When it comes to Marvel superhero movies, the buck starts and stops with Kevin Feige. What he says goes, and his interviews are like a superhero road map, detailing what's right around the corner and what may have hit a stumbling block. After this past summer which saw Marvel dominating the comic book movie market, their franchises are set to enter a new phase. Captain America, Thor, and even the X-men are entering a new phase. The Avengers is right around the corner, but after that it'll be time for the vaunted "House of Ideas" to start developing new franchises.
We already know some of what Marvel has planned. Edgar Wright's Ant-Man film is on the way at some point, with a script already in place. The same goes for Dr. Strange, possibly Luke Cage and Black Panther. The Drew Pearce written/Peter Sollet-directed Runaways film could kick off next year. Marvel's B-league of heroes seems to be set. But there are a couple of projects which have only been hinted at which probably have the most franchise potential: The Inhumans, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly(the one with that crappy Avengers cover), Kevin Feige discussed both possibilities, and confirmed they are indeed in the works. The Inhumans we first learned about back in March, but few details were available. Established in the 1960s, the Inhumans are like the superhuman Royal Family. Created millions ago by the alien Kree's experiments on humans, they were eventually abandoned, ultimately forming their own colony on the dark side of the Moon. They are led by a monarchy, with the powerful voice of Black Bolt as their king.
Guardians of the Galaxy was rumored to be on Marvel's slate just a couple of months ago, and would be the big, intergalactic epic only teased in Thor. The question was which version of the team would Marvel spotlight. The latest version features a hodge podge of space faring heroes with a mandate to stop threats before they even happen. Feige appears to be focused on the 1969 version, which included characters who were all considered the very last of their king. It's possible he'll combine the two concepts.
He says if and when either film happens to expect big ensemble production, similar to the X-men movies. Keep in mind that Marvel has set aside a couple of mystery release dates, May 16th 2012 and June 27th 2014, with neither having a firm project attached yet. I still think one will go to a Captain America sequel. The other I think is going to be a race between GOTG, Runaways, and The Inhumans to see which one gets rolling the fastest.
