He's portrayed a few iconic characters, including Shakespeare's Romeo and Howard Hughes, but could Leonardo DiCaprio be taken seriously as an iconic superhero? Specifically the Sentinel of Liberty -- Captain America? According to Latino Review (a site well-known and typically respected for its accuracy with rumors of this sort), Marvel Studios has placed Leo on the top of their list of candidates for the role. Of course, there's been no offer made yet, and this is simply the same sort of wish list we heard about for Thor (Brad Pitt is the top of that list), so there's no need to get crazy over the possibility ... yet.

Speaking of Pitt, Marvel apparently has placed him as second on their list for Cap. They either want him for The First Avenger: Captain America or Thor. Maybe they'll even offer him the roles of Ant-Man and everyone else in The Avengers (it would be like this, but with Pitt playing all the roles instead of Johnny Depp). There's no mention of who is #3. It could be Matthew McConaughey, who was rumored to be considered before. Or, it could be George Washington. Yes, the real G.W., first President of the United States. Not only is he perfectly relevant for the part, but I think Marvel has as good a chance of casting him as they do of casting Leo.

Folks expected a huge opening take for Iron Man, but $201 million worldwide? Damn. And doesn't it feel a whole lot better when a film that makes that kinda money actually deserves to make that kind of money? Anyway, as expected, Marvel went absolutely nutty over this news and, while announcing quarter one profits, took some time to give us tentative release dates for Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers. Marvel Entertainment will not release a film in 2009, but first up in 2010 will be Iron Man 2 on April 30. Two months later, on July 4, 2010, Thor will debut in theaters. So, like this summer, we'll be getting two Marvel flicks in 2010 -- and if Thor wants to claim fourth of July weekend, that film better know how to kick some serious ass. You don't jump on July 4th without knowing you have a set -- know what I mean?

Similarly, in 2011, Marvel Entertainment will debut another two films. First, on May 6, 2011, we have The First Avenger: Captain America (new title I believe). Then, in July, the biggie -- The Avengers! There was no word of an Ant-Man film in there, though last we heard it was in development with Edgar Wright attached. Honestly, unless they push The Avengers to 2012, I don't see where Ant-Man could fit in. Additionally, I imagine we'll have to wait to see how well The Incredible Hulk does, seeing as they may want to sequel-ize that one too. Otherwise, Iron Man will be the only franchise to debut a sequel prior to an full-on Avengers flick.

Phew. Chime in, folks. What do you think about it all?

Whether you're a fan of comics, or just happen to watch superheroes on the big screen now and then, you've probably heard of Marvel. They've got almost all the biggies: Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Daredevil and Iron Man. And if you regularly read Cinematical, you know that at least a few movies are in production with these characters. Marvel Entertainment has now released their second quarter earnings for 2007, and have included the company's list of projects, which you can find over at SuperHeroHype.

We know all about some of them. Of course, under their character feature line-up, they've got my much-anticipated Wolverine, which we last blogged about a few days ago, and Punisher 2, which is going to be a do-over. Under the flicks in development, we've got Iron Man (which was very present in our ComicCon coverage) and The Incredible Hulk. But there's also a whole bunch of writers gearing up other super projects like Ant-Man by Edward Wright and Joe Cornish, Captain America by David Self, Nick Fury by Andrew Marlowe, Thor by Mark Protosevich and The Avengers by Zak Penn. There are also a few animated TV projects in the works -- Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man, some direct-to-DVD projects -- Doctor Strange, Teen Avengers and Hulk Smash and video game projects for Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

And here's the kicker: Spider-Man the Musical. Yes, our webbed friend is going to hit the stage, and somehow I've missed the buzz that has been lurking around. Woops. It's not a terrible surprise that Spidey is jumping out of the screen, especially after all the success of Sam Raimi's last flick to get theatrical: Evil Dead: The Musical. Julie Taymor (Titus and Across the Universe) is going to direct the production, and the music will come from U2's Bono and The Edge -- that pretty much guarantees us some funky music and stunning sights. Unfortunately, there's no word on when we can expect to see the web stick to the stage.

Top Thought of the Week -- The Ghost Rider team amuses me. I'm probably one of the five or so people on earth who really, really want to like this movie, and even I can't help but chuckle at them. Here's the deal. You're talking about a guy who admits to loving the Punisher flick. I'm willing to accept some high levels of cheese in my Marvel movies because -- let's all be honest here -- Marvel comic books are full of cheese. A level of goofiness is to be expected in nearly every Marvel story, and that's just how it is. The trick for movie directors is exactly the same as it is for comic book writers: Find a happy balance between action, drama, and yes, humor, and you'll be a success with the fans. The Spider-Man franchise is probably the best example of this balance ... possibly in both the books and the movies. If you want to be optimistic about the Ghost Rider flick, hold out hope for a strong script (yeah, I'm having trouble holding down the laughter, too) and solid acting performances.

The other rule you generally need to follow in creating Marvel comics is don't be Rob Liefeld. In other words -- make it pretty. You don't have to be the champion of all digital effects, but for goodness sake, don't look like an early 2000s video game. This has been a strong negative for the Ghost Rider camp lately, and their attempts to fight back against internet geeks vocally roasting their look is what has given me such amusement this past week. Nonetheless, hope springs eternal in this geek heart of mine.

Other stray thoughts, in no particular order:

Welcome back to The Geek Beat, readers. Last week we did the "what if Marvel fielded a baseball team" game, and this week we were scheduled to do part two of that column -- the All-Star Villains. A few readers made some very astute guesses, but you'll have to wait one more week to learn my starting nine, because this week's column is dedicated to a full-on, all-out wrap-up of the crazy week that was Comic-Con 2006. Geek movie news aplenty was pouring out of San Diego these past few days, and we're going to sum it all up in case you missed out on any of the action. If you read this and know of some fantastic bit of movie-related news which I overlooked, click on the comments and let us know. We'll make it a team effort. Ready? Here it goes:

Day 1

• Lots of interesting news from a comic book perspective, including some great panels with DC and Marvel, but precious little movie news hit from the big two. Mostly, everyone was just gearing up. Marvel does, however, completely destroy DC in a softball game.
• The agent for Doug Jones, the guy who played Abe Sapien in fan favorite Hellboy, said to expect a major casting announcement from Doug. Popular rumor expected this to be a deal to play the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four 2. Which, by the way, still has no official title despite what you've been hearing.
• Rosario Dawson is very excited for Sin City 2, and is planning to bring her own comic series, Occult Crimes Taskforce to the big screen.

In an effort to keep more of the profits generated by its characters, Marvel Entertainment (Marvel Enterprises was apparently not a big enough name anymore) has taken out a $525 million loan to finance the production of its own films. Because starting small is foolish, the company officially announced today that it is in the process of assigning writers to fully ten Marvel character-based films, all of which will have budgets of between $50 and $165 million. Though it's not yet decided which stories will be filmed first, among the superfolks getting the big-screen treatment are Captain America, Ant-Man (Ant-Man?! Sight unseen, this guy just became my favorite superhero of all time.), Dr. Strange, and Hawkeye. Though Paramount will be involved in most of the distribution of Marvel Entertainment's films, Marvel will go it alone in Japan, Germany, Australia, and a handful of other countries.