Five thousand years of Western Civilization have all led up to the summers of 2011 and 2012.

For comic book fans, we are headed to the Golden Age of cinema. Starting next year, Marvel is creating the perfect storm by releasing Thor in March, Captain America: The First Avenger in July and then assembling them together with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man into the 2012 Avengers mega-blockbuster the following year. And that franchise will in turn spawn even more spin-offs: Black Widow, Nick Fury, Ant-Man and the Hulk (again) are all waiting their turn.

Other Marvel characters don’t have to wait that long to get ready for their close-up. Spider-Man is being rebooted for 2012 while both Daredevil and the Fantastic Four will get the same treatment shortly after that. X-Men: First Class is in session in May, Wolverine gets his sequel after that and Deadpool will get to run off his mouth…

… as soon as star Ryan Reynolds wraps up Green Lantern 2, which was green-lit (pardon the pun) by Warner Brothers—the parent company of DC Comics—even before the first one hits theaters next summer.

And the studio isn’t resting until the entire JLA get their due. A Flash movie has been fast-tracked (again, sorry) and Zack Snyder has been tapped to direct the next Superman film. Director Christopher Nolan will return to Gotham for 2012’s follow-up to The Dark Knight, the third highest grossing movie of all time.

But wait, there’s more!

Mark Millar’s Nemesis and Kick Ass 2 are in the works, Green Hornet gets the Seth Rogen treatment in January, while Cowboys and Aliens lands later in the year. We’ll soon be able to pass judgment on Karl Urban’s version of Judge Dredd. There’s a 300 prequel marching towards the multiplex—as soon as Frank Miller is done with the actual comic book, but that might be delayed because he’s also busy with Sin City 2.

But enjoy it all now, because it feels like we’re heading towards a final Crisis where mainstream moviegoers are going to get sick of all that spandex.

“It’s like trying to plug in ten years of movies in two years—where do you go from here?” asks Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for