Though I agree with Peter Suderman that Ross Douthat is a bit too hard on the superhero-movie genre, it is hard not to be nervous about the tidal wave headed our way: After a summer promising The Dark Knight, Hellboy II, another take on The Hulk, and the genre-bender Hitchcock, we have Thor, The Avengers, Sub-Mariner, The Green Lantern, Iron Man 2 (already!), and (I kid you not) Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam at varying points in the super-cinema pipeline.
Plus, Captain America, who, if the rumor is to be believed, might be played by Matthew McConaughey. Memo to Hollywood: Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man demonstrated that uncoventional casting could be a triumph; McConaughey as Captain America would demonstrate that it can also be a tragedy. Unless, that is, this is some subversive re-telling in which Captain America mostly hangs out on the beach getting stoned and hitting on chicks and later wakes up on a strange couch wondering where he left his shield.
In other summer blockbuster news, Vulture reports that Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford teamed up against George Lucas and only let him ruin Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull one-third as much as he ruined the Star Wars prequels.
--Christopher Orr