Captain America: The First Avenger

Hot on the heels of Iron Man's $100 million+ opening weekend, an exuberant Marvel has announced that 2010 will see the release of Iron Man 2 and Thor, with summer 2011 seeing the release of Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers. I have not yet seen Iron Man, but all reports are glorious. So the big question becomes - can they extend that success to Captain America and Thor? I'm a bit giddy at the concept, truth be told, and have very high hopes that they'll be able to pull this very ambitious plan off. And it won't be easy. Thor is going to be a hard nut to crack balance-wise, especially given what I understand is the relatively realistic feel of Iron Man. How is a living, breathing Norse God going to fit into that world? Or are they going to denude the concept and not have him be the actual Norse god? Or will they take a page (after already taking several in Iron Man) from The Ultimates and have his godhood be ambiguous? And Captain America is no easier - the eye candy and sfx-porn that are naturals for Iron Man, the Hulk, and Thor won't really help Captain America - this is, after all, just a guy who can fight really, really well. And he is in many ways the most old-fashioned superhero Marvel has - the quippy modern sarcasm that fits so well for Iron Man or Spider-Man won't fly.

So - lots of challenges. Real challenges. Challenges facing a company that has made one film. That I haven't even seen. So why am I so optimistic?

Until Whenever