Spring has finally arrived here in the Northeast U.S., bringing sunshine and warmer temperatures — and, hopefully, no sign of snow for at least seven months. It’s been a longer, colder winter than usual, and we’re all thankful it’s just about over. However, despite our eager anticipation of spring, there are three words currently on many fan*s’ minds: Winter Is Coming.

In fact, winter returns this weekend in more ways than one. First up on Friday, we have the next installment of Phase II of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU), as Captain America: Winter Soldier opens in theaters. Then on Sunday, season four of Game of Thrones premieres on HBO. I’m having a hard time choosing which one I’m more excited about, though my love for all things Marvel might win out in this case.

I am a huge superhero fan. I don’t read a lot of comics, but I will watch nearly anything related to either the DC or Marvel universe. I watched every season of Smallville, even when I wasn’t thrilled with the plot lines (though that last season made up for the less than stellar ones), and I am a big fan of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, and am excited about the new Flash series. But most of all, I love the MCU itself.

Even before anyone really knew Marvel’s plan for the MCU, I was an Iron Man fan, and I thought it was brilliant that Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark made an appearance in The Incredible Hulk, tying the films together. By the time Iron Man 2 came out, I was starting to hear about the MCU, so I really enjoyed the little details in that film: the prototype of Captain America’s shield in Tony’s lab, and Phil Coulson being called to New Mexico, tying the film to Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger when those films came out a year later.

Bringing together this many individual films and characters was entirely unprecedented prior to the MCU, and I love the way they make everything work together. I’m even more excited about it now that there is a television show that also plays into everything happening in the MCU. Spending an hour in the world of Marvel on a weekly basis is a welcome break from schoolwork and routine. I was also very excited they resurrected Coulson for the series.

I do have to admit, before the first Captain America movie came out, I was a little apprehensive. Prior to playing Steve Rogers, Chris Evans‘ filmography wasn’t all that impressive, and he had always been a supporting cast member. While I liked Evans, I had my doubts as to whether or not he would be able to carry a film like Captain America — not to mention how iconic the character is, which adds a whole new level of pressure to the role.

I had similar misgivings about Thor. I didn’t even know who Chris Hemsworth was when he was cast in the role, until I looked him up and realized he had played Captain Kirk’s father in the 2009 Star Trek film. (Confession: I remember thinking at the time that the guy needed to find larger roles where he didn’t die in the first 10 minutes.) I was also concerned about how they would portray Asgard and the Rainbow Bridge without it being too cheesy.

Fortunately, I quickly learned I needn’t have worried about either film. I loved both movies immediately. Asgard looked good, and Evans did not disappoint as Captain America. In fact, both films are among my favorites within the MCU. For this reason, I’m able to extend them some faith when it comes to Guardians of the Galaxy, which sounds bizarre in concept but, after the first trailer, I can’t wait to see it. I think I had “Hooked on a Feeling” stuck in my head for an entire week after that trailer was released.

I never had any doubts about The Avengers. To begin with, I was already a big fan of the entire cast and all the characters. I was even excited about Hawkeye and Hulk. Even though we’d only seen Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye for about 10 minutes in Thor, and hadn’t seen Mark Ruffalo at all in a Marvel film, I like both actors and I knew they were great choices. Therefore, I had already been extremely excited about the film when they announced Joss Whedon would be writing and directing. The minute I heard that news, I no longer had any doubts about how good the film would be — I knew Whedon wouldn’t let fans down.

Phase II of the MCU has gotten off to a great start with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. While Iron Man 3 wasn’t exactly my favorite of the Iron Man films, it was a great follow-up to The Avengers, and I really appreciated the way they showed a hero dealing with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Thor: The Dark World was, in my opinion, better than the first — and I loved the first one. I’m also thrilled with the setup for the third film; I can’t wait to see where they take that twist they gave us in the end. (I assume it won’t be addressed until the third film, since we’ve been told more than once Loki will not be appearing in Avengers: Age of Ultron.)

Tomorrow, it’s Captain America’s turn on the big screen. If the previews are any indication, this will also improve upon its predecessor. As I stated before, I haven’t read any of the comics so I am not remotely familiar with the Winter Soldier story line — which I’ve decided is definitely to my benefit when watching movies based on other source material. I’ll never forgive X-Men: The Last Stand for what it did to the Dark Phoenix saga (among many other failings), and I never even actually read those comics, I’m just familiar with the story line.

If you’ve been watching Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which you should be, because it finally started getting really good around episode 6 and has been improving ever since), you know they’ve been setting up the division within S.H.I.E.L.D. for Captain America. Rumor has it the next episode will have a direct tie-in to the film. I’m hoping it’s a little stronger tie-in than just having the agents cleaning up the mess in London after Thor: The Dark World.

This weekend is definitely a good weekend to be a fan*. Tomorrow, I’ll be sitting in the theater watching Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Sunday night I’ll be settling in on my couch for the premiere of Game of Thrones. Sure, spring may have just arrived, but winter is coming.