Kevin Feige gives updates on Marvel Phase 2 and 3

With the impending release of Thor: The Dark World, the president of Marvel Studios has been making the rounds, doing interviews all across the board. And he’s let some interesting hints about Marvel’s future slip over the past few days. Here’s a roundup of the biggest news.

Kevin Feige

In an interview with Digital Spy, Feige spoke about a special cameo in Thor: The Dark World. He didn’t say who, but it will be someone we’ve seen before (like the special cameo at the end of Iron Man 3). He also mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy, saying that he’s excited the studio is working on something most audience members will be unfamiliar with. Lastly, he touched briefly on Avengers: Age of Ultron, revealing that the film will be more global than the first one.

Next, Feige and Thor 2 director Alan Taylor gave an interview with IGN, where Feige said we could expect a trailer for Guardians maybe late this year, early next year. He also commented on Ant-Man, which has been in production for eight years now. We can expect casting announcements by the end of the year (though there are rumors Paul Rudd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are the front runners for the title character). Feige described the film as “unique” and “very Edgar Wright in tone.” Oddly, he also described it as a heist movie. He then went on to confirm Doctor Strange is in development, but he was reluctant to discuss further details.

Screenrant asked Feige during a press junket what Joss Whedon’s role in Avengers 3 will be, and Feige essentially said that Whedon has not signed on for a third film. Yet. His exact words:

It’s still being determined. All of his efforts right now are in what he’s doing for us primarily, obviously, writing and prepping Age of Ultron but also in reading the drafts of the films in phase 2, watching early cuts and a) to inform him where the characters are going to end up in the beginning of Age of Ultron and also to get his input and his wisdom into all of these. But right now it’s all about leading up to Age of Ultron.

Finally (for now), about the next phase: Feige spoke with Movies.com about Marvel’s projects past Phase Two. He once again confirmed that Doctor Strange is in active development, but there’s no news on whether or not it will be part of Phase Three. Also, there will be no announcements for what comes after Ant-Man (the film kicking off the mysterious third phase) until the middle of next year. In a separate interview with Black Tree TV, he also confirmed that Black Panther is in development, but in the same level of limbo as Doctor Strange: No details on when either project might see the light of day, just that Feige would love to make it happen.

As for the potential of a female-driven superhero movie? In his interview with Movies.com, here’s what he had to say:

Good question. I don’t know what they’re doing or what they’re planning. I know we have numerous exciting female heroes, whether none of them are currently slated, some of them are in development — frankly, you can look at what Jane Foster does in [Thor: The Dark World], look at Pepper Potts literally saving the day and defeating the bad guy in Iron Man 3, and I’d say we already have great female heroes that are showcased and play major roles in our universe now. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as you will see, features Black Widow in her biggest role yet in any of our films. In terms of a solo stand-alone female hero, I’m not sure when that will be. We make two movies a year, we’ve planned through 2015 and we have some ideas of what we’re doing in 2016 and 2017, so we’ll see what happens.

A news post is not the right place for me to air my grievances with the lack of a female superhero film on the horizon, but at least Marvel is ahead of DC in the well-developed, complex female character department.

What do you hope will be the next film Marvel makes? Which female superhero do you wish they’d bring to the big screen? Sound off in the comments!