With Phase Two of Marvel Studio’s superhero franchises well underway with the premier Iron Man 3 last week and the remaining scheduled announced up through The Avengers 2‘s May 1, 2015 release, the studio is turning their attention towards the initial planning of Phase Three.

Right now we know two things for certain about Phase Three – It will kick of with director Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man in the fall of 2015 and that Phase Two and Three will not be used to set up some long-form adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Planet Hulk and World War Hulk storylines. That particular rumor was floated awhile back but was quickly shot down by all involved at Marvel.

A far better indicator as what Marvel has in development probably lies within a Hollywood Reporter article from earlier this week detailing how the studio has just entered into negotiations with Robert Downey Jr to reprise his work as Tony Stark for The Avengers 2 and 3 now that his initial contract with the studio has run out. Buried towards the bottom of the piece was this gem -

Marvel has a writing program it uses as a concept generator and has scripts for Blade and Ms. Marvel features, for example. Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Black Panther and The Runaways are other projects on the horizon. The company slowly has been reacquiring licenses to characters it lost during the 1990s, snapping up Blade, Ghost Rider, Power Man and Daredevil in the past year alone.

What’s interesting, and what I haven’t seen remarked upon elsewhere, is that the “concept generator” Marvel is using to generate some of these screenplays is a writing program run through parent studio Disney and has already yielded one project that will be making its way to the big screen – Guardians Of The Galaxy whose first draft was written by Nicole Perlman. Granted James Gunn did his own pass through the screenplay when he signed on board to direct, it was still Perlman’s draft that provided the framework of a story that the studio was strong enough to move forward with.

Now, not all of what is in that paragraph is new news. The Runaways project had been in active development with a script by Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce and even some reported early casting sessions going on before news fell off about it. The origin story for the titular group of teens who discover that their parents are a cabal of supervillains involves a number of standard comic book conventions, though some, like time travel and magic, have yet to be introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so the studio may be holding that back until it is able to lay a bit more groundwork for the film.

A Black Panther film was rumored to be in the running for a slot in Phase Two, though that ultimately went to Guardians Of The Galaxy. Might it be a frontrunner for a spot in three? It very well could be, but Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has also been vocal recently that a film based on the character of Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange, is also in the offing for Phase Three.

It is interesting that Marvel already has a screenplay in development for the vampire hunter hero known as Blade, as it was already a successful trilogy on its own in the 90s and Feige stated when the Daredevil rights were confirmed back with the studio that “we’re not going to say “We got it back–make it!’” Is the studio looking at the character as an alternate way of expanding on the magical/mystical aspects of the Marvel Universe either as a compliment to Dr. Strange or in case that project’s screenplay doesn’t come together as expected? A Ms. Marvel project is also surprising, as the character is just not that well known. I have a suspicion that the studio is looking at possibly introducing her in another film, most likely one of the two Avengers sequels, and if the audience reaction is favorable, they’ll spin her off for a solo adventure.

It is safe to assume that not all of the possible projects mentioned will make it to the screen. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there ultimately is a Phase Three that hasn’t been mentioned at this early date. But Phase Three will be the biggest challenge facing the studio since it launched its franchises. It is very probable that while Downey Jr is returning for a pair of Avengers films, he may not be interested in any more solo Iron Man outings. That would leave them without their biggest box office heavy hitter and their could be repercussions from that.

Also, Marvel is going to have to start seeding in more new heroes to balance out the returning franchises. As Phase Three begins, Marvel will need to start introducing more original films into onto their schedule. Their contracts with the stars of Captain America and Thor will be close to expiring. It would be fairly risky to start off Phase Four with a slate of entirely new characters or new actors replacing their current franchise leads. The better plan would be to commence bringing in more new characters in Phase Three that can become the heavy hitters of what will come after Avengers 3.

If I were a betting man, I would say that Phase Three would definitely consist of a Captain America and/or a Thor film while introducing Ant-Man, Dr. Strange and Black Panther into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in their own adventures, while we won’t see Ms. Marvel until after she makes an appearance in another film, very probably one of the two Avengers sequels.

And check back sometime in 2015-2016 at the start of Phase Three to see if I’m right or not.

As you would expect, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has been making the promotional rounds for Iron Man 3, and, as you would expect, he’s been asked about everything Marvel. Well, he’s answered a lot of questions, so we’ll tour the Internet and the newsstand to give you the choicest info tidbits and how we read them.

