In addition to the unveiling of new footage from the upcoming The Avengers at yesterday’s panel at New York Comic Con, studio head Kevin Feige also gave a broad indication as to
For the past four years, the studio has been laying the ground work of individual superhero films – Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America – which have culminated in next summer’s The Avengers. Feige hinted that the next wave of films from the studio after The Avengers will also all work towards a specific point.
We’re in pre-production on a movie called Iron Man 3 right now with directeor Shane Black. And Iron Man 3 will be the first of what we refer to as the ‘Phase Two’ of this Avengers Assemble saga that will culminate, God willing, in an Avengers 2.
Currently, Iron Man 3 is scheduled for a May 2013 release with Thor 2 following in November. The studio has also staked out two summer dates in 2014 – one in May and one in July – though they haven’t announced what films will make their debut there. The studio currently has several projects in development that could take those slots including Captain America 2, Ant-Man, Runaways, a movie featuring the spy organization SHIELD and two more science-fiction oriented comics-based projects The Inhumans and Guardians Of The Galaxy .
When asked about the possibility of a Guardians Of The Galaxy film and how it would fit within the studio’s established cinematic continuity, Feige stated –
Movies like The Inhumans and Guardians could certainly fit into that. We’ll introduce those groups in those movies though. We won’t do a Rocket Raccoon movie and then a Groot movie and a Starlord movie on there own. They would all be in a Guardians movie together.
Feige also commented that the post-credits tag scenes on their films had become a bit of a tradition and one that he expected to continue, even with Avengers. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is where we get our first glimpse of where this “Phase 2” is heading.
