What hit in 2011:  "Thor"

 

What's next: "The Avengers," "Snow White and the Huntsman," "The Cabin In The Woods," "Red Dawn," "Thor 2"

 

Lowdown:  By far the riskiest of the Marvel movies, just in terms of audiences buying it, was "Thor," and a big part of what made it work was the easy charm of the absurdly proportioned Hemsworth.  He's going to be fun to watch bouncing off of the manic Robert Downey Jr. and the earnestly old-fashioned Chris Evans in "The Avengers," and he brings some heat for his part in what Universal hopes is the first film in a "Snow White" trilogy opposite Kristen Stewart.  Genre fans who like a little more red meat than you get from a Marvel comic are going to love him in the Drew Goddard/Joss Whedon genre head game "Cabin In The Woods," and with all this heat being generated, it seems unlikely 2012 will end without someone finally releasing his "Red Dawn" as well.  With his brother Liam set to conquer the world in "Hunger Games" in 2012 as well, it's a good time to be a Hemsworth.