Marvel Studios Upcoming Theatrical Releases

[nate the dawg]

SPOILER ALERT: If you somehow haven't yet seen The Avengers or some of the other Marvel Studios flicks, there may well be discussion of the overall plot.

So, ever since The Avengers came out, my game night has been dominated with discussion of the storyline and speculation or what's to come. I know Iron Man 3 in already in production, and the Captain America and Thor sequels are soon to follow. So, just for fun, I'm asking the community what they're expecting/hoping for in the next round of Marvel Studios releases.

My personal belief is that there is no going back (now that The Avengers has taken place). I can't see Tony Stark fighting another Iron Monger or Whiplash after having faced down a chitauri army; that is, he (and all of the other heroes) is part of a larger world now, so shouldn't the content of his story be as well?

My hope is that Mark Ruffalo has a spot in the third Iron Man flick...maybe even prompting the construction of the Hulk-buster armor! So there's (a bit of) mine; what have you, the oh-so-creative masses, to say?

[Onacara]

Do you mean other than The Wolverine which is due out next year..or Deadpool which may also come out next year?

[nate the dawg]

Originally Posted by Onacara

Do you mean other than The Wolverine which is due out next year..or Deadpool which may also come out next year?

Well, I was unaware that the next Wolverine was "for sure", but given overall quality of the origin movie, I might have mentally blocked it out. As far as I know, the Deadpool movie had been indefinitely stalled.

Specifically, I'm asking about the existing continuity of Marvel Studios' current films (Cap, Thor, Hulk, Avengers) and what folks expect/would like to see in a continuation of the story.

EDIT: When does Marvel regain the movie rights to X-Men properties, anyway?

[tcglkn]

I doubt he'll need the Hulkbuster armor to fight this guy.

[nate the dawg]

Originally Posted by tcglkn

I doubt he'll need the Hulkbuster armor to fight this guy.

Oh, wow, nice catch! Dark Avengers, huh. IIRC, isn't Norman Osborn supposed to be in that armor?

[tcglkn]

Originally Posted by nate the dawg

Oh, wow, nice catch! Dark Avengers, huh. IIRC, isn't Norman Osborn supposed to be in that armor?

I imagine they are mixing it up a bit because Norman is tied to the previous Spider-Man movies. Not sure if Marvel Studios has the rights to him right now. But yes that's usually who is in the Iron Patriot armor.

[Lord Pyre]

If you read the description for the pictures, you find out it's not Osborne, but instead Eric Savin. I'm assuming he'll be a minor villain that the main guy will use to try to "replace" Iron Man.

[screwDriver]

Remember that Iron Man-inspired sports car that Stark and Banner rode off with in the end of The Avengers? My only wish now is that it'll play a bigger part in Iron Man 3.

[nate the dawg]

So, maybe this signals the return of Justin Hammer, leading into Armor Wars? Stark facing down a throng of villains wearing his own designs sounds sweet.

[Onacara]

Originally Posted by nate the dawg

So, maybe this signals the return of Justin Hammer, leading into Armor Wars? Stark facing down a throng of villains wearing his own designs sounds sweet.

However this is supposed to be the last Iron Man with Tony Stark

[nate the dawg]

Originally Posted by Onacara

However this is supposed to be the last Iron Man with Tony Stark

?

Did you mean Robert Downey Jr?

While Downey has said in many interviews that he has no problem with continuing to portray the character, I could understand capping the character's franchise at three films and having Downey come back for more Avengers. Worse things could happen.

On to a different train of thought! I can't get enough of Tom Hiddleston as Loki; the guy plays the part better than I imagined anyone could. It's a no-brainer that he'll be in the Thor sequel as a baddie, but who else could fit the bill? Before The Avengers, I would have said Thanos in a heartbeat, but now it seems more likely that he'll be in that franchise's sequel(s). Maybe Surtur instead?

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by Onacara

Do you mean other than The Wolverine which is due out next year..or Deadpool which may also come out next year?

I believe his post was in reference to the independent productions done by Marvel Studios, not those Marvel titles licensed out to other companies. It is better described as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As far as future films goes: (cut and pasted from other sites)

Spoiler Alert!

Iron Man 3: If it is loosely based on the recent ‘Extremis’ storyline from the comics, as rumored, it would find Tony Stark’s life and his Iron Man alter-ego drastically changed by the infusion of experimental nanotechnology into his bloodstream. The announcements of the villains (James Badge Dale as Coldblood and Ashley Hamilton as Firepower, as well as Ben Kingsley as the lead “mystery” villain) reveal that if they are doing ‘Extremis,’ they’re probably changing it up quite a bit. Black has said that his sequel will be more of a “technological thriller” with Iron Man’s superheroics set against a plausible real world crisis.

