After making some huge announcements regarding their comic division last week, Marvel has dropped some big news regarding their movies only days before San Diego Comic-Con is set to kick off. Over the weekend, the studio officially shared that they have the Marvel Cinematic Universe mapped out through 2019.
According to Marvel.com, five more dates have been added to the schedule to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While no hints were given about what we could potentially be seeing (since they have to save something for Hall H), we now know that new films from the House of Ideas will be hitting theaters on July 28 and November 3, 2017; July 6 and November 2, 2018; and May 3, 2019.
From the moment that this news hit, several outlets have weighed in on their theories about what films could be filling these slots. If we go by all the rumors that are currently circulating, characters most likely to appear in Phase Three are Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and the Inhumans. However, a sequel to ‘Thor: The Dark World’ is almost certainly in the books, ‘The Avengers 3’ is a given, and there’s even talk of a team up between the incredible Hulk and the Guardians of the Galaxy, so these five slots could really go a number of ways.
My guess is that things will be a bit clearer after the company makes their presentation at this year’s Comic-Con, but until then I might as well throw in my predictions for Marvel’s upcoming film slate. If it were up to me, then the schedule might look something like this:
May 1, 2015 – The Avengers: Age of Ultron
July 17, 2015 – Ant-Man
May 6, 2016 – Captain America 3
July 8, 2016 – Doctor Strange
May 5, 2017 – Guardians of the Galaxy 2
July 28, 2017 – Black Panther
November 3, 2017 – Captain Marvel
July 6, 2018 – The Inhumans
November 2, 2018 – Thor 3
May 3, 2019 – The Avengers 3
Considering that each phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting longer, it’s definitely possible that Phase Three could contain all these movies. Plus, if Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are meant to face Thanos in their third film, they could use all the help that they could get. Not only would these new faces like Stephen Strange, Carol Danvers, and Blackbolt be a huge help in the battle, we could even see Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones from the upcoming Netflix shows get in on the action as well in cameos at the very least.
When plotting this all out, I took into account that each year will probably see a sequel and an original release, with the exception of 2017. Since we likely won’t see the Mad Titan play a huge role in how things play out until ‘The Avengers 3’, I tried to space out the cosmic films so that there’s a place for him to be talked about if not involved in the background in some way. Also, I had to remember that Robert Downey Jr. isn’t contracted for another Iron Man film, so that couldn’t be included on the roster. Finally, I put ‘Thor 3’ as the lead in to ‘The Avengers 3’ to make a the bold prediction that Thor will become unworthy of Mjolnir in his third movie somehow and the Avengers will have to go into battle without him. Without one of their biggest guns in play, that will give some other heroes a chance to shine and offer some dramatic tension until the inevitable final showdown when the God of Thunder’s powers are restored and he aids in the teams victory to save the Earth.
What do you think about Marvel’s latest announcement regarding their cinematic universe? Do you have any predictions about what movies could fill these vacant spots? Share your theories in the comment section.
