With Iron Man blowing up the box office last weekend, Marvel stepped up Monday to announce more upcoming plans for their instantly successful production company Marvel Studios. Iron Man was the first movie produced by Marvel independently, and now we have a list of everything else they have in store for us.

First, they’re taking a break in 2009. They’ve still got The Incredible Hulk to be released this summer, but after that they’re taking a breath. In 2010 though, things start rolling again with the planned release of Iron Man 2 in 2010. They’ll follow it with Thor, released that same summer on June 4, 2010. In 2011 they’re slotting in two more superhero films, all centered around an Avengers theme. On May 6, 2011 we’ll get The First Avenger: Captain America followed simply by The Avengers in July of 2011.

I’ve never been much of an Avengers fan, but kicking off the Avengers team with two, apparently, connected movies in the same year is a novel approach. It’s something that hasn’t really been done before. Suddenly I’m interested. On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure about the cinematic appeal of a character like Thor, but after the success of Iron Man, for now Marvel deserves the benefit of doubt.