Plus this Kevine Feige quote about Iron Man 3:

“So Iron Man 3 has been structured specifically to be the antidote to The Avengers… Circumstances in the story separate Tony from having access to anything. We wanted to take Tony back to, metaphorically speaking, the cave from Iron Man, the first half of Iron Man, when he’s cut off from the world and needs just focus on his intellects to get himself out of his situation. So he’s not calling Thor, he’s not calling Captain America, he can’t press a special button to have the helicarrier come rescue him, so I think that’ll be a nice complement to the team up of Avengers.”

And a recent spoiler release that has not been confirmed:

Kingsley is Iron Man's archnemesis Mandarin. However, Mandarin's role in the film doesn't seem to be as big -- he's being used as more of a silent backer for the central villain, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who, with Mandarin's assistance, creates a new breed of super-soldier through nanotechnology. So Pearce, along with his new super-soldiers (they say this is where the recent casting of the characters Coldblood-7 and Firepower factors in), are who Tony Stark/Iron Man will square off against, with Kingsley's Mandarin taking a bit of a backseat.

Thor 2: Early word had the Enchantress and the Executioner as Thor’s main foes and the casting of Mads Mikkelson might be one-half of that equation. He’s probably NOT playing the Enchantress. Fans (and Thor star Chris Hemsworth) have expressed their desire to see intergalactic hero Beta Ray Bill thrown into the mix, but there has been no confirmation that it’s happening. Now that Marvel has gone a little more cosmic in their approach, however, it’s totally feasible. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who sat out Avengers, will return for Thor 2.

Cap. America 2: Collider reports that the sequel will pick up immediately after the events in The Avengers, placing Cap squarely in the modern day. Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige even makes it sound like the Captain America sequel will bridge the gap directly between Avengers and Avengers 2. Makes sense, seeing as how Cap’s arch-enemy the Red Skull is still trapped within the tesseract, which we all know plays an important role in the Avengers films. One of Cap 2’s screenwriters (Christopher Malkus) has expressed a desire to incorporate the villain MODOK, with Peter Dinklage as the mutated leader of the high-tech terrorists known as AIM (sort of the opposite of SHIELD). Fans have speculated, based on the fate of Bucky Barnes in the first film, that the sequel might find some inspiration from Ed Brubaker’s ‘Winter Soldier’ storyline from the comics, which finds Barnes alive and well as a deadly Soviet special agent.

Ant-Man: Joe Cornish, the writer-director of Attack the Block, worked on the script with Edgar Wright, which Wright confirmed features both Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, and his successor Scott Lang, who stole Pym’s Ant-Man persona in a fit of personal desperation.

My thoughts:

I think another Hulk movie will get made now after all the positive feelings surrounding the character via Avengers, plus the actor is under contract for multiple films. They were not initially planning on doing any more Hulk films though due to lack luster ticket sales previously. I'd like to Bruce Banner appear in the Iron Man 3 movie since it the two of them took off together at the end of Avengers and Tony offered him a place/lab at Stark Tower earlier in the movie. I'm not sure if he will Hulk out in that film though. So I suspect we will see the Hulk next in Avengers 2, as it is making too much money to leave on the back burner for long. Then maybe we see a Hulk movie after Avengers 2 takes place, in which I would be pretty excited about the possibilities of a World War Hulk story line since it would be odd for him to have a solo Earth bound adventure after being part of the Avengers Team. There has also been talk that Marvel wants to do a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which could lead into a Hulk traveling the universe story line.

If/when Ant-Man gets made it needs to include the Wasp. I think this will get done prior to Avengers 2 so that they can join the team in that movie. That way they can continue to have the team evolve with new members joining and others not returning (when the actors contracts expire). It would allow them to keep the Avengers franchise going for 5-6 films over the next 20 years.

Would really like to see AIM or Hydra in Captain America 2. Hawkeye makes a passing reference to these groups early in the Avengers movie so I think it is in the plans. Not sure if Winter Soldier would ever appear though as someone told me that he does not exist in the Ultimate's comic story line from which the black Nic Fury is taken. I'm not a comic book expect though so that could be wrong, plus the movies could just do it's own thing.

I read about some speculation concerning a Black Widow stand alone movie. I think if it gets done that it would be more of a spy movie set in the marvel universe then a true super hero movie. Hopefully Hawkeye would get to be in that movie too so they can flesh out his character on film a bit more. Maybe a prequel movie about them too in Budapest since it was brought up in the Avengers film.