We know the titles for Phase 2. We know (most of) the villains. We can guess most of the plots. But we don't know everything. Here are some of the things that I'm hoping we'll find out through spoilers over the coming years.
Another Villain in Iron Man 3
We've heard that Ben Kingsley's Mandarin is going to be a more behind the scenes / manipulative mastermind type villain in Iron Man 3. We also know that Iron Man will be going up against Firepower: that's a suit created for the US Military (which ties in nicely with the War Machine arc), and it's pilot, Jack Taggert, was given a newer version of the suit by Mandarin at one point.
Lets not forget though that Iron Man 3 needs to throw down enough enemies for Iron Man
and War Machine. A Marvel Studios movie needs disposable enemies like the Hammeroids, Frost Giants, HYDRA Troopers, or the Chitauri so that there can be big action sequences (perhaps another outing from the "Ten Rings" terrorists, given the obvious name link with the Mandarin?); and then they need a villain that the hero can go one-on-one with, like Iron Monger, Whiplash, the Destroyer, Loki, or Red Skull. Having a two-on-one fight against Firepower doesn't sit right with me, given that Extremis and the Mandarin are meant to be the main feature of the plot.
One person notably missing from the known cast - but part of the Extremis storyline - is Mallen, a guy given the Extremis virus who becomes enough of a badass to beat Iron Man to a pulp with his bare hands. It seems a pretty safe bet to assume this person will be included, unless they plan on merging Mallen with Dr. Aldrich Killian - having the creator of the Extremis virus inject himself - to take better advantage of Guy Pierce, who has been cast in the role.
He's not the only option, though. The inclusion of AIM in the story is interesting. It's possible that they're going to be the scientific entity responsible for developing Extremis, and it's setting them up for further appearances in the Marvel Studios universe. However, they might have a larger part to play in the story, and could contribute someone like MODOK (hopefully with a slightly less absurd appearance). Also, the Living Laser has ties to AIM, and at one point he was part of a group called Mandarin's Minions: that could serve as an added link between AIM and the Mandarin.
Also, actress Stephanie Szostak has been cast, but we don't know who she'll be playing yet. My guess would be Monica Rappaccini, who is one of the characters to have led AIM.
Of course, aside from Stephanie Szostak, there aren't any characters cast that we don't yet know about. What if we're treated to a villain / enemy that doesn't require an actor to play them? The aforementioned Mandarin's Minions featured the Iron Man villain Ultimo: a giant robot, who could easily serve as the Destroyer that Iron Man fights on his way to the Mandarin. Alternatively, there is also Arsenal: a doomsday robot designed by Howard Stark. Given how heavy Iron Man 2 was on exposition about Tony's father, and the major role that Stark Sr had in The First Avenger, Having AIM or the Mandarin get their hands on one of Howard's inventions could be an interesting continuation of that theme.
An AIM Connection to HYDRA
Maybe this goes without saying: but the Advanced Idea Mechanics are, in the comics at least, an offshoot / derivative of the Nazi organisation HYDRA. We know that these guys are going to find their way into Iron Man 3 in some capacity, and after the reveals about Howard Stark's involvement with SHIELD in Iron Man 2, and his ties to Captain America in The First Avenger, this kind of link is exactly the sort of thing that is right up the Marvel Studios' alley.
As for how that will play out: that's a much more interesting question. My expectation is that it'll be something like the vault scene in Thor: a glimpse of some sort of HYDRA tech in the background, the same way we saw the Infinity Gauntlet. Alternatively, there may be some sort of name drop - were it me, I'd have a tour guide wandering around in one of the scenes, letting the audience hear a snatch of dialogue about AIM being founded in the fifties by (insert name of someone from HYDRA), who emigrated from Germany after the war, et cetera.
More Asgardians in Thor: The Dark World
I really enjoyed the way that the Warriors Three and Sif factored into Thor. The band of adventurers that rode off to Jotunheim added to the fantasy epic flair of the movie, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to see more of their heroic exploits.
Even to a relatively uninitiated person like me however, there were a few Asgardians who were noticeably absent from the first Thor movie: not even their distinctively-shaped helmets could be seen.
Balder the Brave - According to Norse mythology, the god Baldr is, well, sort of dead. It's a long story that involves a lot of mistletoe and crying. In the Marvel Universe however he's alive and well, and is one of Thor's major Asgardian allies. He's also a potentially good fit to be introduced in
Thor: The Dark World - at one point, the dark elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston's villain character) disguised himself as Balder in order to infiltrate Asgard, on orders from Surtur. While that is probably a potential plot for another movie (more on that later), introducing Balder now would seem like a smart move.
