Marvel has plans through 2021

Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, made an announcement stating that Marvel has films planned from now until the year 2021. Yes, that is just shy of 10 years of plans. He also reminded everyone that the plans for 2015 that we know about now were in motion back in 2006.
The plans in question include expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include more characters and story arcs. This is to prove to studios and audiences that they can be successful outside of the five Avengers characters. This will include the 2014 release of Guardians of the Galaxy and the 2015 release of Ant-Man. Further films that have dates for 2016 and 2017 announced but aren't titled yet will most likely be new characters as well, such as Doctor Strange and a rumored film for Black Panther. I would wager that animated films aren't out of the question either.

It is likely that the 2017 or a 2018 release date will be The Avengers 3, so I wouldn't rule out a third movie for either Thor or Captain America if not a standalone movie for The Hulk. However, none of that is confirmed and until we got confirmation on anything for Phase Three other than Ant-Man we can just have the fun of guessing for now.

The next film Marvel has lined up for us is Thor: The Dark World which hits theaters this November. In 2014 we will have Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy.  

Guardians of the Galaxy villains revealed

So the internet says.

According to the rumors flying around the roles for Benicio del Toro, Lee Pace, and Karen Gillan in Guardians of the Galaxy. Apparently del Toro will be playing The Collector, Pace will play Ronan the Accuser, and Gillan is responsible for Nebula.

Here are some basics for each character:

The Collector is one of the elders of the universe. Otherwise known as Taneleer Tivan, he is extremely powerful with the true form of a powerful alien. After his wife relinquished her immortality he began collecting various items, most very valuable and rare, to maintain his sanity. Eventually, he obtained the power of prophecy and became a threat to Thanos. He created a museum of artifacts to protect them from Thanos including holding one of six gems from The Infinity Gauntlet. The Collector later came to Earth and enslaved Thor, captured Wasp and members of The Avengers, and eventually compelled Iron Man to serve him as a pawn. He possesses the power to manipulate cosmic energy and has a vast knowledge of the galaxy and alien worlds and species.

Ronan the Accuser made his first appearance alongside Fantastic Four. He originated on the Kree Empire and quickly rose to a high ranking military member in the Accuser Corps. Ronan was then sent to Earth to investigate the defeat of a robotic Sentry by Fantastic Four and is defeated by the team as well. He then tries to overthrow the powers than be in the Kree Empire and is mentally defeated and goes on to destroy a duplicate of the Silver Surfer. He possesses superhuman strength, endurance, speed, and reflexes. All powers are enhanced by an exoskeleton armor. 

Nebula is an alien supervillain and probably the baddest of the three announced for Guardians of the Galaxy. She is often described as a brutal mercenary Nebula seized control of the spaceship Sanctuary II which was under the command of Thanos. She believed Thanos to be dead and also claimed he was her kin, so she created a team of pirates which consisted of Skunge, Kehl, Gunthar, and Levan. She approached Captain Marvel to join her mercenary gang and later attacked The Avengers. She ran into trouble after Thanos was resurrected and he reclaimed the Sanctuary II and nearly killed Nebula. Using the Infinity Gems he transformed her into a mindless zombie and physically turned her grotesque. Thanos then claimed the Infinity Gauntlet and boasted Nebula claiming she was his greatest creation. Nebula later was able to claim the Gauntlet from Thanos and used its power to restore herself and banish Thanos and attempt to conquer the universe for herself. Thanos struck a deal with a group of heroes to defeat Nebula. The group consisted of Doctor Strange, Adam Warlock, The Silver Surfer, Thor, Hulk, Firelord, Doctor Doom, and Drax the Destroyer. Nebula was captured by Starfox and returned to Titan for trial where she was later imprisoned. Her powers include gifts in intellect and strategy and is a very skilled combatant in both armed and unarmed situations.


Now with all that said, it's pretty safe to assume these villains won't stop at Guardians of the Galaxy. At least not all of them. I would love to bet that Nebula will extend past The Avengers 2 and will go well into Phase Three. I wouldn't put much stock into The Collector and Ronan the Accuser as of right now because when you look at who these characters are, Nebula is by far the baddest and most dangerous. She is also the most intertwined with Thanos who has already been announced. This Cinematic Universe is getting pretty big.
I also think, despite them being made by different studios, this would be the opportunity to reference the new Fantastic Four. Seeing that Ronan the Accuser mainly dealt with them and Thanos uses both Doctor Doom and The Silver Surfer to defeat Nebula it's kind of a no brainer. 

