Marvel Studios President
Kevin Feige recently sat down with
Entertainment Weekly to outline the studio's
Phase III plans. Here's what he had to say:
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On Ant-Man, which is a definite member of Marvel's Phase III film roster, Feige acknowledges that its been a long time coming:
"We started working with Edgar on that movie right in the dawn of us becoming our own studio. It goes back so long you maybe even remember our 2006 appearance at Comic-Con. Edgar was on that panel talking about Ant-Man. And it had been a few years [of planning] at that point.” Director Edgar Wright said he, not Marvel is the reason why the film has taken so long as he wanted to make
Scott Pilgrim and
The World’s End first. Ant-Man finally has a home in Phase III.
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On Doctor Strange, the only new bit from Feige is an acknowledgement that a number of actors are probably keen to play the Master of the Mystic Arts:
"I think there’s any number of actors who would be chomping at the bit to play this guy.”
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On Blade, Ghost Rider, Daredevil and Punisher, we get a direct quote from Feige confirming that they're all back at Marvel. But he doesn't give an indication that they'll be on the Marvel film docket anytime soon.:
"So Punisher, Ghost Rider, … Blade, all those characters are back. They all have potential, but I think we need to find the right time.”
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On Hulk, amongst a summary of previously released info there's a new blurb from Feige that reiterates that the next solo Hulk outing will definitely focus on Mark Ruffalo :
“People were like, ‘You’ve already had two movies. How is that going to happen?’ One of the goals that we talked about with Joss [Whedon] on Avengers was we want Hulk to be cool again. Mark [Ruffalo] could stand in his own movie. … We’re talking about it. We’re excited to sit down and go, ‘What is a stand-alone Hulk movie?’”
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On The Inhumans, Feige went into a little bit more detail. Many fans assumed that Guardians of the Galaxy and The Inhumans (both in development at the same time) were competing for a Phase II roster spot. 'Guardians' obviously won out but where does that leave The Inhumans?:
"Inhumans is cool, they’re really great characters. The most powerful guy is the king who doesn’t say a word and if he does — lookout. That’s awesome. And the notion of the Terrigen Mists, this notion that you go through and don’t know what you’re going to be on the other side, is incredibly compelling dramatically. [However] all the craziness that comes with Inhumans, we’ve done in the other movies already. But this would have some of the social drama that we haven’t really done yet. [Fox’s] X-Men, obviously, has been touching on that stuff for a while.” Hmmm.... could Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver be products of the Terrigen Mist instead of actual mutants in The Avengers 2?
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On The Runaways, it's revealed that the project was originally set to be a Phase One film but ultimately didn't fit the tone of the budding Marvel Cinematic Universe and was put on hold.:
“It’s a matter of where it fits. The way the business is working now, you either have really inexpensive, sort of surprise movies that can come out and be hits, but don’t cost much. Or you have the big giant summer blockbusters that really swing for the fences. Right now, we’re just swinging for the fences every time. Runaways sort of falls in between those, in a way. We just haven’t found where or how to do it… right now.”
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On Marvel Zombies...wait, what, Marvel Zombies? Well to be fair, the interviewer broached the subject first, not Feige:
“I know… Zombies is such a funny thing because its such a cool comic and it’s such a cool idea, but the bigger profile becomes what starts to happen [with fans]. Are you going to draw figures in chalk with your 3-year-old with Hulk eating someone? Or Captain America with his brains coming out of the top of his head? Probably not.”
The article also mentioned
Black Panther and
Iron Man 4 but the information was merely a summary of previously reported quotes and facts.