Over the last decade and change, the superheroic exploits of neon gods in spandex and armor have become one of our most reliable sources of blockbuster entertainment.  Ever since Bryan Singer's X-Men and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man ushered in the modern age of the comic book movie, the Marvel Comics stable of iconic heroes have dominated the popular culture and multiplexes across the country.  Now, even with comic book adaptations having saturated our sensibilities, The Avengers is something truly unprecedented.

It's the event movie towards which Marvel Studios and its head honcho Kevin Feige have been building since the studio's first feature, 2008's Iron Man.  It's culmination of years of planning and ambitious, never-before-attempted franchise cross-pollination between The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and both Iron Man films.  It's also an outstanding standalone piece of pop entertainment, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon ably providing thrills and juggling characters as writer-director.

Those characters Whedon so impressively juggles are played by an all-star cast, each of them capable of carrying their own franchise and many of them having done just that.  IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick was amongst the global entertainment journalists present at the Los Angeles press day for The Avengers.  Held in LA the day after the film's premiere, the press conference included Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Clark Gregg, and Cobie Smulders, all of whom were happy to discuss making the film together.

Though the Hulk has had two separate theatrical features, Marvel's Gamma-irradiated green behemoth has not yet managed to connect with audiences on the level of, say, Iron Man or Captain America.  Bruce Banner and his rage-fueled id monster alter ego play a supporting role in this Friday's big ensemble blockbuster The Avengers, with Mark Ruffalo taking up Banner's mantle.  The response to this new take on the character has been strong enough that we might see yet another Hulk movie in the next few years.

While we've all got our collective undies in a twist over The Avengers, Marvel is, of course, looking to the future.  The studio has already set Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 as the first two features following the big ensemble team-up.  Both of those are hitting in 2013, and they'll be followed by two mysterious Marvel features set for April 4th and May 16th of 2014.  It's long been assumed that one of those two as-yet unknown features will be a sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger.  Today, Neal McDonough, who played Dum Dum Dugan in that film, has supported that assumption, and also added to the notion that we might see Dum Dum team up with Nick Fury in an eventual SHIELD movie.

If Marvel Studios were a person, and you ran into that person on the street today, you'd probably be like, "Oh hey, Marvel.  Haven't seen you too much since Captain America: The First Avenger.  Nice work on that Avengers trailer though.  So what's up with you these days?"  The gender-nonspecific person named Marvel would reply, "Ugh, Thor 2 is busting my entirely-figurative balls all the time, but you know I can't really say much," because he/she generally plays some stuff pretty close to the vest.  In an awkward pause during the ensuing conversation, though, Marvel would casually mention changing the release date of a mysterious project, then jump right to The Avengers being a 3D release, which you've long suspected to be the case.

So Marvel Studios has not been having an easy time getting its Thor sequel off the ground, what with the public troubles setting a director for the second adventure of Asgard's favorite son.  Having already moved the release date once, the project recently lost Patty Jenkins, who was set to become the first female director of a major superhero event movie (Lexi Alexander previously directed 2008's Punisher: War Zone, but that was a smaller, grittier affair).  Now, this could all be overblown rumor-mongering wrapped around a thin, gossipy thread of gender politics, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, the franchise's biggest star, Natalie Portman, is said to be unhappy with Jenkins's departure from Thor 2, a departure that may not have been as simple as it seemed.

Movies, be they tiny independent tales or epic superhero dust ups, tend to very much need directors.  They also need screenwriters.  Both of these necessities are a bit problematic for Thor 2, the third movie from Marvel Studios to feature Chris Hemsworth as the temperamental Asgardian deity.  The project has now seen two potential directors come and go after the Shakespearean behind Thor opted out, and now the folks at Marvel have apparently narrowed the replacement candidates down to two television veterans.  Not only that, but there are three would be screenwriters who just might take over scripting duties.

Marvel Studios has an ambitious plan to release two Marvel movies a year after The Avengers hits next summer, but one of the two follow-ups for 2013 is having a bit of trouble finding and keeping a director, which could potentially cause a problem or two with that ambitious plan.  Thor 2 is set to be the second post-The Avengers effort, following Iron Man 3 with an already announced Thanksgiving 2013 release date.  Yet the the project is no figuratively without a head, as director Patty Jenkins has exited roughly two months after being confirmed to helm the Asgardian sequel.

Iron Man remains the most bankable property in Marvel Studios' stable of superheroes, and as such, the next two summers will contain no shortage of hot armored action.  Robert Downey Jr. next dons the armor as part of the ensemble in The Avengers, and the summer after that will see his next solo adventure, with Iron Man 3 dropping on May 3, 2013.  Production on the second sequel will take place in Wilmington, North Carolina, and if any inhabitants of that fair city and state want to be their face to part of a crowd in the cinematic Marvel Universe, then their time has finally arrived.

This morning Disney made it known that Thor 2, the sequel to this last summer's big Asgardian adventure and the second post-The Avengers feature from Marvel Studios, would be vacating its original July 26, 2013 release date and would instead drop on November 16, 2013.  While the project has long had Chris Hemsworth set to reprise his role as the wielder of Mjolnir, it has not yet had an official director since Kenneth Branagh isn't returning, which is, you know, relatively important.  Today, Marvel Studios has officially announced that Patty Jenkins will occupy the director's chair on Thor 2.

Over this last summer, Marvel Studios had its second two-movie summer following the one-two punch of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk back in 2008.  The first of 2011's Marvel movies, Thor, managed to introduce the Asgardian setting and cosmic elements to the cinematic universe without fuss, which should allow the titular Thunder God played by Chris Hemsworth to integrate nicely into Joss Whedon's The Avengers. 

For 2013, Marvel was planning another double-decker summer, with Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 both sating our need for seasonal superheroics, but now, it seems Disney and Marvel have pushed Thor 2 back about three and a half months to Thanksgiving.