Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Is the Superhero Comeback Hiding in Plain Sight

written by Craig Ellison

May 6, 2026 2:55 pm

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Is the Superhero Comeback Hiding in Plain Sight — Image credit: Legion-Media

Christopher Nolan sets sail with The Odyssey, a mythic action epic that could mark a stealth return to his superhero roots. With titanic stakes and larger-than-life heroism, this voyage looks poised to echo the seismic punch of Batman Begins.

So, Christopher Nolan is apparently making his next big leap—not back into Gotham, but smack dab in the middle of ancient Greece. Yep, the guy who gave us the Dark Knight trilogy (and arguably ruined superhero movies for everyone else by setting the bar irresponsibly high) is tackling Homer’s 'The Odyssey'. And honestly, the more you look at it, the more this thing looks like Nolan doing superheroes again, just with fewer capes and more togas.

Wait, Nolan? Superheroes? Homer?

I know what you’re thinking: 'The Odyssey' isn’t some Marvel or DC property (though let’s face it, at this point, they probably have a version lying around somewhere). But Nolan himself practically rolled out a red carpet for this comparison when he showed up on Colbert. Instead of dodging the inevitable comic book question, he dove right in—pointing out that Homer’s epic stories are kind of the granddaddy of superhero tales.

'Even comic book culture, whether you’re talking about Marvel or DC or all the rest, a lot of it comes pretty directly from the Homeric Epics... Homer... is the sort of George Lucas of his time. The thing about Homer, it is the Marvel of its day. It’s very direct, this desire for us to feel or believe gods could walk amongst us, and I think the modern comic book is kind of our expression of that.'

So, if you squint, a Cyclops is basically a one-eyed supervillain and Odysseus is a bearded guy with godly plot armor. And Nolan is not even remotely pretending otherwise.

Blockbuster Scale Fits the Superman Mold

If you want more proof that Nolan is working in his old sandbox again, chew on this: the budget for 'The Odyssey' is a whopping $250 million. That’s more than most spandex-and-punching movies, if you’re keeping count. The latest trailer drops everything you would expect—crazy battles at sea, sword fights, a straight-up comic book monster Cyclops, the works. The only thing holding this back from a DC logo is, well, an actual DC logo.

The Cast is... Kind of Ridiculous

Nolan isn’t messing around in the ensemble department either. Here’s who he’s roped into this mythological fever dream:

Matt Damon as Odysseus (clearly Nolan is determined to keep giving him traumatic travel stories)
Tom Holland
Anne Hathaway
Robert Pattinson
Lupita Nyong'o
Zendaya
Charlize Theron

If that sounds like a superhero team-up, that’s because it absolutely is. If this was an MCU movie, the poster would buckle under the weight of all those faces.

When It’s Hitting Theaters

'The Odyssey'—not to be confused with any of nineteen other Hollywood projects that tried to adapt it and fizzled—is locked for a July 17, 2026 release. Universal is writing very large checks, obviously betting on Nolan sticking the landing.

So, Is This a Superhero Movie?

Not technically. But if you’re grading by spectacle, talent, and the whole 'larger than life with stakes that border on cosmic' feeling, Nolan’s Odyssey is about as close to a mythic superhero movie as you can get without CGI-ing a bat symbol onto Matt Damon’s chest. Frankly, if you’re tired of the same old multiverse shenanigans, this might actually be the change-up the genre needs—even if it isn’t technically in the genre.