By Steve Gorman Buddhist May 5, 7:31 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Buoyed by the smash successof "Iron Man" over the weekend, Marvel Studios on Mondayannounced plans for a progress of superhero properties, includingan "Iron Man" supplement ordered for Apr 2010.

"Iron Man 2" module be followed in June 2010 by thebig-screen adjustment of added of Marvel's favourite funny bookcharacters, "Thor," the mighty, hammer-wielding hero supported onthe Germanic simulacrum of the aforementioned name, the consort said.

"Captain America" and "The Avengers" are incoming in distinction forthe flavour of 2011.

The nearly $99 meg inaugural weekend of "Iron Man,"Marvel's prototypal full self-financed production, gave Hollywood'ssummer flick flavour a solidified move and ordered the initiate for arobust earnings inform from the studio's joint parent,Marvel Entertainment Inc.

Drawing mostly approbatory reviews, "Iron Man" stars RobertDowney Jr. as billionaire industrialist and hedonist Tony Stark,who wrestles with a mid-life crisis as he invents a high-techsuit of fit that transforms him into a superhero.

Kevin Feige, nous of creation for Marvel Studios, saidDowney would convey in the supplement as conception of his three-picturedeal for the franchise. Feige said the precocious person deservedmuch of the assign for the film's panoptic appeal.

"It's enthusiastic to wager a sold-out conference that you undergo ismade up of funny aggregation fans and grouping who had never feature an'Iron Man' funny in their life," he said.

Marvel shares soared nearly 10 proportionality on weekday as thecompany reportable first-quarter profits above mart estimatesand upraised its 2008 business outlook.

Costing most $150 meg to make, "Iron Man" wasdistributed by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures studio, whichfooted the $75 meg marketing calculate for the flick andreceived a insipid gift for its efforts.

The aforementioned composing module administer for "Iron Man 2" and anupcoming flick supported on "Captain America," the iconiccrime-fighter created in 1941.

That film, today named "The First Avenger: Captain America,"is slated for promulgation in May 2011, to be followed by "TheAvengers," supported on a aggroup of Marvel heroes that has includedIron Man, Thor and Captain America, in July of that year.

'IRON MAN' PROVES BOX OFFICE METTLE

An adjustment of Marvel's "Ant-Man" case also is indevelopment. But with the desirable flavour flick promulgation datesfor 2009 already substantially reserved by another studios, Marvel has noself-produced films regular to unstoppered incoming year.

Instead, the consort said it would "focus its tending onmaximizing the success of an 'Iron Man' supplement and the launchof 'Thor' in the flavour of 2010."

The test Friday-through-Sunday account for "Iron Man" cameto $98.6 million, downbound slightly from the $100 million-plusstudio judge reportable on Sunday.

That ease easily exceeded the entry weekends of sequels totwo another impact Marvel franchises — "Spider-Man 2" and "X2:X-Men United" ($88.2 meg and $85.6 million, respectively).

"Iron Man" also ranks as the second-biggest husbandly debutever for a non-sequel movie, a achievement ordered by the first"Spider-Man" with $114.8 meg in May 2002. "Spider-Man 3"stands as the crowning flick inaugural of every instance — $151 meg inU.S. and river listing income its prototypal weekend in May 2007.

"Iron Man" also evidenced its planetary mettle, grossingnearly $97 meg from external openings in 57 external marketsand claiming the No. 1 incase duty blot in most of those.

The rattling incoming Marvel flick slated for promulgation is "TheIncredible Hulk," headlike to theaters incoming period as a remakebased on the oversized, naif brute originally brought to thebig concealment in a 2003 advertizement loser directed by Ang Lee.

Universal Pictures, an NBC Universal organisation dominated byGeneral Electric Co, module dispense the newborn film, as it didthe prototypal "Hulk."

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Osterman)