN WAS SILENT ABOUT IT FOR ALMOST 5 YEARS! He’s living up to the traditional release cycle of the series very well. We got the first actual teaser trailer this year, and it looks absolutely beautiful. Studio Mir has previously animated some great series, such as Legend of Korra, The Boondocks, and Black Dynamite, so I’m excited to see how they adapt such an action-heavy series!

How did your most-anticipated 2023 release stack up?

My most-hyped release was Across the Spider-Verse. It lived up to all of my hype and then some, easily toppling even Into the Spider-Verse as peak Spider-Man and peak CBM, and I absolutely can’t wait to see Beyond the Spider-Verse in ten years!

Dan (Managing Editor & Screen Industry Outreach)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry, starring Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton. The biographical comedy-drama, which documents the rise and absolutely brutal fall of the BlackBerry, was my most anticipated release of the year and lived up to expectations. Unlike the BlackBerry Storm.

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

In 2021, my most anticipated release for the following year was Nirvanna the Band the Show’s third season (another project by Johnson), which still hasn’t been released. BlackBerry’s success has helped fund not only the release of Nirvanna the Band the Show’s third season, but production of a film. The series parodies pop culture throughout, with nods to Daredevil, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and more. Moving forward, let’s just put “Current Matt Johnson Project” as my answer to both questions each year, yeah?

Gabby (Contributing Writer)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Baldur’s Gate 3 was a game that reignited my dormant obsessive side when it comes to video games. Of course, I always love them, but there are few which I find myself absolutely enamoured with like I was with BG3. The loveable characters, engaging plot, challenging gameplay, and customisation options were everything I wanted and more. I would think, “It would be so cool if I could do this random thing,” while playing, only to find out that you INDEED CAN! And the community around this game is so much fun.

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

The Wolf Among Us 2. The Wolf Among Us is an older game that I loved, with wonderful world-building and characters. Telltale always does a great job of expanding on their characters, so I am super excited for The Wolf Among Us 2! I’m anticipating secrets and mysteries galore, and can’t wait for Bigby to return!

Hannah (Contributing Writer)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Utter perfection. Balancing what made the first instalment great with new mechanics and concepts, the reveal of the Depths, the utter joy of diving off a Sky Island… I could go on for hours. It was everything I wanted and more. Justice for Koroks.

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

Beyond the Spider-Verse. I’ll admit, I went into Across the Spider-Verse very nervous but it was absolutely incredible. I can’t wait to see my boy Pavitr again, and to have my mind blown by more crazy Spider-Verse visuals. The franchise has seriously raised the bar for animated movies across the board.

Kristy (Contributing Writer)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3. It was a perfect, emotionally charged conclusion to the GOTG trilogy. It was everything I hoped for, and even if it caused a few tears.

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

Deadpool 3. I enjoyed the first two films, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Deadpool is integrated into the MCU.

Maddie (Communications)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Baldur’s Gate 3. Every year I say I’m not a gamer, and every year some smart alec dev smacks me across the head with a three-act epic asking “are you sure about that?”. Evidently no, I wasn’t, as Larian Studios absolutely outdid themselves with their multi-award-winning RPG based on Dungeons & Dragons.

Having had zero exposure to the previous BG instalments, I wasn’t sure if I’d be missing too much backstory to fully engage, but 400+ hours begs to differ, I guess!

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

There are a couple of 2024 titles already on my radar, such as Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, but at the moment, it’s Mickey 17. Written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, and starring fellow Supa-Star alumnus Steven Yeun, alongside Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo, this is Bong’s first big screen offering since Parasite swept the 92nd Academy Awards so it’s definitely one to watch.

How did your most-anticipated 2023 release stack up?

My most anticipated of the year was actually Barbie, and much like almost everyone else in the world, it exceeded just about all of my expectations – particularly the set design! That said, to my surprise I left the Barbenheimer double feature preferring Nolan’s biographical drama.

Poke (AV Department)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Shin Kamen Rider. I’m going to just assume Maddie’s written a whole thesis on Baldur’s Gate 3 which covers it extensively, so at the risk of sounding like a one-trick pony, it’s once again time for me to talk about karate bugmans, this time by none other than the master himself, Hideaki Anno.

The third release in Anno’s Shin tokusatsu universe, after 2016’s Godzilla, and 2022’s Ultraman, Shin Kamen Rider is a re-imagining of the original 1971 Kamen Rider series, condensed into an incredibly stylistic and action-packed couple of hours. The film is produced with such love and admiration for the original series (much like his other Shin- films), and at many points the shots, camera angles, and effects truly feel like they were lifted directly from 1971, but shot with today’s technology (including several scenes shot on iPhones), in a real blend of both past and present.

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth. The latest in the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise promises a bigger map, new friends, new enemies, a V-tuber, an Animal-Crossing-esque island management simulator, and once again drags poor Kiryu into some new convoluted Yakuza nonsense, but this time in Hawaii. He’s not alone, as series newcomer and protagonist of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Kasuga Ichiban is also in Hawaii for unrelated reasons, and our two bestest boys team up to unravel whatever shadowy shenanigans are afoot.

How did your most-anticipated 2023 release stack up?

So The Super Mario Bros. Movie did come out and it was an incredibly fine family movie that ticked all the boxes. So in that regard, it absolutely met all my expectations!

Sammy (Contributing Writer)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

Hogwarts Legacy. I did my waiting! So glad it’s finally here and I have lived my best witch life!

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

Whatever Stephen King publishes! He’s Stephen King, everything he writes is gold! Holly was brilliant this year. Kept me on the edge of my seat… and made me feel sick a few times. I can’t wait to see what he does next!

TC (Contributing Writer)

What was your favourite release of 2023?

The Fall of the House of Usher. This was a tough one because there were so many awesome things that got released this year, but being a big Edgar Allen Poe fan and an admirer of Mike Flanagan’s work, this series just blew me away. From the stellar cast to the clever use of Poe’s themes and characters, it was not only my favourite release of the year, but probably one of my favourite streaming series so far.

What release are you most excited for in 2024?

Alien: Romulus. Again, there’s so much to look forward to in 2024, not least of which is the much-anticipated Deadpool 3. But, the new Alien movie has my interest piqued, and hopefully, it can continue the success experienced by the Predator prequel Prey. Moreover, the decision to set it between 1979’s Alien and 1986’s Aliens is a master stroke.

How did your most-anticipated 2023 release stack up?

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was my pick last year. As someone who has loved Indy since I was a kid, it was a thrill to see Ford back in the Fedora, and while the movie didn’t live up to the first three films, it was still a much better send-off than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.