One of the pitfalls of having a cinematic universe is that fans are always looking ahead rather than focusing on what’s right in front of them. We’re only two films into Marvel Studios’ Phase 2, which began with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, but that hasn’t stopped us from speculating on what the studio may have up their sleeve, especially since President of production Kevin Feige says that they’ve got things mapped out right up until 2021.
Today, we have some fuel to add to the fire, as Schmoes Knows is reporting that they have a reliable inside source who claims to have concrete information about Marvel’s Phase 3 plans. As always though, you should take this news with a grain of salt until it’s officially confirmed by the studio (something that’s not bound to happen for a while longer).
According to their source, the Phase 3 lineup is as follows:
“The movies that will be part of Phase III for absolute certain are: Ant-Man, Captain America 3, Thor 3, The Avengers 3 and Dr. Strange.”
We obviously already knew about Ant-Man and Avengers 3, and Feige has been talking for a couple years now about Doctor Strange making his big screen debut. And with Thor and Captain America being two of their staple characters, it should come as no surprise that they’ll be receiving third films. So, this news is not exactly groundbreaking.
It does leave one question though: what about the other properties we’ve been hearing about that may get their own films, like The Inhumans, Black Panther and Black Widow, or Hulk and Guardians of the Galaxy sequels? Well, Jones has something to say about that as well:
“There has been talk about Black Panther and lots of talk about The Inhumans, they’re in the pipeline but are pretty much in the same boat that Dr. Strange and Ant-Man were in two years ago, where they want them to happen, and they will most likely both happen, but it’s just a question of how soon. However, those five films (Ant-Man, Cap 3, Thor 3, Dr. Strange & Avengers 3) are sure things and I can guarantee you they will all be announced at Comic Con if not sooner.
I can confirm that as of the end of January, Marvel had no plans to make a Guardians 2. Marvel was planning on Guardians being a one and done. So unless they have done a complete 180 in the last couple weeks, I very much doubt there will be a Guardians 2.
“They only have so many films they can do each year and they don’t want them all to be trilogies to where they’re just dealing with the same handful of characters for the next 5-10 years.”
I’ve got to say, it’s nice to hear that Marvel doesn’t just want to give three films to all of these characters, and are interested in standalone stories as well as interconnected, multi-film franchises. Of course, the fact that these films exist in a shared continuity means that anything is possible and that characters are free to come and go as needed, so just because Guardians 2 may not happen anytime soon doesn’t mean characters like Star Lord or Rocket Raccoon can’t show up in other movies.
Plus, Jones makes sure to say that “as of the end of January” there have been no plans for a sequel. Those plans could obviously change if Guardians makes enough of a splash at the box office this August. If we know one thing for sure, it’s that nothing is set in stone and that Marvel is willing to change their game plan if need be.
What do you think of this news? Are you excited for Captain America and Thor to get third films, or would you rather see other characters get a turn in the limelight? Let us know in the comments below.