Iron Man to appear in Captain America 3

Robert Downey Jr. has had a bit of a rollercoaster lately. Rumors are circulating around whether or not there will be an Iron Man 4 and in light of that, it was announced tonight that he is on the verge of signing a contract that will place him in Captain America 3 in 2016.

If this happens it is a pretty good sign that Marvel is introducing the Civil War storyline which pits Captain America against Tony Stark as they feud over the Superhero Registration Act. The act forces all people and creatures with superhuman abilities to register and disclose their gifts with the government and agree to act as a police force for them. Stark, along with Mr. Fantastic and Hank Pym, agrees with the SRA while Capt. Rogers and his team does not. Cap cites it as a violation of civil liberties and believes superhumans need privacy in order to help whenever the law cannot, they are not meant to actually be the law.

Basically, if this is the way they go it would put Stark in a somewhat villainous role that could lead into him being a villain in the third and/or fourth Avengers movie as well as a fourth Iron Man, if that happens.
Marvel is already planning on rebooting the 2006 Civil War storyline in 2015 to re-introduce and bring in new audience members before Captain America 3. The original comic series included crossover characters such as Spider-Man, Mr. Fantastic, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and Cyclops.

This is somewhat intriguing as another rumor going around in the past week or so was that Sony and Marvel were doing some re-negotiating and that it was possible that Spider-Man could possibly make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is also the case of a new X-Men film coming out in 2016 as well as the new Fantastic Four. If there is any possibility of a Marvel film crossover it very well could stem off Captain America 3 and extend into the third or fourth Avengers.

Is Sony negotiating with Marvel over Spider-Man?

Last week there were rumors flying around that Marvel Studios would be splitting The Avengers 3 into two films and that the heroes involved wouldn't be our current Avengers. Now there are more rumors that Sony is currently negotiating with Marvel to include Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This is potentially all bullshit as Sony has not budged at all on Spider-Man in the past and rumors of a Spidey cameo in the first Avengers movie was quickly proven false over rights issues. Seeing that Spider-Man is now the only Marvel property that Sony owns, I don't see why they would realistically be willing to share, especially with Venom and Sinister Six coming up. If they cross The Amazing Spider-Man film arc into the MCU, that would ensure that every single movie would have to tie together. Personally, I think it's too much. That would mean backtracking and changing existing arcs, etc. It's a big fat no.

Not to mention, the biggest issue here is rights. As you may recall, there were some people calling for an Avengers and X-Men crossover due to the utilization of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in Age of Ultron. The resolution of that was the studios didn't want to pay for the full crossover due to character rights. Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman has made his opinion public on the issue stating the studios need to suck it up because the universes should be together. In a perfect world, Mr. Jackman.

Marvel announces another 2018 release

In the past week we have received planned release dates for Marvel films through 2019. Marvel has announced one more untitled project for May 3, 2018. The weekend opportunity opened up after Sony removed The Amazing Spider-Man 4 from the date. The speculation is already swirling around which project this could be and one name is on the top of the list...

Did Marvel just announce the release date for The Avengers 3?


The previous dates announced for 2018 were July 6th and November 2nd. I personally already made the prediction that the May 5, 2017 spot could be The Avengers 3, but it is possible they might delay a third film until 2018. The only issue I see with that is that will make Phase Three incredibly long and will have way too many characters to try and wrap into a single Avengers film to finish.


Here are the Marvel release dates as they currently stand:

Guardians of the Galaxy (8/1/2014)
The Avengers: Age of Ultron (5/1/2015)
Ant-Man (7/17/2015)
Captain America 3 (5/6/2016)
Doctor Strange (7/8/2016)
Untitled (5/5/2017)
Untitled (7/28/2017)
Untitled (11/3/2017)
Untitled (5/3/2018)
Untitled (7/6/2018)
Untitled (11/2/2018)
Untitled (5/3/2019)


