Just How Will THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Set Up Marvel's Phase Three?

With Ant-Man set to kick off “Phase Three” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Doctor Strange likely to follow, the biggest post-The Avengers: Age of Ultron rumor is that the Incredible Hulk will be launched into space, leading to a Planet Hulk movie that would then set up a World War Hulk storyline in The Avengers 3. Though that rumor has been dismissed by Kevin Feige and outright debunked writer/director Joss Whedon himself, it could be consistent with the latest tease from HitFix's Drew McWeeny, who doesn't hide knowing more about Marvel Studios' future than us.

In a report covering last night's news that Johnny Depp has met with Marvel about Doctor Strange, McWeeny suggested that “Phase Three” altogether is going to be very interesting “because the end of The Avengers: Age of Ultron pretty much shatters what we know about the Avengers so far and who we know as the Avengers.” The journalist further teases that there are “some big narrative threads that will be left dangling” by Joss Whedon's forthcoming sequel and Marvel “playing those storylines out before bringing everyone back together for The Avengers 3 is going to require some very deft storytelling even as the larger world-building is going on.”

We may not fully understand everything until we actually see Earth's mightiest heroes reassemble on the big screen next year, but we can always speculate until then. One thing that's safe to assume is that the current roster will certainly shift by the end of the sequel. Meanwhile, though Drew McWeeny already confirmed that War Machine has a key role, MTV spoke with actor Don Cheadle at the Golden Globes last weekend and asked about his involvement with The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Apparently he would only give a huge grin; yeah, he's in. What do you think?