Movie Power Rankings: 'The Avengers' fight their way to No. 1

Think of how excited you were for "Iron Man," and then "Iron Man 2," then "Thor," then "Captain America." Now, add all that excitement up into one super-powerful Voltron of excitement. That's how you should be feeling about next year's "The Avengers." These new photos -- showing RDJ as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Cap, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow (WOW) -- put the Marvel epic back at the top of the list of reasons why moviegoers are excited.

As for the rest of this week's list…

October 6, 2011

1. "The Avengers" (Last week: Not ranked)

New pix of the super crew, plus a choice spot at the upcoming New York Comic Con will stoke fans' fires.

2. "Man of Steel" (Last Week: No. 2)

New pics reveal Russell Crowe as Superman Sr., Jor-El, the Dad of Steel.

3. "War Horse" (Last week: No. 6)

Oscar prognosticators are champing at the bit to see Steven Spielberg's WWI equine drama, and a new Euro trailer reveals a little more about the film itself. it opens in the U.K. this month.

4. "The Adventures of Tintin" (Last week: Not ranked)

Spielberg's other Christmas movie also has a new international trailer. And it's AWESOME.

5. "One Shot" (Last week: Not ranked)

Whether you like the idea of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher or not, you just gotta love the thought of crazy German director Werner Herzog ("Grizzly Man," "Aguirre: The Wrath of God") as "One Shot's" chief baddie.

6. "The Hobbit" (Last week: Not ranked)

"Lost" vet Evangeline Lilly is learning Elvish for Peter Jackson's epic "Lord of the Rings" prequel. More like "The Hot-bit," amirite?

7. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1" (Last week: No. 1)

Robert Pattinson's big 'round-the-world promo trip is ready to roll. Follow him -- but from a safe distance, please. Don't crowd him.

8. "The Dark Knight Rises" (Last week: No. 2)

As production moves to NYC (this is a long shoot!), new tidbits continue to trickle in.

9. "Hunger Games" (Last week: No. 12)

Lionsgate just released cool new posters, to represent each of the film/book's 12 districts of the fractured dystopian world of "Hunger Games" -- and get us even more excited for the film.

10. "Fast Six" (Last week: Not ranked)

Jason Statham may be signing up for parts 6 and 7 of the "Fast and Furious" franchise. This series is turning into a premature "Expendables."

11. "Django Unchained" (Last week: No. 7)

Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" driver, Kurt Russell, is in! Kevin Costner who?

12. J.J. Abrams mystery project (Last week: Not ranked)

Abrams always keeps us guessing just what the heck his new films/shows are about (Remember how people thought "Cloverfield" was actually an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation? Or when people thought "Super 8" was a "Cloverfield" spinoff?), and this future film is no different.

13. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (Last week: Not ranked)

Tom Cruise will be seen as Ethan Hunt nearly a week before the scheduled Dec. 21 release date -- but only only in IMAX theaters. Plus, director Brad Bird ("The Iron Giant," "The Incredibles") revealed that at least 25 minutes were filmed in IMAX.

14. "Perry Mason" (Last week: Not ranked)

Robert Downey Jr. -- basically a national treasure at this point -- will take a break from Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes to step into Raymond Burr's shoes as the fast-talking L.A. attorney in a new film version of the Erle Stanley Gardner books. This judge's verdict: Guilty!...of sounding awesome.

15. Disney/Pixar 3D (Last week: Not ranked)

After the success of the 3D re-issue of "The Lion King" ($80 million and counting), four films are following suit: "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters Inc."

Movie Power Rankings appears weekly on HitFix. See last week's rankings here.