Marvel just revealed the entire line-up of their Cinematic Universe. And to little surprise, much of what had been leaked/rumored turned out...to be true! A first real big budget modern superheroine film! Black Panther! And much more!
Here's my entire recap - with bonus commentary! - including next year's end of phase 2 (Age of Ultron) to the end of phase 3 (the 2-parter Avengers 3 - yes even those rumors ended up to be true!!!).
It all starts with Joss Whedon's
Avengers: Age of Ultron next year, on May 1, 2015.
So far I'm kinda mixed on this one. It seems to amp up the stakes, the action, the heroes and the villain. But, I dunno, I feel kinda underwhelmed by this one.... Not much to go on so far. It looks epic and yadda yadda. I dunno... I kinda would have prefered a more robotic, less BayFormers Ultron. Tied to Ant-man. Speaking of,
Next up we'll have
Ant-Man. Which was originally meant to be part of phase 1, back before the original Avengers. And then part of phase 2, in order to launch the above Age of Ultron. And finally it will instead kickstart phase 3. I wonder why they didn't try squeeze it right before Avengers 2 once they got rid of Edgar Wright... Not sure how I feel about this one. Done right, it could be a breath of fresh air and fun.. but... This one's out later, on July 17, 2015. And it is now mostly done filming by now, directed by filler stand-in
Yes Man film director, Peyton Reed.
Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016). Alright. This should be pretty interesting. The cast will no doubt be the same, and the Russo bros. have all but said they are in fact returning for this one to direct. Adapting Civil War with basically nobody having a secret identity in the MCU should be interesting. I guess they'll have to turn the focus to the registrating act instead. Like the army/US government wanting to have a hold of Tony Stark's technology (and Asgardian tech/Antman's tech?). And Tony wanting to keep all his toys to himself in fear the government wanting to take over the rest of the world/other countries or something. But Cap thinking that's for the best following the Ultron debacle? I guess it could work.
Doctor Strange (Nov. 4, 2016). As far as casting and directing duties, this one's still up in the air. The latest rumors have Marvel & co trying to sign Benedict Cumberbatch for the role. Which could be fun. I hope they make this one as weird, fun and Jack Kirby-esque as possible.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (May 5, 2017). YES! Sign me in! My body's ready! XD From the looks of things (this above official logo), it already looks like a fun James Gunn flick! Hopefully we get more Guardians from the comic and (can I ask for this?) team costumes...? Please? Also, more Cosmo!!
Thor: Ragnarok (July 27, 2017). While I'm not super motivated for this one, I guess they can move forward from this and then adapt J.M. Straczynski's "Asgard over Kansas" storyline, which to be honest is my all-time favorite "era" of Thor comics. I demand BILL OF BILLS!
Black Panther (Nov. 3, 2017). Yes!! FINALLY! Also - 3 Marvel movies in 2017!?! I guess they're amping up the rythm of these releases! All the Vibranium storyline you can glimpse from the Age of Ultron trailer (Ultron having vibranium put all over his hand for a couple seconds, boats perhaps shipping cargo from Wakanda, and Andy Serkis possibly playing Ulysses Klaw?) In fact, this should be the next film following Ultron!! I can't wait for this one! I just hope people won't be comparing him to Batman non-stop...
Marvel’s The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (May 4, 2018). Part one! That's right! This will be the first "most commercial" movie I'll be deliberatively watching, personally. And by that I just mean one of these movies people cut into 2-parters in purpose (not like Back to the Future Part 2 and 3, I mean more like those Harry Potters, Twilight or Hunger Games installments that studios stretched over two films for no reason, besides making more $$$). ANYWAYS - Joss Whedon's said he might not direct it and the Russo bros. have been really interested in filming an Avengers movie. This is the film that will supposedly bring the Guardians of the Galaxy to Earth, to meet the rest of the Avengers to face Thanos - aka Marvel's big tease. I might be epic! Or a big flop! Personally, I'm highly awaiting this one!
Captain Marvel (July 6, 2018). YES. FINALLY! A thousand times yes, finally a kickass Marvel heroine in her own standalone film! Yes!
Marvel already released a press release and confirmed this will be Carol Danvers! Suck it fanboys, you know which ones. The ones that have been wanting to see Marvel call her "Miss Marvel" or have it one of the dudes Captain Marvel instead. She's kickass, her costume's kickass. Deal with it! But 2018, really? Ugh.. Seems so far away...
Inhumans (Nov. 2, 2018). Really? Nothing against 'em, but sounds like a way Marvel found to avoid the whole "Fox has the rights to the mutants" dilemma. And Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige has been asking for this one for so long... Super-powered people living on the moon? The next step of human evolution? And a leader that cannot talk (to not destroy the universe..). It might be decent and fun. But.. really? Where's my Hawkguy film? Or Black Widow? Or ...
And finally phase 3 will close with the second half of the Thanos crossover epic,
Marvel’s The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 (May 3, 2019). Probably leading to another wave of more epic Marvel films.. or not. Or a reboot. Or whatevs! Who cares, it's so far away into the future, let's look for the coming soon projects first.
I gotta say, I have to hand it to Marvel and Disney. Their movies have been kickin' all sorts of ass! I gotta admit, phase 2 hasn't been that fantastic to me. I didn't look forward to much of these films these last few years, mostly sequels. And despite basically enjoying all of them, nothing have come to the same level of this year's best surprise, and my most highly anticipated film which turned out to be James Gunn's take on one of my favorite teams, Guardians of the Galaxy! Now that was without a doubt my favorite Marvel movie so far! Even better, one of my all-time favorite science-fiction film in years! A return to fun space opera like I hadn't seen in ages!!
And all that thanks to bringing someone like Gunn on board, no doubt. One of the best from his generation. (that's why I still miss the fact they lost Edgar Wright...) Hopefully they do the same and take some great new talents into consideration for all these upcoming films!
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