2016 looks set to be a huge year in the world of comic book movies (really, is there a year that isn’t a big year in the world of comic book movies these days?).

No less than seven huge productions starring Marvel and DC characters will hit cinema screens around the world; Deadpool (February), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (March), Captain America: Civil War (May), X-Men: Apocalypse (May), Suicide Squad (August), Gambit (October) and Doctor Strange (November).

With that in mind, there’s going to be one hell of a battle for box office success in the genre and it will be interesting to find out which movie wins out. Of course, it’s unlikely that any of them will flop completely, but there has to be an order. This article will predict which of those movies will be the top five in terms of how much they will gross worldwide.

Suicide Squad

As obscure as the Suicide Squad might be as a concept (at least as far as mainstream audiences go), the fact is that this movie is extremely intriguing and it will, therefore, do pretty well at the box office – just about edging out Doctor Strange.

The cast is incredible – the likes of Jared Leto, Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne and Jai Courtney are just some of the actors in the ensemble – and the array of interesting characters they will be portraying will certainly attract legions of DC fans to movie theatres around the world at the very least.

Moreover, the fact that the movie will see the return of The Joker to the big screen will be a huge draw. Jared Leto is the man tasked with following in the footsteps of Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger and fans of the villain will be intrigued to see his new take on him.

The whole “criminals and villains working for the government” concept is certainly different, but that adds to the movie’s mystique and it should bring in some viewers by default. Its best chance to do even better will come from word of mouth (assuming audiences are impressed) and a good performance from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before it, but its relatively obscure source material should prevent it from beating the others on this list.

Predicted worldwide gross: $750 million.

Deadpool

Deadpool fans have wanted this movie for a hell of a long time and, as a result, it should do very well.

The perfect casting of Ryan Reynolds as the Merc With a Mouth should ensure it’s a faithful adaptation of the much-loved Marvel character and his exploits.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine gave the world a decent Wade Wilson (it was Reynolds in the role that time as well, after all), but the awful depiction of “Deadpool” (which can’t be blamed on Reynolds, as it wasn’t even him portraying the silenced Frankenstein’s monster version of the character – known as “Barakapool” by disgruntled viewers) really sickened a lot of fans.

This time around, Reynolds is going to be truly unleashed on the role he was born to play. He’ll portray a smart-mouthed, cocky, somewhat insane but undoubtedly likeable Deadpool who will talk directly to the camera in the Merc With a Mouth’s classic “breaking the fourth wall” style.

With a supporting cast of characters that includes the likes of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, this movie will certainly be interesting and – particularly assuming that Reynolds nails the titular character – it should do pretty well financially too.

Predicted worldwide gross: $775 million.

X-Men: Apocalypse

The second movie from the X-Men franchise on this list, X-Men: Apocalypse should become the highest-grossing offering in the franchise when it is released.

Apocalypse will become the most monstrous villain in the franchise by some margin and that should appeal to audiences in a big way. Although not as powerful as the Mad Titan, he is very much to the X-Men what Thanos is to the characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – the big-bad audiences have been waiting for. He possesses superhuman strength and durability, telepathy, telekinesis and energy manipulation, amongst a host of other powers and abilities.

Fans have been excited for his arrival since he was teased in the post-credits scene of X-Men: Days of Future Past – or at least his younger self En Sabah Nur was – played by Brendan Pedder (though Oscar Isaac will portray the powerful mutant in this movie).

The movie will see the return of fan-favourites like James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Evan Peters as Quicksilver and, allegedly at least if recent news stories are to be believed, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine – the latter being a huge draw in his own right.

Predicted worldwide gross: $800 million.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

This movie has had its troubles as a project – of that’s there’s no doubt – and, for a while, there was a lot of concern about it.

The casting of Ben Affleck as Batman caused uproar in itself, the rushed nature of the crossover was much-maligned (it is only the second movie in this DC franchise and Batman and Superman are already expected to fight and form the Justice League) and the potential cinematic clash with Captain America: Civil War resulted in DC and Warner Brothers running scared and switching the release date – but the fact is that it pits the two most popular heroes in comic books against each other for the first time in a movie and, with that in mind, it should do extremely well.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will attract legions of fans to movie theatres worldwide. As well as the obvious attraction of the two titular characters, this movie indicates the launch of the DC Cinematic Universe and fans will rush to see how it unfolds.

A cast of characters that includes the aforementioned Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, returning supporting actors like Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, as well as newcomers like Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg and Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth gives this movie some real star power to supplement its intriguing concept (there’s also every chance that there will be an additional villain and the potential team-up between the movie’s heroes to face it could be a big draw if that’s the case).

Predicted worldwide gross: $1 billion.

Captain America: Civil War

In spite of the undoubted might of the likes of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, there really is absolutely no doubt what the runaway comic book movie success of 2016 will be – Captain America: Civil War.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most successful franchise in movie history and every movie in it does well. While Doctor Strange might not break any records next year, any movie with the existing Avengers in it has every chance of doing that. Civil War might not become the highest-grossing movie ever, but it could easily rival The Avengers in the race to become the highest-grossing comic book movie ever.

This is a totally new concept for a comic book movie. Even Batman v Superman can’t rival the scale of the heroes versus heroes battle that will take place in Civil War.

Chris Evans’ Captain America will recruit a group of heroes who are against the newly implemented Superhuman Registration Act, while Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron Man will recruit an opposing group who are all for it. They will fight and it will be awesome.

The likes of Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Paul Bettany (Vision), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), William Hurt (General Ross) and Frank Grillo (Crossbones) will all reprise their roles from previous movies and the likes of Daniel Brühl (Baron Zemo) and Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) will make their first appearances. Martin Freeman has been cast in an as yet unspecified role, Spider-Man will make his first appearance (though no actor has been cast to date) and Mark Ruffalo is rumoured to return as the Hulk.

That’s some serious star power and this movie will rake the cash in as a result, leaving this year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron in the shade.

Predicted worldwide gross: $1.6 billion.

What do you think? Which comic book movies will perform best next year? How much money will they gross? Have your say below.