Marvel Studios has been exploring and releasing films about its comic book characters for some time now. The studio has dubbed these block of releases as phases.
Phase One included the films: “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Captain America – The First Avenger,” “Thor,” “Hulk” and “The Incredible Hulk.” All of these characters culminated their solo efforts in last year’s “The Avengers.”
Phase Two is currently underway. “Iron Man 3” ushered in this new step with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Thor: The Dark World,” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” to follow. The second phase will build on these features to conclude in 2015’s “The Avengers 2.”
So, what’s in store for Marvel Studios after “The Avengers 2?” The movie initiating Phase Three will be Edgar Wright’s “Ant-Man.” The film will arrive in theaters in November of 2015. This will be just a few months after “The Avengers 2” debuts.
Entertainment Weekly recently interviewed Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Fiege. He mentioned where Marvel’ s current focus is fixed at this time.
“I’d say 99 percent of our time right now is purely spent on Phase Two. It’s five colossally giant motion pictures that we have to produce. So that’s taking up the time. But within the next year or so we’ll start the advanced planning for post-Avengers 2.”
EW did try to get a list of Marvel characters that would be in the Phase Three cycle. Here are a list of potential candidates.
* Ant-Man (One, two, three… green light!)
* Doctor Strange (A prime candidate for Phase Three)
* Iron Man 4 (With or without Robert Downey, Jr., this will happen.)
* Black Panther (Speculation!)
* Daredevil, The Punisher, Blade, and Ghost Rider (The Punisher, Blade, and Ghost Rider need to wait for the right time. Daredevil has got possibilities.)
* Hulk (This is a.k.a. Mark Ruffalo’s “Hulk.” There is no “Hulk” movie currently in the works.)
* Inhumans (A prime candidate for Phase Three)
* Runaways (Someday!)
* Marvel Zombies (Probably not!)
So, what’s your opinion? What Marvel characters do you think should have their own solo features?