So, is there some kind of comic book movie out this weekend or what?

Yes, that’s right. Mighty Marvel Comics has unleashed one of its least-likely-to-star-in-a-hit-movie characters into his own hit movie: Thor. Word of mouth seems strong, box office seems stronger than Vin Diesel and by Odin’s beard we’ll probably be looking at Thor II and Son Of Thor before too long.

(In Son Of Thor, Thor’s misunderstood teenaged son swings his mighty, but lesser, hammer in Manhattan around a cast of 90210/Gossip Girl lookalikes while trying to find love with that year’s Kristen Stewart.)

Can Edgar Wright’s long-awaited Ant-Man movie be far behind?

Marvel does a great job with their movies - they have a similar look and style, they churn them out with the punctuality of a European train, and they’re either profitable or wildly profitable.

Even Ghost Rider is getting a sequel.

And DC, whose parent company has been in the movie business since 1903, (yes, that’s 108 years) and making movies since 1918 (yes, that's 93 years), has trouble churning out regular Batman and Superman movies, and even the success of them doesn’t lift up their lesser characters. They can’t even extend the franchises. Catwoman anyone?

The pressure’s on now for bragging rights to the 2011 super-hero movie sweepstakes. Marvel’s staked it out early with a win with Thor. DC’s going to try to land the knockout punch with Green Lantern.

But even if GL rules the summer, does anyone realistically envision a movie starring The Flash or J'onn J'onzz?

And if both Thor and Green Lantern are big hits, which studio do you think will get their sequel out sooner?

More importantly, based on the goodness of Thor, how jacked are we all to see Joss Whedon's Avengers movie now?

[Artwork: Thor, © Marvel; character created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby]