Marvel has big plans for its superhero stable beyond Iron Man 3, which has been getting stellar reviews across the board, and is on track to make a ton of money this weekend.
While at first we weren’t sure if a third Iron Man movie was such a good idea, because the second one wasn’t all that great, apparently Tony Stark and his stainless steel alter-ego is back bigger than ever, and in all likelihood he will rule the summer.
Since the smash success of The Avengers last year, Marvel Studios has been going like gangbusters, and there’s of course tons more movies, as well as the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, to come. In addition to writing and directing Avengers 2, Joss Whedon will be consulting behind the scenes, and the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, spilled the beans on many of their upcoming projects, including the eagerly awaited S.H.I.E.L.D.
Many of the upcoming Marvel adaptations relate back to the Avengers in one way or another, and as Feige told Entertainment Weekly, “There are things in Iron Man 3, the next Thor movie, and particularly in the next Captain America that will drastically change the landscape between Avengers and Avengers 2.” Referring to Whedon’s consultant position, Feige continued that “One of the amazing things in our little Marvel Studios sandbox is that filmmakers are inheriting other filmmakers’ solutions, other filmmakers’ expectations.”
Feige even said that the upcoming Ant Man movie, that will be directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), will be rewritten to fit in more with the arc of the other Marvel movies. In some ways, we wonder if Marvel is trying to one up Lucas with Star Wars, which will launch again the same year Avengers 2 is in theaters.
Feige mentioned his love of Star Wars and Star Trek in reference to Guardians of the Galaxy, which will be in more of a sci-fi vein than the other Marvel films. Feige has promised that Rocket Raccoon and Groot from the Galaxy gang will “steal the whole movie,” and those characters will need to be done carefully, because who wants a killer comic movie ruined by a CGI raccoon and a giant tree-man?
As for S.H.I.E.L.D., it will be nice to see a superhero series again (we’re still hoping the Hulk will come back one day too), and there’s also the hope that some of the big screen Marvel gang will guest star as well. “I think that would open up another avenue, another outlet for some of those character,” Feige said. “Maybe they guest star, I don’t know. I think they’re avoiding the cameo of the week on that show, which is very smart.”
Word on the street has it Cobie Smulders will be on the show, and when Robert Downey Jr. was asked if he would appear, the master thespian teased, “There’s no telling. I am open to everything.” However all this plays out over the next couple of years, Marvel is clearly on fire these days, and if you thought superhero movies would be played out by now, they’re only just beginning.
