Captain America was released on DVD yesterday - and most fans of the comic book (and non-fans) received Joe Johnston's film pretty well. Even I grudgingly admitted that Marvel's evil campaign to take over Hollywood has remained consistently decent (Hulk movies and Iron Man 2 aside), with both Mr. USA and Thor proving a heck of a lot of fun.

But if you want to see a really impressive interpretation of The Avengers' most patriotic member, try this:

X-Men: First Class hit first place at the UK Box Office with an opening of £5.4m. 

That sounds pretty groovy for a 60s-set mutant prequel, but it's actually the weakest of the franchise since the original X-Men back in 2000. Arriving without any audience awareness of the series, Bryan Singer's comic book movie opened on £4.8m - Fox would have been hoping for slightly more evolved figures by now.

With the other X-Men films taking between £6m and £7m on their debuts, Matthew Vaughn's excellent blockbuster is quite a way behind. Still, it has far more positive buzz than Brett Ratner's X-Men 3 or 2009's Wolverine outing, which may keep its powers strong enough to claw together a stronger total.

First Class almost took second place in the UK Top Ten thanks to The Hangover II. Even with a 15 certificate and a lot of backlash, Todd Phillips' sequel, which took just under £4m in its second weekend, has already passed the £20m barrier. 

That's a horrendously high amount for a 2D comedy - in fact, it's earned more than three times the £7.7m The Hangover had totalled up over two weeks in 2009. Feel free to bash your head against a brick wall at any point in the next seven days.

Thor thundered ahead at the UK Box Office this week, holding on the top spot after its £5m debut. 

Marvel's superhero lost around 40% of last week's takings, but has hammered together a £9.5m running total, which will keep the makers of The Avengers happy for now.

Fast Five is right behind the God of Thunder with £1.6m stashed firmly in the boot. After three weeks on release, Vin Diesel's racer has accelerated past the £13.5m gross from the last Fast and Furious film, making it the fastest and most furious in the whole series. Bald men up and down the country will be sweating profusely with excitement.

Insidious, meanwhile, is in a strong third position, boasting a teeny 9% drop as people begin to spread the word about the Saw director's horror film. It's almost at the £4m mark in total, but expect this one to reach a fair bit higher than that.

All the three holdovers held back the weekend's new releases. Emerging at the head of the pack is Water for Elephants, the watery film about elephants and Robert Pattinson. Thanks to previews from Wednesday onwards, R-Patz beat Saoirse Ronan's Hanna to the UK Top Ten's fourth spot. But we all know she could take him in a proper fight.

Thor hammered its way to the top of the UK Box Office last weekend to take home £5.45m. 

Marvel were hoping that the Norse god of thunder would strike hard in the UK, given that Thor's the cornerstone for all upcoming Avengers releases.

To avoid any threat of the Royal Wedding distracting cinema-goers, they promptly stuck three days of previews on the front of the film, picking up £2.3m from Monday, Wednesday and Thursday combined. Include the bank holiday Monday on the other side of the weekend and Thor smashes clean past the £6m mark. 

It's a convincing show from Kenneth Branagh's superhero, one that matches the results from the less hirsute Fast and Furious Five on the weekend before. It's no surprise, then, that the Vin Diesel car flick is still speeding along in second place.

With a drop of less than 40%, Fast Five has a current total of £11m odd, which almost equals the £13.5m final gross from the fourth Fast and Furious film in 2009. No wonder Justin Lin is gearing up for a sixth.

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings
Certificate: 12A
Trailer

A big blonde guy with a massive hammer? Yep, that’s Thor (Hemsworth), a hunky cape-wearing fellow known to most people as the Norse God of Thunder. This is the Marvel version of the myth, complete with a one-eyed Anthony Hopkins and a whole bunch of adverts for The Avengers. But forget Marvel’s upcoming superhero slate: Thor is a thundering success on its own.

"How could you eat entire box of Pop Tarts and still be hungry?"

I have been waiting for years for someone to mention Pop Tarts in a summer blockbuster. YEARS. (On a basic Pop Tart-eating level, I am more more manly than Thor.)

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins
Certificate: TBC
Release Date: Friday 29th April 2011

Thor spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the centre of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

"It's not easy to do what you did... You made my men look like a bunch of minimum wage mal cops."

It's a lot like the Comic-Con footage shown before (no surprise given it's a mere fraction of the length) but at the end of the day, it's got a blonde dude (Chris Hemsworth), Natalie Portman, and a massive hammer. What more could you want? Anthony Hopkins in a golden eyepatch, perhaps? You've got that as well. The world-melding plot of Kenneth Branagh's 3D take on the comic book figure of legend may not set your manly eyebrows on fire, but it's got a potential to at least be different to Iron Man 3.

Can Kenneth Branagh pull this off after the glut of superhero movies we've had to put up with? It's not looking completely impossible judging by this new Thor trailer. It's out on Friday 29th April. Read on for the full video.

What do Edward Norton and Eric Bana have in common? Neither of them played The Incredible Hulk. Not really. They played Bruce Banner and left the effects guys to do the rest. But not Mark Ruffalo. He's confirmed that he'll be doing all of it. Through motion capture.

Yes, Mark will be putting on his mo-cap to play the scientist's angry green alter ego for Marvel's upcoming Avengers movie. He told NY Mag why he was so excited about his role in Joss Whedon's geek-tastic comic book crossover:

"No one's ever played the Hulk exactly, they've always done CGI. They're going to do the Avatar stop-action, stop-motion capture. So I'll actually play the Hulk. That'll be fun."

He also commented about his inspiration for the role stemming from the old TV series: "I really love the first TV version of it, the Bill Bixby one. I'm gonna shoot for that a little bit. He was an everyman in it. He's always on the run and trying to find love. It's really a sympathetic character, before he turns into the Hulk and fucks everything up."

Ruffalo then confirmed that his Hulk would definitely be in 3D: "I hope I don't bulge in anyone's face, that's all I have to say."

Natalie Portman has been offered the lead role in Gravity. Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi film has suffered quite a bit over the past year, with Angelina Jolie playing hokey cokey with the casting director until eventually she got bored.

Co-written by Alfonso and his son Jonas Cuaron, Gravity focuses on a female astronaut who gets stranded in space when debris wipes out the rest of her crew. Produced by Warner Bros, the reportedly $80m film has gone through a few potential lead actresses, including Scarlett Johansson.

Now, though, Portman looks set to get the part. After impressing audiences with her turn in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, Cuaron would be an idiot to let her slip away from his space suit. With Robert Downey Jr locked into a supporting role, shooting will start next January, in time for Downey Jr to fly off and make Sherlock 2. And The Avengers, of course.

With Natalie Portman's star officially rising way out of orbit, expect to hear confirmation of this one very soon.