As strange as it might seem, there really have been things happening in the world of superhero movies recently other than the Sony/Marvel Spider-Man deal. Although, admittedly, that remains one of the biggest stories around. If the almost literally unbelievable rumor about who Marvel is considering to direct Captain Marvel turns out to be true, however, all bets are off because that news would be huge. But don't take our word for it, read on to catch up on the biggest stories of the past seven days' worth of superhero movie news.

SUPER IDEA: Marvel Helping Out With Spider-Man

More details are emerging about the deal between Marvel and Sony over future usage of Spider-Man on the big screen, and it's beginning to look as though things aren't going to be as different as it originally seemed. According to Variety, plans for the three Spider-Man spin-off movies are still on track and Marvel will have no creative input on anything other than the core Spidey flicks. However, Spider-Man himself might be a bit different than what we're used to. The Hollywood Reporter notes Sony is looking for an actor "much younger" than Andrew Garfield for the role, as well as a writer for the reboot. Interestingly enough, that report also suggests that this is the beginning of something bigger, with both Marvel reacquiring rights to the character and, impressively, Marvel parent company Disney buying Sony being mooted as possibilities. Well, if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em, right? (Wait. Marvel had pretty much beat Sony in terms of superhero movies, so that doesn't work...)

Why this is super: A lot of people are very, very excited about this prospect and the Spider-Man movies are now hotter than they've been in years, so clearly something's gone right for the franchise. Shame about poor Andrew Garfield, though.

MEH IDEA: You Really Can't Keep An Old Mutant Telepath Down, It Turns Out

If you thought that X-Men: Days of Future Past was a good send-off for Patrick Stewart's elder statesman version of Charles Xavier, prepare to be disappointed: He's not done yet. "What I'm very excited about is that we have been talking about a Wolverine movie, which would team Hugh Jackman and myself together," the actor revealed in an interview earlier this week.

Why this is villainy: Patrick, you have been great in the role, there's no denying that. But it would be really, really nice if we could have less X-Men movies that were all about Xavier, Magneto, and Wolverine, and more that were about ... well, any of the many other characters that are part of the franchise. It's time, let's face it.

SUPER IDEA: Marvel Aims High For Its Captain Marvel Director (Maybe)

File under: "Wait, that can't be for real." No less an authority than OK! Magazine reports that Marvel is looking to hire Angelina Jolie as the director of 2018's Captain Marvel, with the magazine suggesting that the studio was preparing to pay her $20 million for the pleasure. Yes, that's right, *Marvel Studios paying a director $20 million for *Captain Marvel.

Why this is super: If this were in any way believable, it would be super indeed. What better way to get attention for the studio's (long overdue) first female-led movie than to have one of the biggest female movie stars—and, as Unbroken showed, a pretty grand director—helm it? Unfortunately, it just doesn't have the ring of truth, in large part because of that $20 million figure, which is astonishingly high even for a studio as famously stingy as Marvel. We're all on-board with Marvel going for a female director, though. In fact, this is where we remind you Selma director Ava DuVernay is open to making a Marvel origin story movie. Get on that, Marvel.

SUPER IDEA(S): The Wacky Shortlist of Potential Deadpool Female Co-Stars

The news that Fox has drawn up a shortlist of female co-stars for Deadpool came as quite a surprise, considering that he usually goes stag (Or, at least, he did until his wedding last year). But it's an interesting list of hopefuls, from *The Red Band Society'*s Rebecca Rittenhouse and *Teen Wolf'*s Crystal Reed to Morena Baccarin (Homeland, Firefly, a guest spot on The OC) and *Orange is The New Black'*s Taylor Schilling. We all know it should really go to Judy Greer, though, right? Just checking.

Why this is super: That is a really strange list of actresses up for the same part, which either means that producers have no idea what they want, or the part is open enough that different actors can bring different things to it. Either way, we're intrigued. (Of course, we're just a year away from the movie's release, so hurry up and cast that role, producers.)

SUPER IDEA: Astro Boy Becoming the New Iron Man

Apparently, the appetite for superhero movies is such that an Australian company has plans to turn the classic Japanese manga series Astro Boy into the next Iron Man. "We've seen him as a manga, an anime, and an animated movie but we've never seen him as a live-action movie or him as a superhero," producer Zareh Nalbandian told The Hollywood Reporter.

Why this is super: There's a reason we've not seen him as a superhero ... and that's because he's not really a superhero. Astro Boy (Mighty Atom, if we're going by his original name) is an adorable boy robot who fights monsters and saves the world to impress his "dad"—which, admittedly, is kind of Iron Man, only with added adorableness. Hrm. As much as we feel cynical about this turn of events (and sad it might mean we don't see the movie version of Pluto that was tossed around a while back), it just might work...