A few months ago in the wake of Marvel's $1B+ grossing The Avengers, we took an early look at what the studio may be planning for for the future. Let's face it, what Marvel Studios accomplished in the previous four years has been unprecedented. Not only did they take a B-level character like Iron Man and build him up to lead the biggest franchise this side of Gotham City, but they set about on an ambitious course that led up to the dream team-up that was The Avengers. Introducing us to Captain America, Thor, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Hulk along the way, their intricately constructed road map led them all the way to The Avengers being the third highest grossing movie of all-time. Not too shabby.
In the wake of attending Marvel's spectacular Hall H panel this Saturday at Comic-Con, it's clear to me that Marvel is looking to up the ante in a major way. But they also face some potential hurdles with untested properties, unproven filmmakers, and the ever-growing risk of saturating the already bloated comic book movie market. So now that the curtain has mostly been lifted on Phase 2, let's reset things and see where the path to The Avengers 2 may take us.
The first movie coming out of the gate is Iron Man 3, which is currently filming in North Carolina before heading off to China for awhile. After Robert Downey Jr. finished showing off on his way to the floor of Hall H, we were treated to an incredible sizzle reel of footage that showed off Tony Stark's new golden armor, and proved once and for all that Ben Kingsley is in fact playing The Mandarin. Co-written and directed by Shane Black, we know the film will be based in part on the Extremis storyline, which involves Iron Man facing off against foes powered by nanobots. 
Shane Black had been adamantly against using The Mandarin because he was created as something of a Chinese stereotype, and with China co-financing the film it seemed less likely the character would be used. The character has evolved considerably over the years into more of a technological terrorist and business nemesis of Stark's, equipped with ten rings of incredible power. Due to hit theaters on May 3rd 2013, Iron Man 3 will be the first feature film to tackle the repercussions of The Avengers.
After talking with some of my colleagues, I'm pretty much alone in thinking that the Marvel One-Shot short film, Item 47, is going to have some impact during Phase 2. I was lucky enough to attend a sneak screening of the film last week, and there is one major idea introduced of some importance. I won't spoil it, as you can see it for yourself as part of The Avengers Blu-Ray on September 25th, but the story involves a hard luck couple(Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford) who find the last remaining alien weapon after the concluding war in The Avengers. They proceed to go off on a little crime spree, which gets S.H.I.E.L.D. involved to put a stop to it. My only tip is to just pay attention during the closing credits sequence. That's all.
The next two movies are still mostly under wraps, but we can draw some conclusions based on the new titles Marvel has given them. The Thor sequel is now known as Thor: The Dark World, and is scheduled to hit theaters on November 8th 2013. Most of the original cast is expected to return, with the exception of Zachary Levi taking on the role of Fandral of the Warriors Three, replacing Joshua Dallas. Most of the attention has focused on the villain, with Mads Mikkelsen initially set for the role before dropping out last week. Speculation has been that he would play Skurge The Executioner, which would certainly mean Amora the Enchantress would be along as well. Both are longtime Thor rivals, with Amora frequently attempting to seduce the thunder god while also trying to destroy him. The film's title doesn't really give us any clues, but it could mean two things. Either Thor will be journeying to Hel, the realm of the dead; or he could be transported to Svartalfheim, where the Dark Elves lives. We also know that Thor is dragging along his half-elf brother, Loki, and that he's got the powerful Cosmic Cube with him. It's the Cube, also known as the Tesseract, which has caught the attention of of the death obsessed Thanos, seen during the closing credits of The Avengers. And let's not forget that Thanos' weapon of choice, the Infinity Gauntlet, is still holed up in Odin's throne room.We can pretty much tell exactly what Marvel is planning based for the Captain America sequel based on the new subtitle, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. For those who don't know, The Winter Soldier is the name given to Bucky Barnes, Cap's buddy who we last saw falling to his death during the previous film. Sebastian Stan played Bucky before, and looks to be having an expanded role now, but whether they will stick to the comic book interpretation of the character or go a different route is unclear.
