Yes, it’s been a slow news weekend…

In a story picked up by PeliBlog, Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, was recently asked as to whether he sees any of the DC films as being rivals to the recent spate of Marvel/Disney productions. The actor was promoting RUSH at the time, and simply responded, “We’re just winning, aren’t we? That’s not really a rivalry.” As arrogant as the Son of Odin himself…

Whilst Hemsworth may have a point in one sense, and many viewers are still tarnished by the likes of SUPERMAN RETURNS and GREEN LANTERN, he seems to be overlooking one small thing: Zack Snyder’s recent MAN OF STEEL outperformed both CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and Hemsworth’s THOR. You then have to take into account the ridiculous business that Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy did, and maybe Marvel shouldn’t be quite so cock-sure.

For all of MAN OF STEEL’s faults, the film still took in a lot of dollars, and that’s the bottom line to the studios. As a result, Warner Brothers are now moving forward with a MAN OF STEEL sequel – likely titled BATMAN VS SUPERMAN at this point – which should bring in the major fat cash. Whether this sequel is actually any good, the fact that audiences get to see Batman and Superman together on the big screen for the first time is enough to guarantee a huge payday for the WB. Added to that, it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ll see some sort of Justice League film down the line at some point, too.

With Marvel’s big cash cows being the IRON MAN series and AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, it will be interesting to see how much cash their upcoming films will take. At this point, Marvel and Robert Downey Jr. have both stated that there will be no further films in the IRON MAN franchise, leaving AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON as the great financial hope. That said, maybe the home release of the Phase One films, accompanied by association with The Avengers team and the wider Marvel world, will see the likes of THOR: THE DARK WORLD and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER do huge numbers.

It’s certainly set to be an interesting few years, both for the studios and for the fans. As ever, Starburst will be here with our fingers firmly on the pulse to give you the latest.

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