3. The Silver Screen Supremacy
In some ways, making this point feels like beating a dead horse. We all know that comic book movies are anything but fringe projects these days. Nolans Dark Knight Trilogy and Marvels Phase One slate of films are some of the highest grossing movies of all time, and the trend of heroic box office dominance only looks to continue with the release of Iron Man 3 in May and Man of Steel in June. Now that many of the classic heavy hitters have been deployed to the silver screen, its about time for secondary characters to begin doing the same. With a more-than-solid foundation established, Marvel Studios can afford to move on some potentially non-blockbuster projects. We can see this happening to a lesser degree with the planned releases of Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man in Marvels Phase 2. Its also worth a mention that many of the not-so-mainstream superhero movies that have premiered over the last several years (think Kick-Ass and Watchmen, for example) have done reasonably well. All these successes provide a great platform from which studios can feel comfortable taking chances on smaller films and expanding their cinematic universes while doing so.