Enchantress and Executioner - I think most of us are expecting to see Loki as a prisoner in Asgard during the events of Thor 2. The Trickster is unlikely to remain a prisoner forever; but he'll need help getting out. What better help than Amora and Skurge, his frequent allies? Aside from being staple companions of Loki who would help flesh out his part of the story, there may be another reason to introduce them at this point: the characters were both members of the Masters of Evil and Mandarin's Minions. With Iron Man 3 seeing the introduction of the Mandarin, we may see Marvel sowing the seeds for a future Avengers opponent that it a little heavier on the familiar faces.
Algrim the Strong - Okay, he's technically not Asgardian: but the dark elf who will eventually become Kurse seems like a smart character to put money on. Thor will need someone to throw his hammer at: and cool as Christopher Eccleston is, I can't see his Malekith having the kind of physicality needed for that kind of face-off. In the comics, Algrim was betrayed by Malekith, who attempted to drop both he and Thor into lava: one Darth Vader style suit of armour origin story later, and Algrim becomes the Kurse. He also potentially has a role alongside Balder in the potential plot I alluded to earlier.
Surtur - Loki was wrong. He isn't the monster that Asgardians tell their children about at night: that honour falls to Surtur, the demonic king of the fire giants. If Marvel plans to take a trilogy approach to Thor, he is the ultimate part three villain. At one point he teamed up with Loki
and Malekith: and this is the potential plot I've been getting at. Finding out that Malekith was following orders from Surtur, and/or that Malekith has replaced Balder (as per those orders) is exactly the kind of thing I would expect to see in the post-credits teaser of Thor 2. Heck: maybe a disguised Malekith will help Loki escape, and we get to see the look of dread on Loki's face as he realises that he owes his freedom to the devil.
Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier
It doesn't take much guesswork to know that Captain America 2 is going to feature the return of Bucky Barnes. Ignoring the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes version where the Winter Soldier is a product of HYDRA, Bucky is usually fished out of the water by the Russians, who then brainwash him and turn him into a supersoldier. Inevitably, that Soviet tie-in means that Winter Soldier crossed paths with Black Widow: in fact, there's a romance between the two of them.
Given the fact that the Avengers did away with the Black Widow / Hawkeye romance, I'd be surprised if they went that angle here. However, given how much younger Widow is than her comic book counterpart, it wouldn't surprise me if we saw Winter Soldier somehow involved in her backstory: perhaps as some sort of mentor.
Hell: perhaps there'll even be a scene where Steve is looking at an old photo of the Howling Commandos, and Natasha recognises him. That could spark off the whole adventure.
As a sidenote: I hope the people behind The Winter Soldier watched some of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon. Regardless of your opinion on that particular series, the whole "cryo-freezing Bucky between missions" was a fantastic explanation for his apparent youth.
Baron Zemo Getting Introduced at Some Point
While I mentioned that none of the Masters of Evil are introduced yet, I really hope that changes. There are rumours circling that the Iron Man 3 post-credits scene will feature Ant-Man versus Radioactive Man, which would bring the grand total to one: but one does not a team of villains make.
Iron Man is finally getting his archnemesis, Mandarin; and you could probably argue that Loki has a similar unending rivalry with Thor. Given how decisively Red Skull was killed off however, Captain America doesn't have an enemy that will keep coming back. Baron Zemo could provide him with that, and could potentially provide a way of bringing HYDRA to the present day to exist alongside AIM.
One possibility would be to introduce Zemo as part of the Winter Soldier story. However, if the rumours of an in-continuity television series are true, it might be interesting to see Zemo appear as the mastermind behind that. Many of the Masters of Evil characters are fairly minor in the grand scheme of things: characters like Whirlwind and Ulysses Klaw might not deserve a feature film introduction, but could be formidable opponents for a SHIELD team as part of an hour-long episode. Using the series as a proving ground for the live action versions of characters could be a really good way to find which ones will work, and could lead to a possible feature film confrontation with the Avengers in a few sequels' time.
The Villain in Ant-Man
We know nothing about this movie, save for the fact that Hank Pym will probably be a shield agent. We don't even know if Wasp will feature, though it's probably a safe bet, if only to stop Avengers 2 from becoming more of a sausage fest. But who?
I'll admit - I know very little about Ant-Man. Prior to doing a bunch of research, the only Ant-Man villain that I could name would be Ultron. However, I'm hoping that we *won't* see Ultron show up as the villain in Ant-Man: I think he'd be a more interesting opponent if he was brought in as part of an Avengers story in some way. There is only one exceptional situation where I think this storyline might work *better* in a solo story; I'll cover that a bit later on.
From what is left, there are two candidates for Ant-Man villains that I personally have my fingers crossed for.