It's hard to say exactly when The Avengers 3 will hit, but if they stick with the May tradition we only have three possible dates for 2017, 2018, and 2019. It is worth mentioning that there is a three year gap between The Avengers and Age of Ultron so a 2018 release would keep them on that track, but there aren't nearly the amount of releases in Phase Two as there are currently planned for Phase Three and/or Phase Four.
Since The Avengers we have seen Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and are about to get Guardians of the Galaxy. That is four releases. If a third Avengers film doesn't come out until 2018 we will have another gap of three years, but we will also have a total of six releases instead of four. Unless one or two of those dates include spin-off films for The Hulk (finally) and Black Widow, I think six films is a bit much. Not to mention we are receiving two brand new characters with Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and also a rumored film for Black Panther. We also shouldn't forget one of those 2017 dates could be a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy or a third Thor project or a fourth Iron Man. There really is no way to tell what their timetable is. 

It is also worth mentioning that even though Sony removed The Amazing Spider-Man 4 from the release date, they announced today that they have immediately refilled the date by delaying The Amazing Spider-Man 3 until then. Unless Sony and Marvel want to go head to head like Marvel is currently doing with Warner Bros. over Batman v Superman being released the same day as Captain America 3, I doubt The Avengers 3 will be released the same weekend as Spider-Man. Unless Marvel is that confident their film will win I foresee a date change for one of them if Marvel announces that May 3, 2018 does indeed belong to The Avengers.
Either way I am sure we will have more answers to what projects belong to these untitled dates by this weekend. No doubt Marvel will come into SDCC at full speed with announcements and footage of some kind. If they don't then things will continue to be mysterious for a while longer.

[EDIT] It seems that Sony was thinking the same thing as they have already removed The Amazing Spider-Man 3 from the May 4, 2018 release date and are now saying it will be released in 2018. There is no specific day set.

Guardians of the Galaxy will tie into The Avengers 3

Curiosity is rising regarding Marvel's next release, Guardians of the Galaxy, in terms of how it will tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Director James Gunn recently spoke on the subject and said it will tie into the third Avengers installment.

Captain America once again served as a prequel to The Avengers with The Winter Soldier going right into The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Speculation about how Guardians of the Galaxy will tie into everything has been elaborated on a bit by director James Gunn.
Gunn made perhaps the biggest statement by confirming that Thanos will be appearing in GOTG via motion capture. Thanos is described to be the "head of the snake." Many assume the villain would appear in the second Avengers film, but he was passed over for Ultron and now it seems that reason was so he could appear in Guardians of the Galaxy.
In addition to this, the Infinity Stones have been teased in the existing Marvel films. In the comics, Thanos collects the stones to power The Infinity Gauntlet which gives him ultimate and unlimited power. So far the "stones" we have seen are the Tesseract and the Aether. From what we have seen from Guardians of the Galaxy so far, the orb sought after by Star-Lord might be serving as another piece of the Gauntlet. I also wouldn't count another piece appearing in Ant-Man.

The one thing we need to remember regarding this movie is it is a precursor and introduction to Marvel Phase Three which is moving away from the main heroes we have been dealing with since Iron Man's debut back in 2008. We are dealing with different villains, different heroes, and different stories. I am sure there will be some things from Phase Two that will carry into Phase Three, but for now this is what we have and it is mighty exciting.

Robert Downey Jr. will return for The Avengers 2 & 3

There has been much rumor and speculation around Robert Downey Jr.'s future as Iron Man. People were saying Iron Man 3 was the last time we would see Downey as Tony Stark, others said he had already signed on for more movies, few said that Iron Man was gone for good, etc..

We now have confirmation that Downey will indeed reprise the role of Tony Stark for The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3. Now keep in mind that this is a 2-picture deal and it does not include a commitment to a fourth Iron Man movie. This also pretty much guarantees that Tony Stark will not make an appearance in any other Phase Two or Phase Three movies no matter how small the part. Not unless separate contracts are signed.
Seeing that Robert Downey Jr. has made it public that he doesn't want his career to be centered around Iron Man and that he thinks he would like to retire from the character at 50, I think it's safe to say The Avengers 3 will be the last time we have Downey as Tony Stark. If Marvel continues with these characters past Phase Three he will no doubt be absent.