Reading the line-up for the blockbusters of Summer 2012, I get a little nugget of excitement in the bottom of my stomach that I haven’t felt in quite some time. As of late, I’ve been very vocal about the fact that I’ve been feeling, well, utter disappointment (not to be dramatic) with the current state of summer blockbusters. Is it too much to ask for something reminiscent of a Lethal Weapon, a Beverly Hills Cop or a Die Hard?! And why hasn’t any alien movie been able to outdo the awesomeness that was Independence Day?! Well, I’m not saying that Summer 2012 has all the answers or even ten hands-down gonna-be-hits, but I am saying that there’s a lot of hope this year: hope that this summer will be different, hope that we will be granted a new John McClane-esque action star, hope that this summer we will finally be given a movie that can rival the epic-ness that was Independence Day. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Obama, it’s that it never hurts to have a little hope. And with that note, please queue the list of Summer 2012′s Ten Most Anticipated (and hopefully great) Movies.

1. Joss Whedon’s The Avengers out May 4

I like to think that Joss Whedon’s take on the Marvel comic, The Avengers, came about because some intern somewhere dared to ask the question that someone asks each year, “What Marvel comic book hero are we going to make into a hit movie this year?” Leave it to someone as skilled as Joss Whedon to see the bigger picture. “A movie about one hero?! Not in my town,” he might say. “Let’s do a movie about them all.” And so, we have The Avengers, a movie about all the Marvel comic book heroes. Doesn’t get any more blockbuster-y than that, right? Well, this is especially the case when considering the cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, and Stellan Skarsgard. Have you heard of them? Well, if that cast and that plot does not a summer blockbuster make, then I’m not sure what does.