Guardians of the Galaxy is set to premiere on August 1, 2014 and is being directed by James Gunn. Cast members already secured are Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), John C. Reilly (Rhomann Dey), and Michael Rooker (Yondu).

How will the Hulk fit into Marvel Phase Two and Three?

While it appeared that the only way we may continue seeing Bruce Banner (aka, the Hulk) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was through small parts and/or cameos it seems that we were wrong. Or could still be wrong.

Rumor has it that Marvel is working on a separate storyline for the Hulk that will send him far away and will take place in another stand-alone Hulk movie. Kevin Feige pretty much confirmed that another Hulk movie won't take place until after The Avengers 2 which would automatically put it in Phase Three. The only real confirmation for Phase Three so far is Edgar Wright's Ant-Man which was originally supposed to wrap up Phase Two.
However, with the introduction of Doctor Strange there are a couple Hulk arcs that are possible for not only a stand-alone Hulk movie but as a potential lead into both The Avengers 3 and the stand-alone Doctor Strange movie. Those arcs being, of course, "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk." Some good points highlighted via Latino Review give a possible outline for the future of Dr. Banner.

Let's start with Planet Hulk:
1. Don't expect to see the Hulk until The Avengers 2, but he might show up in a Phase Two post-credit scene to set up a potential stand-alone Hulk movie.

2. After being deemed incredibly dangerous, Hulk is banished from Earth and shipped off into space by Marvel's version of the Illuminati which includes Tony Stark (aka, Iron Man) and Doctor Strange.

3. After Hulk is shipped off is where the Planet Hulk arc comes into play. He is sent into space where he is held captive on the planet Sakaar and forced to participate in gladiator games. Hulk eventually becomes a hero and leads a rebellion against the Red King.

Now here comes the potential entrance of World War Hulk:
1. After the rebellion the Hulk has a pretty decent amount of loyal followers which is basically an army and at this point, the Hulk is pissed off more than usual. The thought is that Hulk will return to Earth with his army to begin the "World War Hulk" arc.

2. In "World War Hulk", he basically returns and he and his army fight just about every hero and heroic team on Earth. Eventually the teams and heroes are pitted against each other in gladiator style combat which is similar to what he was forced into on Sakaar.


Now this is fully possible due to the fact that Mark Ruffalo signed a 6-movie deal with Marvel which began with The Avengers. He still technically has five more appearances to make. I have no doubt he will be in both The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3, but that leaves 3 more movies he has to appear in and I highly doubt they will just be after-credit cameos.

Yet another thing that makes this possible, which is my personal theory, is the fact that World War Hulk includes Fantastic Four and X-Men. Seeing that we will be getting a new Fantastic Four in 2014 and we already have the ball rolling on X-Men with the release of X-Men: First Class and X-Men Days of Future Past for next year... it is completely possible that The Avengers 3 could center around the Hulk with this "World War Hulk" scenario. It would be a great way to bring every Marvel hero into play at the same time without overloading. I think that would be awesome, by the way.

Iron Man 3 to have international IMAX release

Iron Man 3 is set to open here in North America on May 3rd, but it will have an international opening on April 25th in the IMAX 3D format. The film will be digitally remastered for sound and picture to achieve the format. Iron Man 3 will be the fourth Marvel film to take advantage of the IMAX 3D format. Previously The Avengers, Thor, and Iron Man 2 were released in IMAX.

The reason for this? The previous three movies to be released in IMAX broke box office records. =^D

First Images from Iron Man 3!

We have the first images for Iron Man 3 along with a teaser poster. Enjoy them as much as I did.

More photos after the jump!

Frank Grillo joining Captain America 2?

Frank Grillo (Warrior, The Grey) confirmed via Twitter that he is in the testing phase for a villain role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The other villain roles have yet to be announced nor is there confirmation that Grillo is in fact joining the cast, but I think he would make a pretty decent villain. I can't wait to hear who the other villains are.

So far the only confirmations we have are Chris Evans returning as Steve Rogers (aka, Captain America) and Anthony Mackie who will be playing Falcon. It is also likely that Sebastian Stan will return to play Bucky Barnes (aka, The Winter Soldier). There are rumors circulating around a major female lead role but no one has been cast yet. The role hasn't even been named yet.

UPDATE: Viggo Mortensen to join Marvel?

I wrote a couple days ago that there was a rumor circulating that Viggo Mortensen might be added to the cast of Thor: The Dark World as Doctor Strange. We now have confirmation that it's not true. Marvel said they would love to work with Mortensen at some point but he is not signed or attached to any Marvel project at this time.

Bummer.