Movies based on characters from comics published by DC and Marvel took a summer sabbatical this year -- I'm trying really hard to pretend X-Men Origins: Wolverine was only a bad dream -- but the next couple of summers promise a healthy dash of costumed superheroes to liven up movie theaters. As noted in a post earlier today, next summer will see the return of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2. Two summers hence will feature the big-screen debut of Kenneth Branagh's vision of Thor, with Chris Hemsworth playing the hammer-wielding Norse god and Tom Hiddleston as his adopted brother / arch-nemesis Loki, followed by Joe Johnston's adventure The First Avenger: Captain America, set primarily during World War II. And 2012 will finally bring superhero team-up The Avengers, plus another unspecified movie. Could it be Edgar Wright's Ant-Man? Or something else?

Without being an expert on any of these characters -- for that I bow gratefully to our own Elisabeth Rappe -- from strictly a movie fan's perspective, I'm most anticipating The First Avenger: Captain America. That's because director Joe Johnston hasn't let me down yet, and the film's World War II setting and sense of wholesome, patriotic adventure play to his strengths. But the more I think about these projects, the more I like the variety of settings and styles. Sure, they're all superheroes, but there's plenty of room for the films to establish their own identities.

What do you think? What's your most anticipated Marvel movie? Feel free to suggest other characters that should have their own movie in the comments.

Above: Check out new logos for the upcoming Marvel films from E3, via AICN

The Marvel movie slate for the next couple of years has been firmly established: Iron Man 2 in May 2010, Thor in May 2011, and The First Avenger: Captain America in July 2011, with The Avengers to follow in Summer 2012. Kevin Feige, the company's president of production, revealed at an industry conference this weekend that another new Marvel movie will be released in 2012, according to First Showing, and also provided tidbits of information about their other projects.

• Iron Man 2: The goal is to carry over the humor and tone of the first film, while adding more characters and upping the action. Scarlett Johannson's character has "two sides," and the actress is signed for multiple movies.
• Thor: No Shakespearean dialogue (per Kenneth Branagh's wishes)! No Don Blake! Primarily set on Earth (though also on Asgard and "other worlds")! How exactly is that going to work? No idea!
• The First Avenger: Captain America: Will be "primarily" set during World War II. With Joe Johnston at the helm, Feige described the picture in terms of the director / visual effects designer's past work (The Rocketeer, October Sky, Star Wars). Sidekick Bucky will appear "in some capacity."
• The Avengers: Captain America will be involved in the plot "from the get go."
• Ant-Man: Edgar Wright will be submitting another draft after he completes Scott Pilgrim.

Feige "Feige kept saying often that he'd love for audiences to have the same experience that comic book readers have - where characters make surprise appearances almost out of nowhere in issues they pick up." To be continued...

• Will Smith is, for the last time, not playing Captain America. Rumors of Smith playing Cap were everywhere (including here) and it wasn't as crazy as it seemed. The first Captain America was African-American, after all, and the clunky title The First Avenger: Captain America could suggest they would honor that mythology. But they're not -- not only did Ain't It Cool News debunk it earlier this month, but Smith has confirmed it. In fact, he told MTV he hadn't even heard the rumor.
  

• David Boreanaz is not the Green Lantern. Rumors flew that he was in consideration, as his face was used in the concept art, but as Hal Jordan is 27 and Boreanaz is in his late 30's, he's believed to be too old. (So that happens to actors as well as actresses? Good to know.) Latino Review has a script review up -- I'll refrain from posting anything here as it's kind of spoilerish but in short, they love it. For those avoiding the spoilers of LR, I'll leave you with a quote from The Pulse's chat with the film's writer Marc Guggenheim. He was fresh off the rewrite, and promises that it's "an incredibly faithful rendition of the character."
  

• Brett Ratner says he was once part of the J.J. Abrams Superman -- and tells MTV that he'd like a crack at the Warner Bros reboot, especially if they are really going for a dark and edgy take. Will the film unexpectedly switch from day to night halfway through to illustrate this darkness?

• A Paramount preview in London let fans peek at GI Joe and Star Trek. The former was iffy, with the action being stylized, typical of Stephen Sommers, and complaints of the character development being "terrible." What was seen of Trek suggested "immense fun." I am chomping at the bit to see some footage of that flick -- and despite having once worn a Star Trek: The Next Generation uniform, I am the furthest thing you can find from a Trekkie.