If Latino Review is correct, a Marvel superhero’s long road to the cineplex will end in 2014, and those of us waiting for Ant-Man will have to wait a little bit longer. Because the website is quoting four sources (FOUR!) that say the mystery Marvel film that will come in 2014 with star Black Panther.

Black Panther was a character created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #52. His real name was T’Challa and was a potentate in the fictional African nation of Wakanda who earned the right to wield a sacred “Panther Totem” that gave him the strength, agility and senses of the cat the item was named after. While based in Africa, he made many trips to America and would eventually marry X-Men member Storm.

These facts, that Black Panther first appeared in Fantastic Four and married a member of the X-Men, that the rights to the character would belong to FOX, who holds the rights to all the anciliary FF andf X-Men characters. But Black Panther’s rights have been free-standing for a long time before either of those franchises.

Talk of a Black Panther film began way back in 1992 as a vehicle for Wesley Snipes. The film became a pet project for Snipes, who would express his hopes start filming the adaptation in numerous interviews for the years that would follow. But the project had a number of false starts over the last 20 years, to the point that it looks like Snipes has aged himself out of the role.

Marvel stated in 2007 that Black Panther was one of the ten properties that it would develop in its distribution partnership with Paramount. In early 2011, Marvel commissioned a Black Panther script from Mark Bailey. And a quick reference to the character appears in IRON MAN 2 on a SHIELD monitor listing superpowered individuals around the world.

Again, this is just a rumor. We probably won’t know anything definite until the San Diego Comic Con. But as it stands right now, I am conflicted about this announcement. I have been a long-time fan of Black Panther through his involvement in the Avengers, and having an African hero would make a strike for diversity in the superhero film landscape. But I can’t help be disappointed that Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man isn’t ready to go yet, and not capitalizing on the strong buzz around some of the characters from The Avengers is a big mistake, especially Hulk, who could be a tentpole franchise for Marvel if they build on what Whedon did in that film.

1. John Carter (Disney, 3,749 Theaters, 132 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Schadenfreude is the pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. I don’t know if a movie can qualify as one of those “others,” but if it can, then this film is a shining example of the term in action. There’s a lot of pre-schadenfreude going on here. A lot of people are actively rooting for this film to fail.

To be fair, the film is calling a lot of the schadenfreude upon itself. It is a $250 million dollar film based on a character celebrating his 100th birthday this year. It has a writer/director with no live-action film experience, an unproven lead, and it’s a sword-and-sorcery concept melded with science-fiction that doesn’t usually set the world on fire.

However, that writer/director is Andrew Stanton, who has two, count’em, two Oscars for his work at Pixar (for Wall*E and Finding Nemo) and four other Oscar nominations.  That unproven lead is Taylor Kitsch, an actor who is playing a lead or co-lead in three huge pictures this year (this one, Battleship in May, and Savages in July), so it’s not that Hollywood doesn’t have faith in him. And that character and concept was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs (of Tarzan fame) who has lasted this long by building generation after generation of fans.

I’m typically negative here, but I’ll tell you what–I’m pulling for this film. I’m rooting for it. I hope it’s great and it pulls the audiences in. Try anti-schadenfreude sometime. It’s fun.

2. Silent House (Open Road Films, 2,124 Theaters, 85 Minutes, Rated R): For a horror film, this one has a lot going for it. It has Elizabeth Olsen, who probably should have gotten an Oscar nomination last year for her work in Martha Marcy May Marlene. And the film was shot as one continuous take–no editing. That is a great technical accomplishment.

However, it is a horror/suspense film. So, not being edited might not be the best thing for the film. You can build a lot of tension with a jump cut here and there. And the plot–a young women is sent to close up her familiy’s lakeside retreat, but while she is there, evil things starts to happen, would be totally conventional if it wasn’t for the continuous shot gimmick.

Who knows? The gimmick might work. But it might not.

3. A Thousand Words (Paramount/Dreamworks, 1,890 Theaters, 91 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Remember a couple months ago, when Tower Heist came out? You couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting some article stating that Eddie Murphy was back to his raunchy comedy film self. Those writers should have held off on publishing those articles until this film came out, because it has more in common with The Nutty Professor than 48 Hours or Trading Places.

Murphy plays a man who screws over a guru and becomes cursed. Whenever he says a word, a leaf falls off a tree in his yard. When the last leaf falls, he dies. The rest of the film involves him trying to make amends as quietly as he can so he can save his own life.

Doesn’t seem as bad as some of Murphy’s worst movies, but that’s not saying much.

1. The Devil Inside (Paramount, 2,285 Theaters, 87 Minutes, Rated R): No, this is not “The INXS Story.” Instead, it is yet another installment in the “exorcism” genre of horror films.