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch:

Joss Whedon’s teasing that he was working on adding a brother and sister pair into the script for Avengers 2, fans immediately thought of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Entertainment Weekly asked Feige point blank about it, and his answer was noncommittally-committal:

I’m not confirming or denying. The draft could change six months from now.

Our Read:

Either they are in the script now but there’s a chance they might not make it to the final draft, or they are not in the script right now but might be sometime in the future. Maybe.

Doctor Strange:

The Sorcerer Supreme has been consider by many fans a mortal lock on a Phase III debut since Feige was asked about him by MTV in January. Back then, going by his phasing, I thought the only thing he confirmed was that a Dr. Strange film was in the works–which was common knowledge.

Well, Collider brought the Master of the Mystic Arts up during their time with Feige, and the got….another quasi-confirmation:

Dr. Strange is something that I talk about often and it’s sort of next up for us to dig into and explore.  Our executive producer of Iron Man 3, having done Captain America: The First Avenger and as that was finishing he started working on the bones that would become Iron Man 3, and now that he’s finished with Iron Man 3, he’s working on the bones that would become Doctor Strange.  Now that Iron Man 3 is finished, some of our quote-unquote spare time is going to be devoted to trying to crack Strange.

That was enough to have Collider has when the film was coming out. They got another non-committal answer they took as gospel-ish:

As we look past 2015, past Avengers 2 and Ant-Man, I think Dr. Strange should be one of the next movies in the years following that.

He also mentioned in the print version of Entertainment Weekly (which wasn’t reproduced online, I believe) that he “would love” Dr. Strange to be a part of Phase III.

Our Read:

Any film that someone is going to dedicate “some” of their “spare time” to developing is not a dead solid lock for being made. Again, I’d love to see a Dr. Strange film, and hope it does eventually get made, but I just don’t think that we are there yet.

Daredevil,The Punisher, Blade, and Ghost Rider:

When these characters reverted back to Marvel, their fans rejoiced. Now their favorite characters, whose films ranked from “Good” to “Oh my God no!” would be back in house and have a chance of finally being done right.

Um, no, not really. In the print version of Entertainment Weekly, Feige addressed these characters, and the prognosis doesn’t look good:

Whenever a character comes back to us, it’s usually because because the other studios don’t want to make the movies anymore–and that usually means the [previous] movies may not have been particularly well received. They all have potential, but we’re not going to say “We got it back–make it!”

Let’s face it, with only two films a year and a interconnected universe they really don’t fit well in, having these characters in films was a remote possibility to start with. Feige is just confirming something we really already knew.

But don’t give up all hope, fans! When Entertainment Weekly asked Feige about the possibility of Marvel superheroes appearing on the proposed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, he was open to the possibility:

If that works the way everyone expects it to work I think that would open up another avenue, another outlet for some of those characters. Maybe they guest star, I don’t know. I think they’re avoiding the cameo of the week on that show, which is very smart.

Our take:

If we ever see these characters on the big screen again, it won’t be for a long, long time. Unless they start making more than two films a year, Marvel Studios’ dance card is filled up until 2016 at the earliest, and there are many other Marvel properties that haven’t had a shot at the spotlight. However, DC/Warners has had a lot of success with television offerings from their characters, so there is an audience there. Daredevil and the Punisher are made for TV. Blade had his shot there, so he might be out of luck. And Ghost Rider is probably too costly to get made on a network budget. But I have to agree FBOL editor Rich Drees and say that Daredevil–and maybe the Punisher–could find a home on ABC, after an appearance or two on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Latino Review:

El Mayimbe over at Latino Review likes to play it up that Marvel Studios has it out for his website. How true is this? Let’s go to Peter Sciretta over at SlashFilm for the answer:

Peter Sciretta: You’re a very internet-savvy guy and it seems like you’re reading everything… There’s a lot of sites up there reporting leaks or rumors or sometimes even misinformation. I wanted to get your thoughts on “How does Marvel deal with this” in an age when sharing information on the internet is becoming unstoppable.

Kevin Feige: What are you talking about? Latino Review?

Nobody specifically. Really just interested in how Marvel Studios is evolving to handle the internet as a whole…

How would you “punish” them if you were us?

Its an interesting question. I think the only thing you could probably do is exclude them — don’t give them access. Don’t invite them to set visits, to junkets. But I don’t know, info is always going to get out there and someones always going to be posting it.Here’s what I will say, since X-men one frankly, where a photo was stolen off a wardrobe thing and it was the very first look of Hugh Jackman in costume as him under flourescents… it looked awful. (Laughs) It was just like “Oh, this is the world we are living in. This is the reality.” So we’ve always just accepted it. Spy pictures will leak and we used to try to run ahead and put out a cool picture first. Now if we have a cool picture we will put it out, but if we don’t, that’s okay.

