As if to prove that anything DC can do, they can do better, Marvel yesterday unveiled their Phase 3 movie roster up until 2019. With Marvel movies head honcho Kevin Feige, and stars Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans in attendance, Los Angeles’ El Capitan Theatre played host to various reveals, which we will disclose for you now…
Captain America 3: Civil War (6 May 2016)
Heavily rumoured and now confirmed, this pays lip service to the 2006 crossover event, in which Cap opposed the Superhuman Registration Act, which is supported by Tony Stark. With no Iron Man 4 among the confirmed roster of future releases, expect the rumours of Robert Downey Jr returning to play devil’s advocate to have at least a hint of basis.
It’s also worth mentioning that the storyline in the comics concludes with Cap’s imprisonment (and later death). Since this will be released before the Infinity War films we doubt this will happen, but don’t be surprised if Steve Rogers abandons the title of Captain America (again, as he has done in the comics at various times). Cohorts Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) have both taken on the moniker in the comics, so maybe they could step up to the plate?
Furthermore, it will also see Chadwick Boseman star as T’Challa, aka the Black Panther, but more on that later…
Doctor Strange (4 November 2016)
Despite numerous murmurings across the internet, Kevin Feige explicitly denied that Benedict Cumberbatch had been cast as the Sorcerer Supreme.
Having been briefly mentioned in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this was always on the way, but it was nice to get a definitive statement either way.
Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 (5 May 2017)
Again no surprise, considering how super-successful (and super awesome) James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy was. Expect Josh Brolin’s Thanos to have a bigger role this time around as preparation for lead adversary duties in Infinity War, the mystery regarding Star-Lord’s father being explored further, the possible appearance of Adam Warlock, and more Groot-isms than you can shake a branch at.
Thor: Ragnarok (28 July 2017)
Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston will both return for this one, which alludes to the comics storyline in which Thor looks to bring an end to the never-ending cycle of life and death that the Asgardians are trapped in – with massive repercussions.
With Loki having assumed control of Asgard (in the guise of Odin) and Thor’s status unknown (at least until we see Age Of Ultron), the direction this goes in is anyone’s guess. Again, though, with Infinity War on the way, expect the Odinson to live to swing Mjolnir for another film or two…
Black Panther (3 November 2017)
One of the biggest announcements of the night was that Chadwick Boseman (42, Draft Day and Gods Of Egypt) has been cast as T’Challa, aka the Black Panther. The ruling monarch of the kingdom of Wakanda, the confirmation that he’s to helm his own movie will please many fans, and appears to mark the start of a new era, with younger actors being cast.
Admittedly, we haven’t seen a lot of Boseman’s films yet, but something tells us that’ll change very shortly…
Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 (May 2018)
This is the one it’s all been building up to. Expect the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos and more to collide in what looks to be an adaptation of the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, in which the Mad Titan looks to reshape reality to his ends by collecting the Infinity Gems (the Tesseract in Avengers Assemble, the Aether in Thor: The Dark World etc).
There’s so much going on that Marvel have wisely made the decision to split this into two parts – beyond the obvious triumvirate of Cap, Thor and Iron Man, it’s anyone’s guess who the roster will be by this point, but one thing’s for sure: shit’s going to get real.
Captain Marvel (6 July 2018)
Tying with the Black Panther announcement for most welcome reveal was that, reflecting recent comics storylines and question marks over a lack of female superheroes, this Captain Marvel will be a woman; Carol Danvers (better known previously as Ms Marvel), to be precise.
No actress has been announced as yet, but Katee Sackhoff is still on our wish list…
Inhumans (2 November 2018)
Hopefully this will have a catchier title by then. Despite these characters more frequently appearing alongside (or against) the Fantastic Four, it appears they are the property of Marvel Studios rather than Fox. Evolutionary enhanced humans who live on the Moon, they are essentially this universe’s mutants – or ‘miracles’, as I guess they’re now called.
It’s probably the success of Guardians Of The Galaxy that has made this possible, with the colourful likes of Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal and Lockjaw the incredible teleporting alien dog among the likely line-up. With their main character being mute, it’ll be interesting to see how this is approached – don’t expect Guardians’ balls-out style, but do expect to be surprised; Marvel have done it before, and they can do it again.
Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 (3 May 2019)
The end of Phase 3, this will also compete directly with Justice League: Part 2. It’s on.
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