I guess you can look at this horror sub-genre in two ways. The primal fear of losing control of your body and your free will is so powerful that these movies have a built in audience. However, and this is the standpoint I subscribe to, is that every demonic possession film after The Exorcist is a ale substitute. That 1973 film said pretty much all there is to say about the topic, as evidenced by other films in this sub-genre who try to put a “fresh spin” on the subject.

Case in point, this film, which focuses on a group of exorcists who are not connected with the church. In a perfect world, they would drive around in a jury-rigged hearse with a siren that is simply a loop of “The Power of Christ Compels You.” Unfortunately, this is a more somber treatment as the amateur exorcists take on the case of a woman who kill three people at her last, Church-sanctioned exorcism. Good luck!

1. Puss In Boots (Paramount/Dreamworks, @3,800 Theaters, 90 Minutes, Rated PG): Of all the characters from Shrek that could have been spun off into their own film, I suppose Puss in Boots would be the most obvious choice.

In case you know nothing about the twisted, fairy tale world of Shrek (and by now, you are probably the only one), Puss is a mercenary cat voiced by Antonio Banderas who has a strong sense of honor and the ability to gain the upper hand over his foes through sheer cuteness.

This film will act as a prequel to the character’s first appearance in Shrek 2, showing the path Puss took that led him to the point of accepting the contract on Shrek‘s life.

In a small bit of trivia, this film was originally scheduled to open next week, but was moved up. That doesn’t often happen, especially with computer animated films. That could be a good sign.

2. In Time (Fox, @3,000 Theaters, 109 Minutes, Rated PG-13): High-concept Sci-Fi films are a box office crap shoot. Some become hits that spawn multiple sequels (ala The Matrix). some bomb in the theaters only to become cult favorites on the home video markets (ala Blade Runner), some are just unmitigated disasters (see Waterworld). Often, quality plays little into what makes these types of films successful or not (although it probably played a role in Waterworld‘s failure).

This film has a fairly interesting high-concept–humans stop aging at the age of 25, only to die a year later. They can stave off their demise by buying more years–which has become the currency in this society. The rich become immortal and the poor live short pathetic lives. Justin Timberlake plays a man who unexpectedly comes into a great number of years–which cause him to be investigated by the totalitarian police force that monitors this sort of time transfers.

Director Andrew Niccol directed another high concept sci-fi film, Gattaca, which was a well made examination of a world where class distinction was based on genetic perfection. It died a quick death at the box office. Hopefully the same won’t happen here.

3. The Rum Diary (FilmDistrict, @2,100 Theaters, 120 Minutes, Rated R): Johnny Depp appears to be a man who thrives on familiarity. He has made seven films with Tim Burton (and an 8th, Dark Shadows, is well on its way). He’s made four with Gore Verbinski (five if The Lone Ranger ever gets made). And then there’s Hunter S. Thompson.

Depp became friends with Thompson after playing the author in 1998′s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Depp dedicated 2004′s The Libertine to Thompson’s memory, and now he is bringing Thompson’s novel to the screen in this film.

The story involves a journalist working in 1950′s Puerto Rico who has bizarre adventures with the other Americans living there at the time.

1. Footloose (Paramount, 3,300 Theaters, 113 Minutes, Rated PG-13): As Hollywood makes its way through remaking all of its iconic films, we once again return to the 80s dance film genre. After Fame and this one, can a Flashdance remake be far behind?

The plot remains the same. An urban teenage boy moves to a bucolic farm town that has banned dancing. But the boy loves to dance so he leads a rebellion of the town’s youth against the stuffy lawmakers. Who will win? The kids, of course. But if you are at all interested in this film, you probably already knew that.

Another thing that is the same as the original is the use of 20-something actors to play the high school teens in the film, although the 27 year old Danny Wormald and the 23 year old Julianne Hough are younger on average than the then 26 year old Kevin Bacon and then 27 year old Lori Singer.

2. The Thing (Universal, 2,900+ Theaters, 103 Minutes, Rated R): While Hollywood sure like remaking 1980s dance films, the love remaking “classic” horror films. They love it so much that some horror franchises have been remade twice.

This film might seem like a remake of the 1982 Kurt Russell version, itself a remake of 1951′s The Thing From Another World, since it has the same “scientists at an Antarctica research site come across a body snatching alien–fear and paranoia ensues.” However, this film is actually billed as a prequel to the Kurt Russell film. Not that it makes it any more original, but still.

And is it too early to call Mary Elizabeth Winstead the modern day Jamie Lee Curtis? Her career trajectory–horror films mixed with genre flicks and the occational action film or comedy–is remarkably similar to Curtis’. Aptivia people, keep an eye on Winstead. She might just be you spokesperson 20 years from now.

3. The Big Year (Fox, 2,200 Theaters, Rated PG): This is a concept that seems inherently funny–a film based on the world of competetive bird watching. Let that sink in. Competetive. Bird. Watching.