Misinformation… You know, it gets a little annoying when somebody is like “This is what’s happening! This is what Kevin Feige is doing!” It’s annoying when they are right and it’s equally annoying when they are wrong, because everybody passes it. “Planet Hulk is the next thing” and everybody talks about it and you’re just like “Okay, but you’ll be disappointed if you’re expecting it.”

Shane Black: (smirking) It’s like Iron Man flying off to see The Guardians at the end of this one…

You read that everywhere.

Kevin Feige: Exactly, but then again, nobody knew about Redford until we announced it. Nobody knew about what you know now having seen Iron Man 3, so as long as there are secrets that big that are still being kept, I know it’s nobody in the inner circle. Does that make sense?

Our Take:

See how Feige automatically went to Latino Review as the culprit? And how the examples he and Shane Black are rumors that El Mayimbe reported on? I think this might be the one time where El Mayimbe is right. I also think it means that you have to take any Marvel rumor coming from El Mauimbe with an industrial-sized grain of salt. Because A) his sources are far removed from Marvel’s “inner circle” and B) Marvel could very well be feeding him false information to discredit him.

Yesterday, the anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled Blu-ray box set hit shelves to be snatched up by fans eager to see what extra goodies were included outside of the six films that lead up to and include last summer’s The Avengers. The big gem in the package was a link and a password to a website that featured a nearly five minute preview video showcasing the work being done on the studio’s Phase Two – Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Guardians Of The Galaxy and Ant-Man (though this last film is technically going to be part of Phase 3, coming after Avengers 2). We’ve already seen a bit of the production art revealed for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians Of The Galaxy, but now the entire clip, along with screen grabs of much of the showcased production art has shown up online for all to see.

With just a few months to the release of Iron Man 3 and the start of “Phase Two” of their superhero franchise films plans, Marvel Studios is looking ahead towards the movies that will come after The Avengers 2 hits theaters in May 2015. We do know that Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man will be the first release of Phase Three in November 2015. We also know that despite previous reports, Marvel is not planning out Phase Three as an adaptation of the Planet Hulk/ World War Hulk storylines.

But what other films are the studio looking at? We know that in the past the studio had been developing movies based on the comic series Dr. Strange, The Inhumans and The Runaways, any of which may

And now there is another possible Marvel hero in the mix – Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner. The latest issue of the British genre magazine Empire (via ComicBook.com) dropped the character’s name in their latest issue in an article on the upcoming Iron Man 3. Speculating on the film lineup for Phase Three, Empire reported -

More Iron Man/Thor/Cap adventures probable, plus finally, a proper Hulk standalone (Planet Hulk?). Ant-Man is a confirmed intro (November 6, 2015); planned intros include Spock-esque fishy-bloke Namor The Sub-Mariner and magnificently ‘tached magic-man Doctor Strange. Will end with Avengers 3 in 2018ish, which could see a super-angry Hulk’s return (World War Hulk!).

While the Planet Hulk info in the quote is old, I’m willing to forgive them due to the lead time for print journalism.

So who exactly is Price Namor? He is the son of a human sea captain and a princess of the mythical Atlantis and is just as likely to help humanity as he is to attack them for perceived slights against his undersea kingdom.

And remember that map in one of the closing scenes of Iron Man 2 when Tony Stark was debriefed by SHIELD honcho Nick Fury? Notice one of the areas of interest? Fandom has long speculated that that spot out in the Atlantic Ocean is an indicator that Marvel is considering a Sub-Mariner film at some point. It remains to be seen if Empire is just going along with that fan assumption or are they privy to some inside information?

We are months away from Marvel’s Phase 2 officially beginning and talk has already turned to Phase 3. Could a certain Sorcerer Supreme be joining Ant-Man in Marvel’s post-Avengers 2 plans? MTV seems to think so.

MTV’s Splash Page blog has posted an article detailing their recent conversation with Marvel’s Kevin Feige and interviewer Josh Wigler is making it out like he got a big scoop–that Phase 3 will definitely contain films built around Ant-Man and Doctor Strange.

Unfortunately, some times scoop really isn’t scoop. Ant-Man has been confirmed as Marvel’s first film in their third phase back in October when Disney announced its future release schedule and the film appeared on it. Feige was only confirming what the world already knew.

