Having mapped a powerful, super-sized roster of movies in its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the upcoming decade, Marvel President Kevin Feige has time and again never missed to create headlines in the industry while spilling titbits from Marvel Studio’s think tank. Although Marvel may be ditching the San Diego Comic Con this year, it hasn’t left fans disappointed in holding back information on its forthcoming projects.
With Marvel’s Ant Man right round the corner of its world-wide release, Marvel has moved into top gear in promoting the latest addition to the Avengers, Scott Lang a.k.a Ant Man (Paul Rudd). Feige mentioned that Ant Man marks the end of MCU’s Phase 2 in Marvel’s well chronologically set cinematic movies.
Throwing light on details of Phase 3, Feige dropped comments about the much-awaited Captain America sequel, Civil War, Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Thor: Ragnorak. While Phase 3 would surely see a few origin stories, Feige has hinted that not all may be chronologically set meaning one of the movies could be set in the past, like Captain America – The First Avenger which was timed during World War 2.
If one goes by rumors – the last feature of Phase 2 movies – Ant Man features an amazing mid-credits and post-credits scene. Feige also let slip that Ant Man might tease the existence of Doctor Strange especially towards the end of the movie. He teased: “Yes, it is the tip of the iceberg for what we’ll see and experience and learn about in Doctor Strange.”
Doctor Strange stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange who by profession is a neurosurgeon but ends up becoming a sorcerer protecting the Earth from magical and mystical threats. The movie also stars Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One. Speaking of this, Feige expressed: “As we were developing this film we looked at The Ancient One as a mantle more than a specific person. The sorcerers have been around for millennia, protecting us from things we didn’t know about until this story. There have been multiple [Ancient Ones], even if this one has been around for five hundred years, there were others. This is a mantle, and therefore felt we had leeway to cast in interesting ways.”
Doctor Strange is slated for a theatrical release on 4 November 2016 while its production will begin this November in London.
Feige also shared his thoughts on the much over-hyped Marvel release, Captain America – Civil War which kicks off Phase 3 proceedings, hinting the movie as a fairly simple story, but one with many players. This wouldn’t be a surprise as Marvel movies although being box-office smash hits have walked on bland and simple story-lines (except Captain America – The Winter Soldier) as it is mainly the action these movies flaunt around flawlessly. “What’s fun about Civil War though is, as you know from the comics, it’s a very simple story. And it really has to be, to accommodate that many players. It’s very much a Captain America movie and it’s very much a sequel to the Winter Soldier in ways I don’t think people [will expect]. It’s a very simple structure that allows you to have these amazing character interactions in a way that I don’t think become overwhelming. And it is very much a kick off to Phase 3 because it sets the dynamic for everything that follows”, added Feige.
With the filming already half-way through Captain America – Civil War hits theatres on 6 May 2016.
On being asked whether Black Panther, another character in plans to star in the MCU would make a debut in Civil War, Feige couldn’t dodge the direct spoiler and said, “I don’t know how to answer that question without spoiling it! It is a role that he is still in the beginning phases of taking on it’s a mantle he is only beginning to take on because his father is older.”
Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman as the prince of Wakanda, T’Challa a.k.a Black Panther alongside Mo-cap master, Andy Serkis releases on 6 July 2018.
Sadly for fans of the Norse God of Thunder, Thor, Feige had nothing much to say except: “I think towards the end of the summer there will probably be a filmmaker announcement and a writer announcement and maybe even some additional casting announcements. Thor: Ragnorak won’t start filming until middle of next year.” Thor as per earlier reports from the studio would most likely not be featuring in Civil War, which makes Hemsworth’s fans wait a little longer until November 2017 when Thor: Ragnorak releases.
Finally on being asked of Ant Man sequels in the future, Feige expressed his plate too full for the time being. This is what he had to say. “The answer is I don’t really know. We’re entering a territory that’s an incredible problem to have, which is too many franchises to navigate. That’s a very high class problem, and if we’re faced with that high class problem we will try to figure out a solution in a way that allows us to produce the movies in the way we have. We’d never want to stretch ourselves too thin that we’re not able to make them in the way we believe they should be made.”
Seems like Marvel does have it all chalked out and while it continues to hold the billion dollar franchises in its pockets, fans wouldn’t be left disappointed in getting their dose of adrenaline-pumped superhero flicks.