Marvel Studios has adjusted its schedule a tad and set up their slate through 2012. This hints that Marvel has most of its game pieces right where they want them, allowing them to solidify certain dates for the next three summers in a row.

The biggest hit will come to fans desperate for Thor or The Avengers. Thor was originally set for July 16, 2010 and was pushed back almost a year to June 17, 2011. The Avengers was originally set for July 15, 2011 and is now set for a May 4, 2012 date. The other change came to The First Avenger: Captain America, which was set for a May 6, 2011 release, and was pushed back only a couple of months to July 22, 2011.

Confused yet?

One big scheduling move within all of this madness, is that Marvel/Sony’s Spider-Man 4 was placed in the May 6, 2011 spot previously held by Captain America.

All of this moving around allows for Marvel to get a Thor movie and a Captain America movie out there before all of these movies come together in one surely gigantic event of a movie — The Avengers.

The first part of the puzzle will be Iron Man 2, which kept its original release date of May 7, 2010.

Speaking of Iron Man 2 — it’s been officially announced that Scarlett Johansson will replace Emily Blunt in the role of Black Widow. This had been rumored for a while, but with no confirmations.

[Source: Marvel; Deadline Hollywood]