Doctor Strange, well, that would be a scoop–if a film was actually confirmed. This is what appears on the blog:

“… ‘Ant-Man’ is the only one officially announced, but you probably don’t have to look too far to guess at the next list of characters we’re toying with and beginning to develop.”

Could the oft-rumored “Doctor Strange” be a part of those plans?

“‘Doctor Strange,’ which I’ve been talking about for years, is definitely one of them,” he confirmed. “He’s a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he’s totally different from anything else we have, just like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ He’s totally different from anything we’ve done before, as is ‘Ant-Man,’ which keeps us excited.”

Please make note of the wording. Doctor Strange is a property that they are “toying with and beginning to develop.” Once again, this is old news. Marvel reportedly put Doctor Strange film on the fast track back in 2011  and writers were attached to the project all the way back in 2010. So “development” on the film has been underway for going on three years, and toying with probably since a script was delivered–assuming one was.

Feige did not confirm that Doctor Strange was definitely part of Phase 3 or even close to going into production. I mean, I love if it was, I think the concept would be a great fit for the big screen. But Marvel has a number of other projects–Black Panther, Inhumans, Runaways, and surely a bevy of more sequels– that will compete with the two film spots a year Marvel is allotted. If Wigler asked the same question about any of those films, he’d probably get the same answer.

So, Doctor Strange in anything but a done deal yet. Unless Wigler comes back with a solid release date, it the same old same old for Doctor Strange. No scoop here.

After Edgar Wright showed test footage of proposed special effects from Ant-Man at San Diego Comic Con 2012, the world underwent months of speculation as to whether or not  might sneak the film in before Avengers 2. Unfortunately,  Deadline‘s review of an updated Disney release slate announced today put an end to the guessing. No, Ant-Man will not be part of Phase II, it will be the first part of Marvel’s Phase III, with a release date of November 6, 2015, a little over six months after Avengers 2′s release date of May 1, 2015.

Rumor had it that production on Ant-Man would begin after Wright wrapped up The World’s End, perhaps as soon as early next year. The release date might put this rumor in doubt, as typically even the most effect heavy films don’t take over two years to make.

Another thing to consider is that if Marvel sticks to it’s strict two movies per year development plan, this means 2015 is all sewn up with Avengers 2 and Ant-Man. If we are going to see a Black Panther film, a Hawkeye/Black Widow spin-off, or a solo Mark Ruffalo Hulk film, the earliest we’d see any of these would be 2016. Probably later, because sequels from existing film franchises will also need to be put into the mix.

When Marvel Studios screened some test footage shot by director Edgar Wright for an adaption of the superhero Ant-Man at the San Diego Comic Con a few weeks back, it was the first visible movement we had seen on the project in some time. And since then there has been speculation as to when the film might actually take the next step and get into active production.

There is now a new report floating around that Ant-Man will go before cameras early next year in the same London studio that is currently hosting Marvel’s Thor sequel, Thor: The Dark World, shooting. This would certainly allow the film to be released in 2014, a timeframe that Marvel’s co-president Louis D’Esposito has already hinted at.

This certainly lines up with what we know about director Wright’s current workload. He is now in the process of prepping The World’s End, his third comedy collaboration with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. That should begin shooting sometime in the four or five weeks. That would place production concurrent with Dark World. Furthermore, Pegg has tweeted that Wright would move on to Ant-Man after World’s End.

Now it should be noted that the original source for this story is Latino Review, who usually have a good track record with stories out of Marvel Studios. However, Latino Review recently was on the receiving end of a letter from Marvel politely threatening them to give up the name of the source for their scoops. Latino Review rightly refused to do so. I would suggest that there is a remote possibility that Marvel internally floated the Ant-Man shooting date to a small number of people in the hopes that Latino Review’s source would inadvertently reveal him or herself. As you know, the best way to disguise a lie is to cloak it in the truth. I’m not saying that this is probably the case with this news, but it is something to keep in the back of one’s mind until we get some independent collaboration.

Earlier this week, we speculated that the earliest that Marvel Studios may get around to making director Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man adaption with their release schedule being booked through 2014 is 2015. But Marvel co-president and director of the new Marvel One-Shot short film Item 47, Louis D’Esposito hints that the company’s two-films-a-year schedule may be adjusted to let Ant-Man slide in to 2014.

In his interview with Collider, D’Esposito states that there has been some discussion about expanding Marvel’s release schedule beyond the current two films a year timetable and while they don’t want to stretch themselves too thin, they might do so if they were sure that they could maintain the same level of quality that they have so far. Ant-Man might be the place where they start.

