Man of Steel Jor-El2012 will be a tough act to follow in the world of comic book movies, with Joss Whedon really setting the bar in the spring with The Avengers, followed by Christopher Nolan’s immense franchise-closer in the summer with The Dark Knight Rises. Nonetheless, 2013 is looking very promising for the genre, with Kick-Ass 2, The Wolverine, and Man of Steel all awesome contenders in the coming months. The latest issue of Empire has brought a handful of new images from all three, via CBM, giving us a few great new images from the upcoming blockbusters.

Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel is first up on the slate, arriving this June, with Henry Cavill taking centre stage as Superman / Clark Kent / Kal-El, himself. An amazing full-length trailer surfaced late last year, and our anticipation couldn’t be higher. Starring alongside him is a brilliant cast, headed up by Michael Shannon as General Zod, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, and Kevin Costner.

Next up is Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2, arriving slightly later in June. The film will return us to the world originally brought to the big screen by Matthew Vaughn, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz reprising their leading roles as Kick-Ass and Hit Girl once more. We caught the first official image with Jim Carrey and Taylor-Johnson earlier in the month, and we can’t wait to see more.

And finally, James Mangold’s anticipated The Wolverine will be one of the last big blockbusters of the summer season. Hugh Jackman returns to the role we all know and love him for, following a phenomenal performance in Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. We’ve seen a few images from the film already, and the main one below gives a great new side to a suit-wearing Logan, still bearing his claws.

Man of Steel will be released on 14th June in the UK and US. Kick-Ass 2 will follow shortly after on 28th June in the US and 19th July in the UK. And finally comes The Wolverine, with its UK and US release date set for 26th July. 2012 will indeed be a tough act to follow, but there’s a lot of potential here. It’s going to be another awesome year for the genre.