3 Months To Die For In 2012

Between May 4th and July 20th next year, I may actually become the latest victim of spontaneous combustion. Here's why:

May 4th - The Avengers movie debuts, which I've quite frankly been waiting nearly my entire life for. I started reading that comic series at the age of 8 or so, just as the legendary Kree-Skrull War storyline was ramping up. One of my favourite single issues of all-time would have to be The Avengers # 93, the double-sized, all new Roy Thomas / Neal Adams masterpiece that still amazes me today. Rumours continue to abound that Joss Whedon's 2012 film featuring Earth's Mightiest Heroes will in fact involve an invasion by those self-same shape-shifting Skrulls that I first became acquainted with back in my youth.

June 8th - Ridley Scott returns - maybe - to the Alien universe he introduced us to in 1979, with next year's Prometheus. Is it a prequel to that seminal film that ushered us out of the 70s (and me out of my childhood)? Or is it another take on the original? Little is known, and I try to avoid reading much about Prometheus anyway, as I'd prefer to be surprised. Scott's such a great director - Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down - that this project seems like a slam dunk for Sci Fi Movie of the Year. I've been waiting since 1986 for a worthy Alien movie to follow the first two, and I'm actually hopeful that this may be it!

July 20th - The best superhero movie of all-time, and one of the most enjoyable films - period - was The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was obviously a huge reason for that, but director Christopher Nolan also had a lot to do with it. Batman Begins, which started Nolan's Bat-trilogy, was excellent in its own right. Therefore there's every reason to expect an incredible finale when Christian Bale reprises his Batman role one last time under Nolan's direction, for The Dark Knight Rises. I didn't think they'd be able to top Batman Begins, and then they blew it out of the water with The Dark Knight. Can they possibly improve upon TDK? I'm ready to believe that maybe they can, with TDKR!