Courtesy MarvelRemember when Warner Bros. made all these big announcements about their upcoming franchises? That was cool and all, but...well, Marvel just came in to rain on their parade by announcing their film lineup for the next five years!
Let's talk about the biggest bombshell of the event and work our way back. Phase 3 is ending with, of course, a third Avengers movie titled Avengers: Infinity Wars. Well, we guess that war is too big for one film because that Avengers adventure is being split up into TWO parts with TWO movies and TWO separate release dates.
And speaking of release dates…ladies and gents, heeeeeere is your Phase 3 roll-out plan! Mark your calendars accordingly:
May 1, 2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron
July 17, 2015: Ant-Man
May 6, 2016: Captain America: Civil War
Nov. 4, 2016: Doctor Strange
May 5, 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (new release date)
July 28, 2017: Thor: Ragnarok
Nov. 3, 2017: Black Panther
May 4, 2018: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1
July 6, 2018: Captain Marvel
Nov. 2, 2018: Inhumans
May 3, 2019: Avengers: Infinity War Part 2
Captain America: Civil War was first announced as Captain America: Serpent Society. But then, Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Chris Evans (Captain America) appeared onstage to throw down, bro down and reveal that the actual title of the third Captain movie is Captain America: Civil War, thus confirming all the rumors that Marvel would be tackling the Civil War storylines from the comics.
In case you couldn't tell from the video, the storyline revolves around Iron Man and Captain America at odds with each other over a few things, namely the idea of superhero registration.
President Kevin Feige said this about how Captain America: Civil War will work without secret identities:
I don't want to give too much away, but needless to say, the generalities of the act are the same. Something happens, perhaps it's cumulative for things that have happened though all of the movies leading up to this point. It has made the governments of the world say, 'We need to have some oversight of these guys.They need to report to somebody.' So...it falls under that umbrella, rather than, 'You have to take off your mask.' It's not about the secret identity thing, as much as it is about, overall, who reports to who, and who can agree to oversight committee. Because as of now, in Avengers 2, there is no more security council, there is no SHIELD, obviously. Stark is paying for it, Captain America is running it, and things occur that will make governments begin to question."
Marvel also announced that Chadwick Boseman (42, Get On Up) has been cast as Black Panther, the studio's first black superhero, and wouldn't you know it, he was there as well to talk about how "blessed" he was to join the Marvel team:
Here's AMAZING concept art for #BlackPanther! #MarvelEvent pic.twitter.com/xUC8hLmrSn
? Ryan Penagos (@AgentM) October 28, 2014Unfortunately, there are no plans for a standalone Black Widow movie starring Scarlett Johansson.
"Black Widow couldn't be more important than her role in the Avengers," Kevin said. "The plans we have for her in the Avengers saga are very big."
And how exciting is this?! We are also getting our very first female Marvel superhero, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, on the big screen, but no casting decisions have been announced. Feel free to speculate wildly in the comments.
By the way, Marvel did not confirm (or deny) the Benedict Cumberbatch casting as Doctor Strange.
"If it was confirmed, we would have announced him today," said President Kevin Feige about the rumor.
The title of Thor's third outing, Thor: Ragnarok, means the "end of all things," and Tom Hiddleston as Loki is set to return, which makes us and the rest of the Internet extremely happy:
And since this studio can release a film about a lesser-known franchise and it will positively dominate (looking at you, Guardians of the Galaxy), Marvel is turning the Inhumans series about a fictional race of super humans into a standalone movie to open on Nov. 2, 2018. Kevin Feige also hinted during a Q&A that we will most likely see hints and Easter Eggs about Inhumans sooner rather than later. Will we see that in Age of Ultron?
That'll do, Marvel. Drop the mic and walk away.
(Originally published on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 12:26 PM PDT)