To begin with, let's use the terms of press release dating from San Diego Comic Con in July 2011 and endorsing the partnership between LEGO and Disney / Marvel:

"... The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection will spotlight three Marvel franchises - Marvel's The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters ..."

"… Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form ... Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool… Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus…"

But this partnership is only valid for the comic versions of Spiderman and the X-Men, while it takes into account the film The Avengers which will be released in May 2012. Indeed, the film versions of Spiderman belong to Sony Pictures Entertainment which manages the license for derivative products.

But that is no longer true since Disney which now owns Marvel (are you following?) Acquired the rights to the next movie The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Sony will continue to produce and distribute the films in the franchise, but Disney will now have the right to market derivative products based on these films.
In my opinion, the second film in this new saga will likely be produced by Disney / Marvel, Sony having been ousted from the equation by then ... 

We therefore learn that:

1. The sets will be based on the so-called characters conventional from the Spiderman universe.

2. We will undoubtedly find Doctor Octopus alongside Peter Parker.

3. Disney has the rights for the next Spider-Man in theaters. Disney has an agreement with LEGO on the characters and their universe.

And that's all...

What we know elsewhere:

The film The Amazing Spider-Man, reboot of the series which will therefore not be linked to the films released previously in 2002, 2004 and 2007, will be released in France on July 4, 2012. Andrew Garfield (seen in not much significant so far) will don the spider-man costume alongsideEmma Stone.

The scenario of the film revolves around the youth of Peter Parker and the discovery and mastery of his powers.

LEGO will obviously take advantage of the buzz around the film to promote its sets.

What do I think of it :

If we refer to the terms used in the press release [... Spiderman classic characters ...], I can't help but think of the range of toys marketed in the early 2000s by Toy Biz under the name Spiderman classics. It was a series of collectible figurines sold in blister packs and accompanied by a comic book.
This range began in 2001 to be modified in 2003 (with the deletion of the comic book) and was taken over by Hasbro in 2009 under the name Spider-Man Classics (note the dash).

I'm more and more inclined to think that we're going to be entitled to union minimums for the Spider-Man and X-Men-based portion of the LEGO Marvel lineup. For lack of anything better, we should be able to get some mini-sets containing a hero and a villain, with a vehicle and / or a piece of wall, a lamppost and a trash can. A bit in the spirit of the set 6858 Catwoman Catcycle City Chase from the LEGO DC Universe range which is coming out in a few weeks.

On the side of the bad guys, we should find the most charismatic of the spider-man universe. We will probably be entitled to a new version of the characters of the range under license Sony Pictures Entertainment released in 2003 and 2004 with Doc Ock (aka Doctor Octopus), Green Goblin and some emblematic enemies of Spiderman such as Venom, Carnage, or even Mysterio. All with very cartoonish and up to date minifigs (or younger ones).

 Personally, whatever the result, I would be satisfied with these new figurines. Even if those of 2003 and 2004 are already exceptionally successful.
The photo at the top of this article brings together in the background the 4 versions of Spiderman released to date and in the foreground a custom that I love and that I got from Christo after a hard battle on eBay .... 

The debate is animated within the various communities which try to guess what will be made of the second wave of DC sets for 2012. We already know the DC sets of the first wave and they are based on the comics, and largely inspired by the 2006/2008 Batman line.

Many believe that this second wave will be based on the upcoming July 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. Personally I am not convinced: LEGO made no mention of the film in its press release as was the case for The Avengers about the Marvel range.

But let's admit that's the case, then we should be able to get a few vehicles from the movie, like this (s) Tumbler(s) with a nice camouflage effect seen on the set or the batwing frankly nice design. A Tumbler in Tan and Dark Brown, why not after all ..... It also seems that the scenario of the film incorporates a story of stolen technology allowing Batman's enemies to reproduce chain Tumblers to better destroy Gotham City .. ..

And all this without counting the batpod of Catwoman who, it must be admitted, really has something to end up in a LEGO set with her forms .... I digress, but it will take a lot of imagination to make a Catwoman minifig fit coherently on this batpod...

Make no mistake, I would of course be delighted to be able to afford these machines without having to spend a few hundred euros on bricklink to invest in 2008 sets like the 7888 The Tumbler: Joker's Ice Cream Surprise which is sold over 400 € in MISB ....

I would be happy with a set of the type Tumbler chase with an Tumbler black one Camo Tumbler, Batman, Bane and some extras .....