In the comics, Bucky is a child sidekick to Captain America, but after his apparent demise during an explosion, his body is recovered by Russians who turn him into a soldier for their cause and keeping him in cryostasis so his aging is slowed. With a total loss of memory, he would spend decades performing assassinations and other black ops work, and along the way has a brief relationship with another Russian operative, Black Widow. Does that mean Scarlett Johansson could turn up in the film? Possibly. We've learned previously that the sequel will be set in the present, so she could join Cap in trying to bring Bucky down. Now, in the comics, Winter Soldier eventually becomes Captain America after Steve Rogers is killed, but the chances of that happening in the film are zero. No chance. What we don't know is who will be pulling Winter Soldier's strings in the movie, so assume the Red Skull will be making a return visit. He also would have more than a passing interest in the fate of his precious Cosmic Cube. We've also learned that Anthony Mackie will be taking on the role of Falcon, another of Captain America's sidekicks who was granted his powers from the Red Skull, making it even more likely the villain will be back. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is directed by the Russo Brothers and is set to open on April 4th 2014.
The full brunt of Thanos' schemes will likely be levied against the Guardians of the Galaxy. We've known for weeks that Marvel was planning the film as one of their mystery 2014 projects, so it wasn't a surprise when they unveiled it at Comic-Con. Setting it for release on August 1st 2014, the space faring team has a number of ties to Thanos that will undoubtedly come into play. There have been a number of members over the years, but Marvel was nice enough to provide a handy piece of concept art revealing which ones made the movie cut. Peter Quill aka Star-Lord is the leader, a character with an unusual background who grew up to be an astronaut and stealing the job of intergalactic police officer from a colleague. Groot is a plant creature who initially arrived on Earth to capture and study humans, but was destroyed. He would eventually grow back thanks to his powers, and become a part of Nick Fury's monstrous version of the Howling Commandos. The most popular character by far is Rocket Raccoon, an anthropomorphic raccoon and the guardian of the Keystone Quadrant, hailing from the planet Halfworld. He's fiercely loyal, a master military strategist, and is basically like the team mascot. He'll have to be rendered in CGI, much like the rest of the film, I imagine. Gamora is the last of her species, found by Thanos who raises her to be an assassin. Why he'd need one is beyond me considering he's one of the most powerful being in the entire Marvel universe. Anyway, when she figures out that Thanos is planning to wipe out all life in the universe, she turns on him and joins the Guardians of the Galaxy, wielding one massive sword to smite her foes. Lastly, Drax the Destroyer started out as the human, Arthur Douglas, who is killed along with his wife by Thanos. He is reincarnated in a new super powerful body and christened Drax the Destroyer, with the sole purpose of killing Thanos. He can also sense the presence of Thanos across vast distances.
Marvel surprised us all by having Edgar Wright show up on stage, Ant-Man comic book in hand, to announce that they were moving forward with the pint-sized hero's movie adventures. Wright then showed off some amazing test footage he shot weeks ago, showing Ant-Man using his shrinking/growing abilities to beat the snot out of two random agents in a hallway. While obviously very raw, and with a stuntman under the mechanical helmet, the footage looked solid and more intense than you'd expect from an Ant-Man movie. We didn't get a release date, or any casting info, so we're obviously in very early days here. We know it will be based to some degree on the Marvel Premier issue titled 'To Steal an Ant Man', and if the footage is anything to go by it will be full of action. Assuming all goes well with The World's End, which Wright begins directing in October, he could be off and running on Ant-Man by the middle of 2013. Since there are already two Marvel movies in 2014, we probably won't see it until 2015, likely just before The Avengers 2 opens.Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man mark the biggest risks Marvel faces. Much of the former's success will depend on the director, and I'd love to see them reach out to someone with a proven sci-fi track record like Duncan Jones(Moon, Source Code). Hey, wasn't he up for The Wolverine at one point? Edgar Wright, for as much as fans love him, is still mostly an unknown quantity to American audiences. He's constantly overshadowed by his frequent collaborators, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and the one time he ventured out totally on his own he produced a major box office flop in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Marvel only has themselves to worry about at this point. Warner Brothers and DC are still in the infancy stages of their plans, and by the time they get into full swing Marvel will already be well into Phase Three.
