Marvel announces movies for the rest of this decade

So Marvel have laid out their plans for Phase 3 of the movie franchise. In general terms, there’s nothing too surprising in what is coming up between Avengers 2 and 3 – we knew we were getting Cap 3 and Guardians 2, as well as Doctor Strange even though the date hadn’t been confirmed, and the end of The Dark World demanded Thor 3. They have, by upping the schedule to three a year in 2017, managed to find space for Black Panther as well. And after Avengers 3 – now Avengers 3.1 – it gets interesting. And there’s also plenty to say when we get down to the detail.

Captain America: Civil War: So the rumours were true – Robert Downey, Jr, will be in this movie, and it will be Civil War. Apparently this is what the fans want. (Was there a vote? I don’t remember being asked.) Fortunately, the rumours that it would lead into Avengers: Civil War turned out to be rubbish. In fact, the fans who wanted Civil War may well be disappointed, as Kevin Feige makes it pretty clear that this will be little more than “inspired” by Mark Millar’s magnum opus – in other words, it’s just a label that is being slapped on a Cap vs. Shellhead movie. In truth, it’s very difficult to do the comics Civil War in the movies, especially as a Cap movie: the comic story works because the Marvel Universe has hundreds of superheroes, where the MCU will still have less than thirty by the time this movie comes out; a central issue in the comic is the revelation of secret identities, which the MCU has never bothered with (and since they don’t have Spider-Man, they can’t do the iconic reveal of his id); and there’s no identifiable major villain at work, and the story is consequently a little ambiguous for a Hollywood blockbuster, even one in the MCU. It does appear that Tony and Steve’s quarrel will be over a Superhero Registration Act, even though it’s hard to see either RDJ’s Stark (who refused to hand the Irontech over to the government) or Evans’ Cap (who rejected Project Insight even before he knew it was run by HYDRA) in favour of such a thing. Maybe this will be connected with a disagreement over Stark’s private-enterprise world security organization – having destroyed SHIELD Cap may not like Stark’s rebuilding it, even though Stark pays for the Avengers. (Or perhaps Cap and Rhodey will have words about the Iron Patriot look.)  But expect their fight to be the result of manipulation by a villain, perhaps event the Serpent Society (since Viper has close ties to HYDRA – though of course they can’t call her Viper due to The Wolverine), for Stark to be in the wrong and admit it (it’s a Cap movie, after all), and them to be best buds by the end. I expect the status of SHIELD to be resolved (probably not in time to save the TV series). We are told that the Black Panther will appear, and we will surely get the resolution of the Winter Soldier story, the return of the Falcon, and Sharon Carter. This will make the movie quite busy.

Doctor Strange: The fact that this is now slated for November 2016 rather than the earlier planned date of July is probably confirmation that Benedict Cumberbatch will be taking the role (though worth pointing out that even the Deadline article that started the rumour only said, once you got past the headline, that negotiations had begun, which isn’t the same as actually being cast). A July release would involve filming in the first part of 2015, and with Cumberbatch’s commitments to filming Sherlock and rehearsing for Hamlet, there simply isn’t the time. A November release means filming could take place after his run in Hamlet is over. Disappointment that the role has gone to another white bloke is understandable. There are other things about this movie that worry me. Feige has made it clear that, as with the Asgardians, Strange’s magic will be rooted in rational explanations. Which I think begs the question, “Why do Doctor Strange in the first place if you’re going to undermine the sorcery like that?”

Guardians of the Galaxy 2: We’ll find out more about Star-Lord’s father. Obviously (I think), this will see the return of Nebula. It probably will see the return of Howard the Duck. Can we have Mantis as well, please? Or Nikki? Or any female character? It will almost certainly involve Thanos getting his hands on the Orb from Guardians 1, and the Aether from Dark World, as he collects the Infinity Stones, thus leading into Avengers 3.

Thor: Ragnarok: Pretty obvious title, and of course, the end of the last Thor movie needs to be resolved. I think this may be the last appearance for Hiddlestone’s Loki. Lorelei from Agents of SHIELD will surely turn up. And I also expect that in this movie Thanos will get hold of the Tesseract and the Infinity Gauntlet, probably from the ruins of Asgard. (I think the Loki’s sceptre from Avengers is powered by another Infinity Stone, and may be re-acquired by Thanos in a mid- or post-credits scene in Age of Ultron, and the Obelisk from season 2 of Agents of SHIELD is another, leaving one left.  Could that one be in Wakanda …)

Black Panther: A minority-led superhero movie! Of course, the original backstory for the Panther remains a teensy bit racist, but hopefully they will tidy that up a bit (though they aren’t doing so for Doctor Strange or Iron Fist).

Avengers: Infinity War: This is going to have everything. It almost certainly will have a team-up between the Avengers and the Guardians. And I expect that will be Avengers Max, including not just the original six plus the Maximoffs and the Vision, but also at least some, if not all, of Iron Patriot, the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, the Wasp (I’m assuming Evangeline Lily will become the Wasp at the end of Ant-Man), the Black Panther and Mockingbird. And maybe even Doctor Strange.

Captain Marvel: YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. You may gather I’m pretty excited about this, not least because it pretty much protects Carol’s comic against cancellation for the next four years. I predicted once Warners had announced a Wonder Woman movie that Marvel would follow suit. Placed between the two parts of Infinity War, this is likely to tie in pretty closely in terms of cosmic epic (and Carol will become an Avenger), but I am hoping for Jessica Drew. (Probably not as Spider-Woman, though, as I expect Sony have the rights to that name. I don’t think they have any rights to Jess, who has never been a Spider-Man supporting character, and I expect their female-led superhero movie is likely to be Black Cat. So step forward Arachne – a codename Jess has previously gone by.) I’m still not convinced that Katee Sackhoff is in the frame for this, great though it would be. Her widely reported Twitter teases don’t quite say “Captain Marvel” to me (where does the veil fit in?), and teasing her in Age of Ultron seems a long way out for a movie that’s another four years away.

Inhumans: An odd one, this. I’d have thought Fox might have had the rights to these as part of the FF franchise, but apparently not. Will tie in with the whole cosmic thing for 2018/2019.

What’s missing? No sign of a Black Widow movie. Feige is still talking bollocks about this – apparently she’s too integral to the Avengers to get her own movie, a problem that doesn’t seem to affect Cap, Iron Man or Thor. But Marvel (and Disney) are no fools, and if they are going with a female-led movie and not using an established (in the cinema) property, they must have their reasons. I assume those reasons are built around Scarlett Johannson’s availability – by the time filming on Captain Marvel takes place, her daughter will still only be two. I now fully expect that we will see a Black Widow movie early in Phase 4.

There’s also no sign of Iron Man 4. We might expect some resolution to the Ten Rings plot left hanging at the end of All Hail The King, but I don’t know where they’ll put it. Perhaps that will end up in Agents of SHIELD, assuming that gets a third season. If there is to be an Iron Man 4, it will probably be early in Phase 4, as by 2018, the earliest possible date for filming, RDJ will be 53 and Paltrow 45. My wishlist for Iron Man 4 includes Tony and Pepper breaking up, more of Pepper in an Irontech suit, and Pepper getting together with Happy.

Also, no Hulk movie for Mark Ruffalo. This is because all Hulk movies are rubbish, and Marvel have learnt their lesson (much though I would like to see the return of Liv Tyler’s Betty Ross). Though they might try She-Hulk.