The first is AIM. We already know that this organisation is being introduced in Iron Man 3 and, if my crossed fingers notion about Stephanie Szostak pans out, we could see her playing a leader of AIM who attempted to recruit Hank to the organisation. It seems like exactly the sort of tying threads together trick that Marvel Studios would pull: and beyond the sheer awesomeness of the characters and stories, that's one of the biggest appeals of this franchise for viewers like me.
Option two is Power Man. Here, I'm specifically referring to Eric Josten, who also goes by Goliath and Atlas. "Why that guy?" you may ask. "That guy sucks!" The reasons I think he'd make an interesting villain for the story are twofold. First of all, he has the ability to grow really big. While Ant-Man's major ability is turning really small, he very quickly started growing larger in the Avengers (the second issue, in fact), and most of his animated appearances have him appearing as Giant Man pretty much from the get-go. Introducing Hank as an established Ant-Man but forcing him to adapt his technology to become Giant-Man in order to fight this enemy would be an interesting way of adding that element.
Secondly, Power Man was a member of Mandarin's Minions, alongside Living Laser, Enchantress, Executioner, Swordsman, and Ultimo. You'll notice that I've had my fingers crossed for most of those characters already: some based on their own merits, and some specifically because they're part of this team. One of the things I think the Avengers Universe will need is an anti-Avengers: multiple characters who can go toe-to-toe with the Avengers whose defeat the audience will actually care about, rather than a faceless group of monsters / aliens / robots. With the storylines currently set up, Mandarin's Minions would have a much easier job filling this criteria: none of the Masters of Evil, the other candidates, have been introduced yet.
Agent Coulson as The Vision
I made some very high-pitched noises when I first heard this theory. A few of the clues that people picked up on were a bit tenuous, but the fact that a) the Vision was based on the Jim Hammond / Human Torch android that cameo'd in The First Avenger; b) Coulson was described as Fury's "one good eye" (ie. his 'vision'); and c) Coulson was dating a cellist, and Wanda Maximoff (vision's love interest) plays the cello ... those seem like the kind of super-sneaky forward planning clues that Marvel Studios has been busting out on us. Remember how they snuck the Infinity Gauntlet into Thor, years before we found out that Thanos was going to be a future Avengers villain?
In the comics, The Vision was originally built using the neural patterns of Simon Williams (Wonder Man) by Ultimo (who was himself based off the neural patterns of Hank Pym). This would be the one story arc where for me, having Ultimo as the villain in Ant-Man would fly. Ant-Man's affiliation with SHIELD would mean that it's soon enough after Coulson's death to be plausible; and unless they bring in Mr Gregg to do motion capture, it would be comparatively easy for them to sneak him into the recording studio without giving the game away, especially since he's already doing voice work on Ultimate Spider-Man.
The Hulk Leaves the Avengers
I'm sure this will be a controversial hope, which is why I left it until last. I absolutely loved the way that The Hulk was portrayed in the Avengers, and Mark Ruffalo was brilliant as Banner. It's that brilliance that makes me want the Hulk to leave.
It isn't just adherence to the fact that the Hulk leaves in the comics, either. Thus far, all of Marvel Studios efforts have built up towards the Avengers. Characters were introduced, and then funnelled into the team. Ant-Man is likely to be the same story, and we may well see War Machine or Falcon take their comic book slots on the team. Guardians of the Galaxy is the only Marvel Studios movie on the cards at the moment that won't feed members into the Avengers, and even that could well be part of the set-up for Thanos as a villain.
Unlike the other Avengers, the Hulk doesn't have a life to go back to. Because he's always on the run, having SHIELD bring him in every time there is a threat could be a difficult thing to pull off. That could well be why we aren't seeing a new Hulk film on the cards for Phase 2.
If the Hulk leaves at the end of Avengers 2 with no intention of coming back however, that could be made into a really big deal. Ruffalo's Hulk deserves it's own stand-alone movie, and having it as a "spin-off" from Avengers 2 could be a great way of pulling in viewers, and escaping the curse of the previous two Hulk movies. It would feel less like a third attempt at a solo movie, and more like a fluid continuation of the story that Marvel Studios is telling.
Also, if the persistent rumours of a Doctor Strange project are valid, a Hulk spinoff could potentially lead into a Defenders movie. While the Avengers featured many of Marvel's A-List heroes, many of it's lesser known heroes showed up in the Defenders. Marvel has been considering smaller-budget superhero movies: a Defenders franchise running alongside the Avengers franchise could be a great way of playing around with those characters without overcrowding the A-List.
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Those are my speculations and hopes. What about you? What unannounced cameos, characters, and plot twists are you hoping to see?