The questions of the existence limits and the properties of shell-stabilized superheavy nuclei have been a driving force behind experimental and theoretical efforts to investigate such nuclei. The present situation in the field of superheavy elelments is characterised by many experimental and theoretical achievements, along with a number of remaining challanges. I will review the current experimental and theoretical situation. Theoretical predictions for superheavy nuclei differ considerably. The review of the present status of our understanding of heavy and superheavy nuclei within microscopic theories (in particular, covariant density functional theory) will be presented. Heavy nuclei of the actinide region play an important role in constraining theoretical predictions. I will concentrate on the importance of single-particle degrees of freedom, the role of self-consistency effects in superheavy nuclei and on the description of fission barriers in actinides and superheavy nuclei.
Brief review of future experimental facilities will also be presented.
 „Superheavy elements: current status and future”){kind=link}