Despite the avalanche of trailers, clips, photos and interviews that have recently flooded the web in support of X-Men: First Class, it's worth noting how much the X franchise (which, after all, kick-started the resurgence of superhero cinema in 2000) has been overshadowed by the lead-up to The Avengers. But although I'm as eager as any fanboy to see that team finally assemble on screen next year, Matthew Vaughn's new film boldly, stylishly and masterfully makes an argument for the children of the atom resuming their place as the homo superior of Marvel movies - not to mention providing crackerjack entertainment that can take its place with the most effective of modern blockbusters. But is it the best? Let's examine the evidence:

Of all the Marvel Comics characters being brought to the big screen, Thor is the one who seems like he would be the hardest to explain. Yes, he's a Norse god, and as such his stories have been told since time immemorial (mostly to Norsemen), but his home isn't a palace in the clouds, it's a sci-fi city in space, one that connects to Earth via a rainbow. Unsurprisingly, the rainbow is downgraded to a slightly shimmering transit beam in the movie, but everything else about Thor is translated to the big screen pretty effortlessly, insofar as a Shakespearean family drama played out on massive, shiny, golden sets can be called "effortless." But since the science and magic aren't dwelt on as much, it allows the drama to play out unhindered, with plenty of bellowing and backstabbing, and action that hits like a hammer to the face.

In the abridged Green Lantern footage released on the Internet following Wondercon, superhero fanboys got plenty to look at from the upcoming movie: The Parallax entity, the reciting of the Lantern oath, the thousands of aliens who make up the Corps -- and we also got a quick explanation of why Hal Jordan wears a mask while other Lanterns don't, and why it comes and goes. Apparently, it manifests itself when Hal needs to hide his identity, and while we aren't sure an explanation was necessary, the fact that there is a set rule behind it raises some questions. To wit:

The real-world superhero genre has been getting a real workout lately. The teenage wish-fulfillment fantasy Kick-Ass is the most recent and high-profile example, but before that, Defendor and Special followed grown, troubled men in homemade costumes as they pursued a life of crime-fighting. Super walks down a similar road to the latter two, but with Kick-Ass's sense of humor and blood spatter, and the path it takes and the place it ends up are both different enough from the rest to make it worth watching. The mid-notch comedic cast helps, with Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page doing their regular things and Kevin Bacon stealing every scene as the alternately hilarious and scary villain, but the film also surprises the audience with its hallucinatory dream sequences and unadorned brutality, which keep things interesting. Plus, as everyone knows, everything tastes better with Bacon.

Zack Snyder's fever dream Sucker Punch failed to knock out Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 at the box office this past weekend and received mostly terrible reviews. But it's not Snyder's latest film we're concerned about, it's his next one: the Superman reboot. Even with Christopher Nolan overseeing the project, Snyder is still directing, and after seeing Sucker Punch, we're worried about what Snyder's clearly imaginative psyche will come up with for the Man of Steel. These are some of our red flags:

Kevin Costner has always done his best to let the world know how big a hero he is. Whether it was saving Native Americans, saving England or becoming a mailman-prophet, The Costner has always risen to his own sense of greatness. Well, now he's going to play second fiddle to the greatest hero of all, by taking a supporting role in the new Superman movie. Common sense points to him playing Pa Kent, the salt-of-the-Earth purveyor of folk wisdom that made Superman into what he is, which gives him bragging rights to everything his son does, but Pa isn't the only fiftysomething man in Clark Kent's life. Here are some other supporting Super-roles we'd like to see him mix it up with.

The press release is only a few hours old, but already Batman fans are divided over Anne Hathaway getting cast as Selina "Catwoman" Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises. (Note: Although the release only says "Selina Kyle," I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that she will, at some point, put on a black jumpsuit and rob an apartment.) Tom Hardy is getting less flack for playing the normally Hispanic criminal Bane -- Hardy's muscles in Bronson and Bane's awful part in Batman & Robin help a lot -- but Hathaway is getting hit on all sides from people criticizing her looks, her acting ability and her personality, saying she's all wrong for the sultry cat burglar. While many are equally quick to defend her, I thought I'd throw in my two cents as to why she's perfect for the role. And no, I don't mean "purrr-fect." I'm not Eartha Kitt.

You've got to hand it to Seth Rogen: the guy wanted to make a superhero movie, so he found a hero nobody was doing anything with, one that he could conceivably play, and he wrote a script (with collaborator Evan Goldberg) that successfully hybridized the Green Hornet's atypical origin story with a slacker buddy comedy. When his director and co-star backed out, he found another director and another co-star, and the end result, the 3-D, Michel Gondry-directed, visually stunning Green Hornet, is unlike any superhero movie I've seen. It manages to take Rogen's idiotic, confrontational comedy shtick and make it a seamless part of the story of a hero's rise. Because what kind of idiot puts on a mask and goes out looking for a fight?

I really can't blame Jon Favreau for wanting to pass on the third Iron Man movie. He's already made two really good films, and any sort of arc he wanted to have in the third one was going to have to take a back seat to what happens with Iron Man in the Avengers and what Marvel wants him to do in Avengers 2. So best to leave it in the hands of someone who's sold on the whole "big picture" plan, but hopefully can still deliver the goods. Sadly, go-to sequel master Irvin Kershner is no longer with us, but we came up with a list of name directors with sequel experience who would, at the very least, create a threequel that would get people talking.

The full trailer for DC Comics' next big movie, Green Lantern, is out, and the fan reaction has been mixed, to say the least. Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a test pilot who gets drafted into an interplanetary police force of aliens who all wear skintight green suits and wield energy rings run on willpower. And while some are calling it a pleasant change from somber superhero fare, others are calling it an abomination, given what we know about the 50-year-old character. As a fan of Ryan Reynolds and a longtime reader of DC Comics, I thought I'd add my two cents to the mix.