What’s more, it’s based on a true “sport,” which was profiled in the non-fiction book by the same name. A sport that many people take VERY seriously. That is custom-made comedy right there.

That being said, I have reservations about the film. Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black have all been funny a lot of comedies. But they have also been awful in a lot of comedies. One could argue that such a true-life high-concept film doesn’t really need comedic actors. But if it does, it would have been better if they got starts that had a more consistent track record.

1. Captain America: The First Avenger (Paramount, 3,500 Screens, 125 Minutes, Rated PG-13): So, it took 21 years, but Captain America has finally made it to the big screen. The aborted 1990 Captain America starring Matt Salinger in the lead role only received a limited international release before going straight to home video. This one seems a little better.

A scrawny Brooklyn kid during WWII wants to sign up for the army to fight Nazis but is deemed too sickly to be accepted. His dedication catches eye of the powers that be behind a special project to create a legion of genetically altered super-soldiers. The process works and makes him the peak of human potential.

Red Skull is still the villain and he is German but not a Nazi. Apparently, he’s even too “extreme” for Hitler and he starts his own fascist group in Hydra.

The Rocketeer was one of my most favorite comic book films, so I trust Joe Johnson with this. Cap is one of my favorite characters and I can’t wait to see what they do with him this time around.

2. Friends With Benefits (Sony/Screen Gems, 2,926 Theaters, 109 Minutes, Rated R): See New Releases: January 21

1. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (Paramount, 4,011 Theaters, 157 Minutes, Rated PG-13): The first film was, for me, a pleasant surprise. I didn’t go in expecting much, and was solidly entertained. The second film, well, sucked. Too strong a word? You should have seen the ones I decided not to use.

So this one has two easy goals to reach: be better that the last film (since it had a script before it started filming, it’s already pretty much guaranteed to have that one in the bag) and be as good as the first one.

Since most of the franchise’s cast is back with one notable exception (tsk, tsk, tsk, Megan. Calling your director Adolf Hitler while forgetting your producer directed Schindler’s List? Yeah, that’s just asking to get fired.) and the new cast members run the gamut from a Victoria’s Secret model to Dr. McDreamy, from Oscar Winners and nominees (Frances McDormand & John Malkovich) to the two actors with the best small parts from Knocked Up (Ken Jeong & Alan Tudyk), it should be decent. Although there is a Bill O’Reilly cameo, so it’s guaranteed not to be great.

1. Super 8 (Paramount, 3,379 Theaters, 112 Minutes, Rated PG-13): The one thing that you have to give J.J. Abrams credit for, he know how to use suspense to increase viewer interest. Cloverfield, which he produced, must have sold 90% of its tickets because people wanted to see exactly what tore the Statue of Liberty’s head off. And I’m just most of the people buying tickets to this one are doing so to see what exactly is attacking that small town in the trailer.

But will there be pay off for all the hype? Opinions on Cloverfield are mixed depending on who you ask. However, it might be a little different this time around as Abrams also wrote and directed this film. I liked his work on Star Trek, and this one does look intriguing. Showings have already started. As of this writing, it has a 82% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. We’ll see if it lives up to the hype.

2. Judy Moody And The NOT Bummer Summer (Relativity, 2,524 Theaters, 91 Minutes, Rated PG): It’s a time-honored strategy called counter-programming. When a hugely-hyped film is about to open, one that might sell-out quickly yet not be 100% kid-friendly, put out another, more kid-friendly film the same weekend. This way, you have something to send the sprouts too while you see the film you want to see or a family-friendly alternative if you get to the theater too late and the film you want to see is sold out.

The classic example of this is Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which was released on the same day as the first of Tim Burton’s Batman films. It became a rather sizable hit for the reason listed above.

However, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids looked better than this film and Disney spent more than fifty cents promoting it. So, I doubt the

1. Thor (Paramount, 3,955 Theaters, 114 Minutes, Rated PG-13): So, growing up as a comic book reader, Thor was never my thing. He was a big blond guy who spoke in a Shakespearean style and fought trolls and giants. He wasn’t as identifiable to me as Captain America, Spider-Man, the X-Men or, well, any other Marvel hero was.

So, when he was listed as being the next in line for the big screen treatment, I had to shake my head. Yes, I know they are taking steps to lead up to The Avengers film, and even the most rabid Thor hater would say you can’t have The Avengers without Thor being involved. But it still looked like this was setting the stage for Marvel’s first big flop.

However, they have done everthing right with this film, starting with the cast and the director to the script and treatment to the marketing. It went from a film that I would begrudgingly see to a film that I was actually looking forward to seeing. And the advance reviews (83% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes as I write this) make it seem like my changed perceptions are right. Hope the rest of the world agrees.

