Also hitting cinemas recently was Captain America – one of the oldest and most iconic characters in the Marvel Universe, who has a shield tossing history that dates back to the super-patriot’s first appearance in 1941.

Despite his fame, the super-soldier/flag-waver was always going to be a difficult cinematic sell, but thankfully director Joe Johnston weaved in some neat plot devices (Cappy as a propaganda poster boy) into the old-fashioned boy's-own adventuring. A spot-on Chris Evans, finding the pathos behind the boy scout, also deserves credit.

With less than a year until The Avengers assembles in cinemas (4 May 2012, fact fans), it's hard to believe that Marvel was once an underdog in this sector. That's not to say director Joss Whedon doesn't have his work cut out wrangling Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L Jackson into one epic event pic.

Despite pap shots and videos leaking from the set, The Avengers has been kept pretty tightly under wraps. We know it's going to be huge. The question is just how superheroically huge it's going to be...

Negotiating the re-appearances of these major characters (and the stars that play them) across sequels and crossovers will be one of the most ambitious industry balancing acts of the 21st Century. But if Marvel pull it off, the future of the comic-book movie may well prove to be truly indestructible.