Summer 2011: Biggest & Best Comic Films

So with a gold's rush of comic adaptations coming out, starting next May, which films do we think will be the best, biggest, or both?

In order of release, they are:

THOR (early May)
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (early June)
GREEN LANTERN (late June)
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (late July)

Say the order you think they might finish in, whether critically, financially, or both.

Keep in mind the release dates and what else is being released (like Transformers 3 around the fourth of July.)

Never been a big Thor fan but I must admit the trailer looks AWESOME!
And while I would love to see Captain America done incredibly I've yet to see anything truly impressive for me about the film other than knowing that Hugo Weaving will be playing the Red Skull. I can't imagine anyone better for the part.

I think THOR has the opportunity to be the biggest. He's opening first, and won't have serious competition until Memorial Day weekend. Plus he's got an audience built in on the myth, so the film could be biggest of all in the European market. Look at how huge films based on Greek myths & legends have done there the last several years - Troy, 300, Clash Of The Titans.

X-Men has a built in audience, but I wonder if people are tiring of the franchise yet; plus, this one has a retro setting and no Wolverine.

Green Lantern is the biggest unknown to the regular public; but so was Iron Man, once. The filmmakers of this series - together with the filmmakers from THOR - I have the most confidence in. They could be the two best films.

Captain America can take advantage of being late summer, but it will be tougher to get a worldwide audience with this film, out of all the others. Just because of the name alone.

I'm excited for them all but mostly Cap. Cap is also the movie I consider most likely to flop.

I was let down when I heard that X-Men first class was to be combined with Magneto's solo film. I had allot of high hopes and anticipation about that movie. Really wanted to see Mags in a movie where he's done right and really really shown to be much much more than just a villain and more just a angry Jew turned into a misguided hero just trying to look out for his people and keep whats happened before from happening again.

I have serious doubts about First Class now.

Expecting X-Men to be shit. The franchise let me down a long time ago.
Thor, I like from the trailer.
Green Lantern I'm optimistic about, and reserving judgment for now.
Captain America should be good, but I won't make a judgement til I see a trailer.

I will see them all, but i am more excited about ryan reynolds as hal/gl than i am about evans/cap

An article recently quoting Jon Favreau, who's got 'Cowboys & Aliens' next summer, about how crushing the schedule will be for almost every film. You wonder if it's in someone interest to move out of summer - like X-Men: First Class?

Hopefully it's Captain America. Although that looks like it might be a G.I.Joe remake with significantly less tech.

Green Lantern should be awesome too if done right. Idris Elba is in Thor.

With that said, I don't have big expectations for any of them.

Captain America movie NEEDS to be jam packed with action. I think we saw glimpsed of what the action for this film will be like in last Hulk movie, when the special agent took the SSS and then took on the Hulk.

Originally posted by Caps Conscience
Captain America movie NEEDS to be jam packed with action. I think we saw glimpsed of what the action for this film will be like in last Hulk movie, when the special agent took the SSS and then took on the Hulk.

Captain America has another challenge, in that we've been in a renaissance of great, hardcore depictions of WW2 since Saving Private Ryan in 1998. I'm sitting & watching The Pacific miniseries this afternoon; the companion piece to Band Of Brothers several years earlier. And Cap can't be shown defeating Nazis with the greatest of ease, keeping his hands clean. He & Bucky have to be shown getting their hands dirty sometimes. Getting cartoony about WW2 would just feel disrespectful towards our ancestors who slugged it out hand to hand, etc.

Originally posted by roughrider
Captain America has another challenge, in that we've been in a renaissance of great, hardcore depictions of WW2 since Saving Private Ryan in 1998. I'm sitting & watching The Pacific miniseries this afternoon; the companion piece to Band Of Brothers several years earlier. And Cap can't be shown defeating Nazis with the greatest of ease, keeping his hands clean. He & Bucky have to be shown getting their hands dirty sometimes. Getting cartoony about WW2 would just feel disrespectful towards our ancestors who slugged it out hand to hand, etc.

Going dark with the Cap film is a risk worth taking IMO. I don't know if the film makers will have the balls to do it, though.

Originally posted by Caps Conscience
Going dark with the Cap film is a risk worth taking IMO. I don't know if the film makers will have the balls to do it, though.

I'm sure they won't go any further than a PG-13 rating, but it will be something. It's been good the past decade to see flashbacks of both Cap & Ultimate Cap packing weapons and using them when neccessary; not just being an acrobat with a shield.

I see cap as either being the best or close to it or utterly failing.

Besides that i think GL looks the most promising.

Originally posted by Black bolt z
I see cap as either being the best or close to it or utterly failing.

Besides that i think GL looks the most promising.

I agree.. I have low expectations when it comes to Caps movie

Originally posted by BruceSkywalker
I agree.. I have low expectations when it comes to Caps movie

I want to see what they do with Sebastian Stan as Bucky. It's reasonable to armour up Cap more, but Bucky always had that look of being like Robin in WW2. Will they completely redesign him? Or just make a soldier chronicling Cap for the media, like the Ultimate version?

I'm really hoping that they pulled off Green Lantern well. That's the one I care about most, because I really like that character and I think the character has the most potential. If done right, GL could be as epic as Star Wars was to audiences back in '77. I know that's a bold claim, but I just mean it has the potential to be a spectacular space epic. Unfortunately, I don't think that'll be the case necessarily, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Originally posted by BruceSkywalker
I agree.. I have low expectations when it comes to Caps movie

Originally posted by SnakeEyes
I'm really hoping that they pulled off Green Lantern well. That's the one I care about most, because I really like that character and I think the character has the most potential. If done right, GL could be as epic as Star Wars was to audiences back in '77. I know that's a bold claim, but I just mean it has the potential to be a spectacular space epic. Unfortunately, I don't think that'll be the case necessarily, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Other than Sinestro, everything about we have seen about the Green Lantern film so far makes me cringe. Reynolds. The GL suit. Blake Lively. Hammond. The mock up posters. Everything.

The plus side is that low expectations can be a good thing.

Originally posted by srankmissingnin
Other than Sinestro, everything about we have seen about the Green Lantern film so far makes me cringe. Reynolds. The GL suit. Blake Lively. Hammond. The mock up posters. Everything.

The plus side is that low expectations can be a good thing.

The first trailer comes with Harry Potter 7 this month. We'll have some idea then. I want to see if they can make the suit plausible.
And it's overdue for DC/Warner Bros. to get out of the safety pen that has been the Batman & Superman franchises.