2. Something Borrowed (Warner Brothers, 2,904 Theaters, 103 Minutes, Rated PG-13): So, there are some who might say that this film would be the definition of perfect counter programing. The perfect alternative to a Nordic man hit people with a hammer would be a romantic comedy about a complicated love triangle. This is, of course, if we ignore the fact that it is a long-haired, hunky, Nordic guy hitting people with a hammer in a hunky way.

The plot is from chick flick Heaven. Rachel is the rather plain girl (you can tell because she is a brunette) who lives in the shadow of her more lustrous best friend Darcy (you can tell because she is a blonde). When Rex comes into play, Rachel finds an immediate attraction, but she is no match for Darcy in the field of pitching woo, and Darcy quickly latches on to Rex. Rachel’s unrequited love becomes an issue as she is asked to become Darcy’s made of honor in her wedding to Rex.

So, yeah. If that seems at all up your alley, well, there you are. Adapted from the Emily Giffen novel.

3. Jump The Broom (TriStar, 2,035 Theaters, 108 Minutes, Rated PG-13): If I were a betting man, which I am, I’d bet that most filmgoers will think that this film is directed by Tyler Perry. It’s not (as you can tell by the lack of Tyler Perry’s… in the title) but it is close enough that it can fool the non-savvy out there.

And it’s not just because it has a predominantly African-American cast featuring a mix of good, experienced actors like Angela Bassett and Paula Patton and relative unknowns like Laz Alonzo. It also features, if trailers are to be believed, Perry’s over-the-top comedy/seering melodrama style and stereotypes not so much addressed but abused.

The film focuses on a wedding between a middle class man and an upper class woman. The nuptuals are in danger as the man’s overprotective mother sets her mind to breaking up the wedding. Hilarity, so they claim, will ensue.

1. Rango (Paramount, 3,700 Theaters, 107 Minutes, Rated PG): So, who out there thought a Gore Verbinski/Johnny Depp reunion would involve the latter playing a lizard living in the animal version of the Old West? Anyone?

Well, that is what is happening this week. And, sorry, if you fantasy was seeing Johnny Depp wearing a chameleon costume, you’re out of luck. He simply provides the voice for this computer animated flick.

It tells the story of a chameleon who finds himself in a lawless town in need of order. Despite all odds, he has to be the one to provide it.

There is a pretty good voice cast joining Depp, so it could be a step above the usual non-Pixar animated fare.  

2. The Adjustment Bureau (Universal, 2,840 Theaters, 99 Minutes, Rated PG-13): So, the premise of this film lends itself to be the kind of mindwarp film that you’d expect from a Terry Gilliam or David Lynch, however the trailer, and perhaps this is because Matt Damon is in it, comes of as a Bourne Identity like chase thriller. Which really doesn’t seem to fit.

Adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick (who has to, by now, rival Ian Fleming and William Shakespeare as the most adapted author around), it feature Matt Damon as politician who falls in love with a ballet dancer played by Emily Blunt. Damon’s character soon finds out that there is a shadowy organization that controls the world and that has other plans for him, plans that don’t involve Blunt’s character.

Yes, it’s a head-twister and a half. But not really an action film. If the powers that be try to make it into one, it just won’t work. Maybe this is why the film, which was supposed to come out late last year, has been delayed until now. 

3. Take Me Home Tonight (Relativity, 2,003 Theaters, 114 Minutes, Rated R): Is there really any reason to be nostalgic for the 1980′s? I came of age during that decade and, really, it wasn’t all that great. But that decade–and all of its pop culture icons–are being strip-mined for all of its nostalgic value. Maybe I’m so negative because I know in ten years they’ll be doing the same thing to the 1990s and we’ll have a bunch of romantic comedies around flannel wearing slackers.

Anyway, this film is follows the typical ’80s format–a nebbishy guy and he dorky friend hit a local house party so the nebbishy guy can finally make a connection with the hottest girl in his class. And, keeping with ’80s tradition, we have two actors in their 30′s playing these characters.

Of course, the characters themselves break from tradition by being in their 20′s and not the teens as would be the typical age group of these kinds of protagonists. the ads had a chuckle or two, so it your 80s nostalgia wasn’t sated with Hot Tub Time Machine, well, here you go.

4. Beastly (CBS Films, 1,952 Theaters, 95 Minutes, Rated PG-13):This film is an updating on the Beauty and the Beast fable, where a arrogant young man is turned into a hideous looking monster by a curse, The only way the curse can be broken is if the beast can find someone who loves him for who he is.

They say the classics never go out of style. But when modernizing it brings in drug addicts and goth girl sorceresses, then it might have gone too far.

It does have Neil Patrick Harris and Mary-Kate Olsen in it, which has to satisfy someone’s twisted fantasy. And also Alex Pettyfer, most recently of I Am Number Four , whose apparent marketing strategy is to throw as many films up on screens in the shortest time possible to see if any stick.