The year 2013 was a pretty good one for comics fans, with blockbusters like "Iron Man 3" and "Thor: The Dark World" cementing the superhero as king of Hollywood — and comic books as the source of choice for moviemakers. Which means 2014 is only going to be better. With the standard caveat that projected release dates may change, let's take a look at the big blockbuster superhero movies Hollywood does so well.

First up is "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," scheduled for April 4, and based on the 2005 story line by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting. Spoiler alert: That story line returned Cap's WWII sidekick James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes to comics after he was thought dead for roughly 40 years. Bucky was deceased for so long, and his death seemed so irreversible, that when a comic-book character died fans used to ask "Is he 'dead' [meaning he will likely come back] or is he 'Bucky-dead'? [meaning he won't]." Now that phrase will need amendment.

Anyway, the movie will do the same for the Bucky character played by Sebastian Stan in "Captain America: The First Avenger," who returns in "Winter Soldier" as a brainwashed, artificially long-lived, Russian assassin.

In addition to Chris Evans doing another star turn as the Star-Spangled Avenger, the movie promises big roles for Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) and The Falcon (Anthony Mackie).

Next is "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (May 2). Not only will the movie introduce classic Spidey villains Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Electro (Jamie Foxx), but supposedly Sony is planning to expand the Spider-Man franchise to movies based on related characters, like Venom, who has already had one big-screen appearance ("Spider-Man 3," 2007).

Two weeks after that, Fox will premiere "X-Men: Days of Future Past." The movie will blend the first three X-Men movies with the new version that began in 2011 with "X-Men: First Class."

Finally, Marvel will premiere "Guardians of the Galaxy" in August. It's based on one of their oddest properties, a strange collection of space-based characters often played for humor, including Star-Lord (a cynical Earth-alien hybrid), Drax ("the Destroyer"), Gamora ("the deadliest woman in the galaxy"), Rocket Raccoon (a gun-loving, intelligent space rodent) and Groot (a sentient, semi-verbal tree).

Look for other comics-based films, like "Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For" (Aug. 22), based on writer/artist Frank Miller's series of noir graphic novels set in the fictional city. "Hercules: The Thracian Wars," based on a graphic novel by Steve Moore and Admira Wijaya, is scheduled for July 25. That's not to be confused with the recently released "The Legend of Hercules," which is not based on any comics.