It's a commonly held fact that everything tastes better with bacon. Similarly, every movie is improved by adding Kevin Bacon -- the man is a fine actor, and he elevates every project he becomes involved in. So why hasn't he been drafted to appear in a superhero movie before this? I mean, we're glad he's going to be in X-Men: First Class, because we weren't sure if the movie was going to be any good, and now we know that it will at least be better. (We can even kind of picture him as Hellfire Club president Sebastian Shaw, which is who he's rumored to play.) But we wish he'd come in to class up superhero movies before now, because there are plenty of higher-profile ones that could have used a side of delicious Bacon. Here are six degrees we wish Bacon had on his comic-book movie transcript.

Move over, Nicolas Cage, there's a new sorcerer coming to town! The latest Marvel superhero to get a feature film (maybe) has been revealed, and it's none other than Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange. A cocky neurosurgeon who damaged his hands in a drunk-driving accident, Stephen Strange traveled to the Himalayas to heal himself but ended up being tapped to defend our dimension against otherworldly foes. One of the longtime power players in the Marvel Universe, the spell-casting mystery man could be a great role for the right actor to sink his teeth into, so we thought we'd help Hollywood out by revealing who we think would be perfect for the part, not to mention Strange's mystical supporting cast. By the crimson bands of Cyttorak, read on!

Comic fans were psyched to finally get an official Fantastic Four movie in 2005, especially since the first attempt at a film ended up in Roger Corman's trash bin. The 2005 movie, while ridiculous, poorly acted and primarily played for laughs, still made enough money to get a second film greenlit, which led to the even more ridiculous Rise of the Silver Surfer. It was also more costly, so when it actually brought in less at the box office, 20th Century Fox knew they had to make a change to keep their superhero franchise alive. Now, a reboot is in the works, and we've got four suggestions for how they can put the quartet back on track.

In a testament to the power of superheroes (not to mention Robert Downey Jr.'s charm and Scarlett Johansson's bodysuits) Iron Man 2 came out on top for the second week in a row, preventing Robin Hood from rising to the number-one spot. Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott did all right, with $37 million, but IM2 made another $53 million, putting it over the $200 million mark and overtaking How to Train Your Dragon, which is still making money in its 8th week. Perhaps if Robin Hood had been riding a dragon, we might have had a different champion.

An interesting piece of news coming out of Cannes is that future cop Judge Dredd will be returning to theaters. Those who remember Sylvester Stallone's 1995 flop judge it to be either an innocent action-movie pleasure or a guilty bastardization of a long-running British comic book, but either way it was not a successful film at the box office. With the director of Vantage Point, the writer of 28 Days Later and concept art by the co-creator of The Losers, not to mention a smaller production budget, it looks like this version has the potential to become a franchise, but the film needs to learn from history. We've come up with three laws the production needs to follow in order to avoid the stiff sentence the last movie got.

Well, that's it. The backlash has begun. Against the Iron Man franchise (although not the first movie, which is apparently unimpeachable), against Marvel's slow build to The Avengers (which is really only touched on twice in the new film, briefly) and against Robert Downey, Jr. himself, who is apparently too obnoxious, although they may have him confused with the character he plays. I'll admit that I had my own doubts going into this second installment since I do recognize the greatness of the original and since Marvel hasn't had the best luck with getting their comic book characters firmly established as film characters on par with the likes of James Bond, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter. But from the perspective of a long-time, die-hard fan of ol' Shellhead, I thought director Jon Favreau, screenwriter Justin Theroux and RDJ and the rest of the cast delivered a sharp, entertaining follow-up despite some cracks in the armor.

With Iron Man 2 whipping everyone into a frenzy, and the promise of Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America for 2011, talk has turned to what Marvel movies to put out after The Avengers in 2012. Or even sooner; after all, the movies they're talking about aren't big blockbusters, they're smaller, less expensive films starring lesser-known Marvel characters. The best-case scenario would be 1998's Blade, which spawned a trilogy; the worst would be The Punisher series, or the straight-to-DVD Man-Thing. Of the thousands of Marvel characters in existence, several are being discussed (including sorcerer supreme Dr. Strange and urban hero Luke Cage) and films are already in the works for shrinking Avenger Ant-Man and the villain-spawn Runaways. But there are a ton of superheroes we'd love to see get the big-screen treatment, perhaps with an A-list hero making a cameo appearance. Here are a few that we think have big-screen potential.

It's interesting that The Losers and Kick-Ass have come out within one week of each other. Both are comic-book-based films, and neither features superpowers, unless you consider the ability to take a beating a super power. However, both feature crazy, old-fashioned fist and gun violence, usually depicted as a slow-mo ballet that looks like it came out of The Matrix. The Losers takes the violence more seriously, but it only makes the whole film seem all the more ridiculous when the inevitable preposterous scenarios occur that allow them to cheat death and recover from severe injury.

Watching commercials for Kick-Ass, one might be tempted to think that the movie is over the top. And depending on your definition (are the Coen brothers over the top? Tim Burton? Neveldine/Taylor?), it probably is. But while over-the-top movies often turn out to be the most enjoyable, Kick-Ass is actually more down to earth than most "serious" superhero movies. That's because the main character in the movie isn't a comic-book character, he's just an insecure teenager, and the other heroes are not superpowered at all -- they're just intelligent people with a flair for the dramatic and the element of surprise. The movie still goes a bit too far in places, but compared to the Crank series, Kick-Ass is like An Education with ski masks. It's also really funny, really violent and really entertaining.

You hear that? That's the sound of a million geeks crying out. But whether it's a cry of happiness, anger or confusion depends on the geek, and that geek's specific feelings towards Marvel comic books and Joss Whedon. Word has come down that Whedon, the creator of Dollhouse and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will direct the Avengers movie, and while many are intrigued at the possibilities, there are some who just don't see the logic. (To be fair, Whedon's an experienced Marvel Comics writer and also wrote and very nearly directed a Wonder Woman movie, so this isn't the craziest idea we've ever heard.) As for us, we're mainly wondering about which members of his talented acting stable may make appearances in the film. Although half the movie is already cast (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, etc.), there are plenty of other classic Avengers and Avenger villains that could be used to round out the story. Here are the past Whedon stars that we'd cast: