Even before ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ became a box office success and changed the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we knew it, we knew that ‘Captain America 3’ was happening. Back in June 2013, Marvel Studios announced that they locked down two dates in 2016 and 2017 for a couple of unannounced films. Then Warner Bros. and DC decided that they would be pushing ‘Batman vs. Superman’ from July 17, 2015 to May 6, 2016, which happened to be occupied by a Marvel movie already. Finally, the House of Ideas revealed that they have no intention of rescheduling their film and shared that the Sentinel of Liberty would be occupying that 2016 date with his third solo adventure. But now, could it be that Marvel’s parent company Disney might persuade them to change their minds?

According to Variety reporter Brent Lang, Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn shared that they may be considering switching the release date of the star-spangled sequel from the Russo brothers. Lang tweeted the following quote from a recent interview with Horn:

Of course, there are pros and cons to changing the date. For one, if these studios decide to open their superhero movies at the same time, they’re cannibalizing their audience. It’s very likely that fans looking to see ‘Captain America 3’ will probably want to see ‘Batman vs. Superman’ as well. However, the studio who decides to budge their movie risks looking “weak” for conceding, which neither want for obvious reasons. Either way, with this situation developing, both movies are getting a good amount of publicity years before they’re set to start production let alone hit theaters. It’s definitely not a bad thing for any movie studio to have the world talking about your upcoming projects.

Although, while it’s possible that Disney or WB may budge eventually, it appears that Marvel top brass is standing their ground for now. In the latest issue of Empire Magazine (via CinemaBlend), Kevin Feige asserts a bit of dominance by reminding people that Marvel staked claim to the date first:

“We had the flag there first. What other people do and where has always been less of our concern. It’s about keeping our head down and doing what we would believe would be cool for an audience to see.”

As a fan of the superhero movie genre in general, I’d love to see two of the biggest franchises around go head to head, but I’m predicting that someone is going to move eventually. If I had to choose, I’d guess DC would push back considering that they keep adding members of the Justice League to the ‘Man of Steel’ sequel. But then again, the third Cap movie doesn’t have a completed script yet as far as I know, so it could benefit from an extension.

Do you think that Marvel and Disney will move the release date for ‘Captain America 3’? What do you think of the comments from Alan Horn and Kevin Feige? Share your thoughts in the comments below.