In this, the final Saturday of 2012, it’s time to extract five topics from a year’s worth of Top 5‘s for our second annual “End of the Year Edition”. Given that this is a year-end list that exists on the Internet, I’m fully prepared for obligatory statements regarding my choices and how they prove my own ineptitude. That said, in an attempt to preempt such backlash, I’d like to welcome any and all readers to respectfully disagree with me in the comments section. Let’s keep it classy and enjoy a highlight reel of some of the best 2012 had to offer after the jump.

As you’re likely aware, the 2012 Summer Olympics kicked off in London yesterday. In other words, it’s time for me to care about competitive swimming and gymnastics for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. To all of our readers, especially those internationally-based, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on the Summer Olympics. Is it an event that evokes your inner-patriotism and love of otherwise obscure athletic feats? Do you take great joy in defeating the ol’ U.S. of A. in something other than Math and Science scores? Sound off in the comments.

This Saturday brings us the Man of Steel teaser trailer set to John Williams‘ original Superman score, coverage from our visit to the set of Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis‘ The Campaign, an extended trailer and first official images from Cloud Atlas, interviews with the fellas of The Watch, and Brendan’s latest By the Numbers installment covering The Caped Crusader from Batman: The Movie to The Dark Knight Rises. Unless you’re a Top 5 noob (in which case, welcome aboard!), you know that a brief recap and link to each can be found after the jump.

I can’t say who is the biggest superhero in comics, but when it comes to their big screen counterparts, the debate is short: It’s Batman. With the release of The Dark Knight Rises, the collection of nine Batman feature films over the last six decades is on its way to $3 billion in worldwide gross. To celebrate I present Batman by the Numbers, a feature that provides a numbers-based snapshot of each movie and its place in the filmography by looking at the box office, critical reception, and miscellaneous facts.

Hit the jump for a comprehensive review of Batman at the movies, featuring Batman: The Movie, Batman, Batman Returns, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises.

If you’re a regular around these parts on the weekends you may have noticed that Collider was “Top 5-less” last Saturday. For the first time since our inaugural installment last May, the weekly feature failed to grace the site. The reason? My bachelor party. That’s right, instead of spending my Saturday morning/afternoon putting together a highlight reel of coverage from the preceding week, I gallivanted through the streets of Chicago partaking in debauchery in its most primal form (i.e. arcade games and karaoke). All this in mind, a big thank you to Steve and the rest of the Collider team and to you, the reader, for the excused absence is in order. It’s good to be back.

In this week’s edition you’ll find new posters and new footage from The Amazing-Spider Man courtesy of the film’s latest international trailer, the first trailer and poster for Steven Soderbergh‘s male-stripper inspired Magic Mike, the first look at Anthony Hopkins as The Master of Suspense in Hitchcock, a set photo/video recap featuring, among other things, Star Trek 2 and Les Miserables, and Matt’s superhero film editorial which begs the question, “Why So Serious?” (see what I did there?). As always, a brief recap and link to each can be found after the jump.

Last week, we reported that Zack Snyder was going for an “edgy” Superman in the reboot Man of Steel.  But even before Snyder got his hands on the property, Superman Returns went with a more morose Man of Tomorrow by playing up his loneliness and stalking his ex-girlfriend.  Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man movies were reasonably light until they slammed into the third act, and then the character had to go much darker for Spider-Man 3.  Now the Spider-Man reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man, is playing up the gritty aspects of the web-slinger’s story.  Almost all of the Avengers prequel movies have a reasonable balance of action, humor, and pathos, but with the exception of Captain America, they’re all aggressively modern.  Does it have to be this way?  Do we have to ground every superhero in a PG-13 reality?  And would audiences accept anything different?