You have to put back this photo on which I just spent long minutes trying to recognize each character and which dates from 2010 in its context: Julian Fong alias levork created all of these minifigs long before LEGO announced the Superheroes range .... 

Aquaman, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Red Arrow, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Flash and many more are gathered here in a family photo that we would love to be able to do soon with the official LEGO minifigs. But let's not dream too much, the Superheroes range is not going to be so exhaustive ....

To learn more about these minifigs and their design, visit levork's flickr gallery, you will learn a lot about these creations that have inspired many fans to in turn create custom versions of the most famous heroes of the DC Comics universe.

Special mention for the version below of SuperGirl, cousin of Superman ...

I may alienate some of you, but I have to write this article. You probably already know, MegaBrands has had the Marvel license since 2004 in its range. Mega Blocks. I would not launch the debate here on the quality of the range Mega Blocks but I would venture on the other hand to a comparison between two ranges of direct competitors.

The Marvel range at the direct competitor of LEGO is clearly oriented towards mini sets sold at an affordable price and composed of either a minifigure and a vehicle (Marvel build vehicle) , is several miniatures from different factions and various and varied gear or backgrounds. There are also characters sold blind and individually in a bag under the name Marvel Character Building, on the same principle as what we know with the series of collectible LEGO minifigs.

LEGO arrives in 2012 in this Marvel niche and will have to consider what its competitors are doing. Today, an original idea is quickly taken up or even plagiarized outright: Playmobil has just been released a range of characters to collect whose bag is strangely similar to that of the LEGO range.

LEGO will he mind the aging license of Mega Blocks for its Marvel Superheroes range? I think so, to a certain extent. Yes Mega Blocks is very poorly distributed in France, even in Europe, we must not forget that the brand is a hit in the United States and Canada. LEGO must take this into account and offer affordable products to those countries where the culture of superheroes far exceeds that of other licenses, Star Wars included. 

Will we see characters sold in sachets? Mini sets with a single character and a vehicle? I think so if the license lasts beyond the first year of operation. The sale of super heroes in sachets would make it possible to offer a very wide range of characters from the Marvel team, which has several hundred of them, beyond the most famous. Vehicles are also a good way to offer small sets at competitive prices. If we look beyond traditional and historical comics and are interested in cartoons for example, each super hero has his motorcycle, his flying machine, his car, his jetpack or his jet-ski ...

With the arrival of Disney at the helm, the Marvel license should take, in the opinion of all specialists, a turn even more general public than what we know and generate a cohort of derivative products intended for the youngest who do not. weren't necessarily the intended audience for the original comics. LEGO, like all manufacturers holding this license, will have to follow suit and meet market expectations. After all, who predicted that LEGO would launch a Star Wars range based on mini planets resembling a pokeball?

Still in the series: We are given names of sets but we do not really know what they will contain ..., The Marvel range planned for 2012 offers us the set 6868 bearing the extremely mysterious name of: Hulk's Helicarrier Breakout translated by Amazon in French by: The Hulk's Helicarrier Escape.... And there, I think Amazon made a big mistake while translating the name of this set.

Indeed, the Helicarrier is a very well known machine in the world of the Avengers and SHIELD It is a species of flying aircraft carrier (and helicopters) built among others by Tony Stark and declined like the Quinjet in multiple variants (8 in total) over the various comic book publications.

SHIELD headquarters, the Helicarrier, originally slated to make an appearance in Iron Man 2, will play a role in the upcoming film The Avengers as evidenced by these artworks which were published on many sites then hastily removed and these informations about a scene in the film whose script would have filtered.
This script describes the dialogues of a scene in which the visibly pissed off Hulk and Black Widow struggle to get out of trouble aboard the Helicarrier which comes under attack. In the same scene, Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Captain America make their way through the debris-strewn hallways towards the engine room.

You see what I mean ? A playset with a hallway, a machine room, 4 minifigs .... Or not. 

Despite everything, there remains the possibility that the Hulk will escape with his acolytes in a helicopter, which would give us a flying machine in this set which should still contain several super heroes.

It's hard to draw conclusions based on so little evidence, but one thing is certain, these sets will reveal a lot of the film's elements if released before the official release, which I doubt.

On the other hand, the inevitable stolen photos which will undoubtedly be found on the Internet within a few weeks will certainly deliver slices of scenario.