The logo above, although as exciting it is to me, is probably the least exciting thing to come out of Marvel's impromptu event not too long ago. Over the course of half an hour Marvel announced their entire Phase 3 slate, a long with titles, and new performers.
For a while it's seemed like "Captain America 3" was going to be the big game changer of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Steven Rogers (Captain America) end up on opposite sides in an evolving political climate, and have to struggle with what that means for them as friends and co-superheroes. It made people realise why Marvel didn't even budge when DC said their "Batman v Superman" was going to be released on the same day. Even the caped crusader and man of steel can't play with the new big dogs that are Iron Man and Captain America. But today, we learned even more. The film is slated as the first release of Phase 3 (Marvel has for some reason thrown "Ant-Man" in with Phase 2, eliminating the traditional way of ending a phase with an "Avengers" film) on May 6th in 2016. But not only that, the title was announced as being "Captain America: Civil War", and will debut Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther. Now's the time to back up a bit.
After "Captain America: Civil War" we're getting "Doctor Strange" on November 4th, 2016 (this one was already as good as locked, so it isn't as exciting), then "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" is coming on May 5th, 2017 (a date shift, but we still knew about it) and then we get "Thor: Ragnarok" on July 28th, 2017. Kicking of the realm of the previously unknown part of the MCU. The title certainly suggests that this is the last outing of Thor in a while, at least in solo films. You don't just go through ragnarok and live to tell about it (though Thor has done that several times already, to be fair). Not to mention the fact that this is the last Phase 1-hero film that's planned/announced at all. Yes, that's right, after "Thor: Ragnarok" there are only new characters being released (apart from the Avengers films), It seems Marvel is steaming towards the end of the "original" MCU, and ushering in the era of new heroes. What exactly this can mean for the future beyond 2019 is a bit early to tell, but it's not too farfetched to think that it'll be a whole new slate of characters. After "Thor: Ragnarok" we get "Black Panther" on November 3rd, 2017. Just over a year after his screen debut he's getting his own stand-alone film, and not just that, it's leading into the third Avengers film which is named...
"Avengers: Infinity War Part I". That's right, we're getting a two-parter. Marvel is going all out and doing what many have already suggested by breaking the third "Avengers" story into two halves to round out the infinity stones story arc that's been going in the background for most of the MCU. They showed pictures of Thanos wearing the Infinity Gauntlet alongside the announcement of these films, which will be released only a year apart. You read that right. "Infinity War: Part I" will be released on May 4th, 2018, and "Infinity War: Part II" will be released May 3rd, 2019. Less than a year between them. It's not that long ago that everyone regarded the first "Avengers" film as the biggest film event in recent film history, but Marvel is clearly trying to steal that title from themselves with what I can only assume is the conclusion to the first wave of the MCU.
Again I have to apologize, because I got ahead of myself. Although we're getting two "Avengers" films within a year, Marvel has still crammed two more films in between them. We're getting "Captain Marvel" on July 6th, 2018 and "Inhumans" on November 2nd, 2018. That's right, two new brands being introduced between two Avengers films. They are probably both leading up to parts in the "Infinity War" story, and I wouldn't be surprised if we get a bunch of cameos and crossovers between all of them. It's a really good way of kickstarting new characters, throwing them into the mix of the audience's favourite characters in their biggest challenge yet.
I don't really know what to say any more. This is all too much for me to handle properly. So many titles, so many twists and turns. I really didn't think Marvel would go all out like this, with so many brand new characters being introduced along side this ginormous story being told. I can't wait to see what's coming. I've almost forgotten "Age of Ultron" and "Ant-Man" already.
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