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...

Casting comic book characters is a tricky business. The better known the character, the bigger the minefield. That's why I think casting the (basically) unknown Chris Hemsworth as Thor / Don Blake, which Erik Davis posted about on Saturday, is a good bet. And once you've cast one unknown in the lead, you might as well get another unknown for the second lead, which is exactly what Marvel has done. Tom Hiddleston will play the trickster Loki, Thor's adopted brother and principal foe since childhood, in the upcoming film version of Thor. Sorry, everybody who was pulling for Josh Hartnett.

The news was broken by Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily shortly before Marvel posted their press release. Hiddleston previously worked with director Kenneth Branagh on the London stage production of Chekhov's Ivanov, and acted with him in the BBC mini-series Wallander. Now we have an unknown Australian and an unknown Brit playing Norse gods! Thor is not due out until May 2011, though, so that should give the actors time to become better established. Hemsworth is currently filming The Cabin in the Woods, due for release next February, and also snared the lead in the Red Dawn remake, which should be out in September 2010. And it's likely that Hiddleston will show up in something else before Thor as well.

Casting unknowns / lesser knowns as comic book characters sometimes works (Christopher Reeve in Superman) and sometimes doesn't (Brandon Routh in Superman Returns). What do you think? Will Thor's unknown leads help or hurt the film?