Who would have guessed, when 2008’s Iron Man hit, that within a decade it would be the apex to an entire film universe?
It seems like only yesterday when the oldest of us were wasting our recesses, fan-casting every superhero under the moon? DC nailed Batman, did so-so with Superman, and flunked out with Green Lantern, while Marvel has built a world so dense that it continues, serial-like, twice a year. There are three movies left in the period Marvel CEO Kevin Feige described as Phase Two, and all everyone wants to talk about it Phase Three. Those titles remain unannounced, but their release dates have been revealed. And if this latest rumor is true, it seems like we were mostly on the mark.
The good folks at SchmoesKnow claim to know what Phase Three entails. For starters, you can axe all that talk about a second Guardians Of The Galaxy, as the source claims what we always expected: It was a one-off film. Instead, it looks like we’ll be immediately following up on a couple of beloved names. The site’s source, who claims this is "for absolute certain" which means it’s 100% double-stamped totally the tru-tru, says that the movies are Ant-Man (which we knew), Captain America 3, Thor 3 (we could have guessed), The Avengers 3 (sure) and Dr. Strange (well hey there).
Of course, everyone has their own speculation on what these movies are, so maybe SchmoesKnow is dealing with someone who has their wires crossed. For instance, the source debunks the Guardians 2 news by saying, "They only have so many films they can do each year and they don’t want them all to be trilogies to where they’re just dealing with the same handful of characters for the next 5-10 years." He/she then proceeds to claim that with Captain America, Thor and Avengers, Marvel is creating three more trilogies. It was also accepted that the Marvel "phases" were distinguished as films leading up to an Avengers film, so doesn’t this mean Dr. Strange, if they’re going in order, is a Phase Four film?
While the whole thing seems franchise-reliant, Marvel has sandwiched Avengers: Age Of Ultron between both Guardians Of The Galaxy and Ant-Man, so they’re not entirely being risk-averse if this is true. The source claims that Dr. Strange has been a priority for awhile and is also the solo film that is the biggest priority for the studio after Ant-Man. This source also batted back speculation on a Black Panther and Inhumans movie by saying "they’re in the pipeline," but, essentially, that Marvel isn’t planning that far ahead yet as far as what they want a Phase Four to look like. The claim is that a big announcement is coming at Comic Con, so keep your ears peeled. Not too much, though. That’s probably painful.
