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With "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and the re-launched "Star Trek" hitting multiplexes over the next couple of weeks, it seems sci-fi fans will have a lot to celebrate this summer.

Although fantasy, sci-fi and horror films are typically among the biggest box office hits, biopics, period pieces and pretty much any film starring Kate Winslet continually snatch all the recognition during awards season, regardless of how worthy a genre film might be of walking away with the big prize on Oscar night.

The perfect example occurred during this year’s Oscar race, wherein the Winslet-starring period drama "The Reader" landed in the Best Picture shortlist, precluding the universally-praised Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" from earning a nod. Find me one person that can say with a straight face that Winslet’s film is superior to Christopher Nolan’s superhero epic. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

In a perfect world, a film’s accolades would be based exclusively on its artistic merit, but somehow genre films -- even the exceptional ones -- seldom make it to the big leagues. In more than 80 years of Academy Awards, only one fantasy film ("The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King") has ever won the Best Picture Academy Award. Chew on that.

The problem isn’t that the Academy Awards and its less prestigious counterparts reward bad films. Far from it. In fact, with instant classics like "Crash," "The Departed" and "Slumdog Millionaire" going home with Best Picture statuettes in recent years, their selections have been getting stronger overall. The issue is that genre films are routinely under-recognized or even ignored entirely, with the 2004 LOTR sweep as the sole exception.

Perhaps the blame lies with the cheesy “creature features” from the 1950s and 1960s that shot science-fiction to stardom in the first place. After all, no self-respecting film fan would dare call "The 50-Foot Woman" a work of art. The bulk of the film criticism community – and Academy membership, for that matter – probably adored "Flash Gordon" and the work of Ray Harryhausen in their childhoods, but what they can’t seem to realize is that, just as they have, sci-fi has grown up with them.

Ever since the 1968 release of "2001: A Space Odyssey," science-fiction has offered some of the most insightful and incisive social commentaries ever put to film. More than mere escapism, films like "Blade Runner," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "The Matrix" raise philosophical questions about human nature and the world around us. They have become subjects of study at universities nationwide, analyzed for the brilliant ways in which they use supernatural and otherworldly elements to essentially hold a mirror up to the audience as if to say, “What if?”

The best genre films find a way to balance their didactic messages with compelling drama, memorable characters and an air of fun and excitement, transcending the limits of just another genre film to become masterpieces of cinema. As such, they deserve to be recognized for their efforts, not discarded because they don’t fit into some preconceived notion of what filmmaking art should be.

The filmmaking community – namely, actors and directors – have gotten the message. In addition to the star-studded cast of the latest Batman adventure, "Iron Man," snatched more than $300 million at the box office last year and starred Oscar nominees Robert Downey Jr., Terence Howard and Jeff Bridges as well as Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow. "The Incredible Hulk" put together a similar group of respected actors, and now, actor/director Kenneth Branagh – best known for tackling Shakespearean works – has signed on to helm the big-screen incarnation of Marvel’s "Thor." All that’s left is for the Academy and its peers to catch up.

Nevertheless, just because everyone’s favorite adamantium-clawed mutant or the crew of the USS Enterprise is unlikely to be walking the red carpet just yet, don’t let that interrupt your popcorn-crunching at theaters this summer. If Heath Ledger’s posthumous Oscar win for his genius portrayal of The Joker in "The Dark Knight" taught us anything, it’s that Hollywood is finally starting to realize, albeit slowly, what so many film fans have known for years: That perhaps there’s a place at the podium for robots, space aliens and, yes, even superheroes.