Fairly soon, two of this year's most important comics - Captain America #600 and Reborn #1 - will be coming out. It's not clear exactly why they're going to be huge, but given the fanfare Marvel is trumpeting around them, we know for certain that they will be. Speculation about their contents is rampant, and what better way to express that than with a totally scientific projection of the odds? What might we see in Captain America #600 and Reborn #1?

3-1: The "Heroes Reborn" version of Steve Rogers comes back.

Promo images for Cap #600 have already shown that the Heroes Reborn Bucky is going to be coming back - presumably, she's going to end up as a new sidekick for Bucky-Cap - but there's a chance that there'll be some version of the Heroes Reborn Captain America in tow. Never mind that such events wouldn't fit the continuity of the Heroes Reborn universe at all - that didn't bother Jeph Loeb when he wrote Onslaught Reborn last year. Note the amount of times I'm using the word "reborn" here, by the way - sound like the title to any comics you know?

As if that weren't enough, Rich Johnston has pointed out on his new website Bleeding Cool, that a recent action figure makes reference to a near-identical 'alternate universe' Captain America being brought in to replace the dead Steve Rogers. Fits the Heroes Reborn Captain America exactly.

5-1: Isiah Bradley, the Black Captain America, is coming back.

Marvel already did the 'Black Captain America' angle once in their miniseries Truth, set way back in the 40s. Kyle Baker, the artist of that series, recently posted sketches of what appears to be Isiah Bradley, the Black Captain America character from that series. Also consider Marvel's penchant for giving 'important' limited series one-word titles that don't actually feature the hero's name - Origin for Wolverine, Truth for Captain America, and Born for the Punisher. Reborn certainly fits that pattern. The one spanner in the works here? The government experiment that created Captain America was originally called "Project: Rebirth" - surely, if it dealt with the wider experiment (of which Bradley was a part) then they'd have used "Rebirth" as the title?

10-1: Steve Rogers is back, and he's going to look like the actor playing him
(and 20-1: he'll be Black)

There's a Captain America movie on the slate, and if all goes to plan, it's going to try and be as big as Iron Man to lead into the inevitable Avengers movie. There's speculation that Marvel are about to announce the actor who'll be playing Cap in the film, and for some reason the name Will Smith just keeps coming up.

If Marvel are announcing that Steve Rogers is coming back, and that he'll be resembling the actor who plays him, then the Kyle Baker sketch mentioned earlier starts to make more sense. Only problem is that it doesn't actually look like any obvious black actor, Will Smith or otherwise.

It's make for a canny licensing tie-in to cross-promote the movie and comic while Ed Brubaker is releasing two massively important Captain America comics. Media saturation will be massive, and it explains why Cap #600 is, in an unprecedented movie, actually coming out several days early - they're syncing it up with Hollywood's schedule.

50-1: Steve Rogers actually comes back, and there's nothing about movies, black Captain Americas or the Heroes Reborn version involved.

It could happen. It wouldn't be as exciting as the speculation, but it is possible. Steve Rogers has been dead a couple of years, after all - plenty long enough for most characters. The difference here, though, is that Captain America hasn't been this interesting a comic in years. Would Marvel interrupt one of the few comics seen to be gaining readers just for a resurrection gimmick? His own fans seem to prefer a dead Cap - bringing him back for real now might be jumping the gun a bit.

So, what will Cap #600 and Reborn #1 bring? Looks like we'll find out for sure on June 15th, one week from today - but until then, isn't it fun to try and guess?

James writes Alternate Cover every Monday at Den Of Geek. His previous column can be found here.