That might be an opportunity where we do a third film, depending on his schedule when he finishes World’s End. But he’s such a competent filmmaker; the script is in great shape. The test will prove a lot of things on the visual effects front: how do we handle the shrinking, obviously, and the scale issues, because when he’s small he’s a half-inch. So we’re gonna work that out, maybe that’s when we do a third film.

Given that there has been a lot of positive reaction to the special effects test footage that Edgar Wright shot for the film and which was screened last week at San Diego Comic Con, Marvel certainly has an incentive to get the film out as soon as possible.

Currently, Wright is gearing up to shoot The World’s End, his third cinematic collaboration with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. If he were to jump into Ant-Man right after, he could very easily have the film ready for a 2014 release. Now currently, Marvel has Captain America: The Winter Soldier scheduled for April 4, 2014 and Guardians Of The Galaxy for August 1, 2014. If those dates hold, I could see Marvel possibly dropping Ant-Man into December. Then again they could conceivably rearrange their 2014 dates for Captain America and Guardians Of The Galaxy to accommodate Ant-Man.

With this past weekend’s screening of director Edgar Wright’s test footage for his long in-development comic book adaption Ant-Man at San Diego Comic Con and Marvel Studio’s release of some title art for the film, I feel safe in saying that we can take that as a tacit admission that the film is actually, finally happening.

But when will it happen? Simon Pegg thinks he has an answer. In a tweet over the weekend, he stated that Wright would be directing Ant-Man next year, after he finishes work on their soon-to-shoot collaboration The World’s End this fall.

As the two have been collaborators for several years, it is safe to say that Pegg may have some inside information shared with him by Wright. Though as the World’s End projected schedule has been in place for a while now, it does just seem logical for Ant-Man’s production to follow it at some point. More than likely, Pegg was addressing fan questions as to whether Ant-Man would take precedence over World’s End.

That leaves us with the question as to how much later will the Ant-Man shooting take place after World’s End wraps. That would probably depend on exactly where Marvel wants to slot it into their release schedule. If Marvel sticks with their two films a year schedule, we won’t be seeing Ant-Man until 2015 at the earliest. Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World already have the 2013 slots and Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the just announced Guardians Of The Galaxy are set for 2014.

Everyone is working under the assumption that we will be seeing The Avengers 2 in 2015, but that has yet to be confirmed. But if so, does Marvel slot Ant-Man in before that film or will it be used to kick off the studio’s post-Avengers 2 “Phase Three?”

The Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con would be a highly anticipated panel even if The Avengers didn’t set box office records.  But the expectations are even higher now as people are wondering how the studio is going to be able to top 2012. Some of that speculation ends here, and new speculations will begin.

• Thor 2 now officially titled Thor: The Dark World.
• Captain America 2 now officially titled, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As fans of the comics will know, the Winter Soldier was Cap’s partner Bucky, who instead of dying, was captured by the Russians, brainwashed and turned into an assassin. So, did Sebastian Stan have a deal for two films?
• It’s official! Coming to us from Marvel on August 1, 2014, the Guardians of the Galaxy! We’ll be having posts in the next few days concerning what to expect from the film, including a history of the concept and characters as they appeared in the comic book.
• For those of you crestfallen that Ant-Man was not the next in line for the Marvel film treatment, don’t despair too much. Edgar Wright was there and presented the rumored test footage he did to show the shrinking special effects, This is what Brendon Connolly at Bleeding Cool had to say about it:
  

  As he walked on stage to take a seat, Edgar Wright held up a copy of the Ant Man comics. This one.Wright said that he wanted to adapt that story, To Steal an Ant Man, and that’s still his plan before teasing us and then, to swooning, unveiled his test footage for the film.

  The sequence was largely unfinished but showed ant man looking out of an air vent into a corridor towards an elevator door protected by two CIA-looking suited up goons. He grows to full size, leaps through the air and shrinks as he does so, delivering his kick at ant size, but will full-scale weight.

  During the scene he lands on the barrel of one of the agents guns and runs along it mini sized.

  The character has not been cast, and the performer in the suit was only a stand in, but Wright did speak a little about the costume. While it won’t be final, it did indicate what they are going for – a mixture of the contemporary look and the silver age design.

  Wright says that “Ant Man will kick your ass… one inch at a time.” I don’t know about one inch at a time. My ass is already kicked up and down.

• The Iron Man 3 footage showed us that, yes, Ben Kingsley is The Mandarin, and that he will have ten rings and ceremonial garb.

No mention of The Black Panther, or any of the other rumored films Marvel has in the pipeline. I’m sure that will come in time. But now, what do you think?