Earlier this year, Marvel announced a sweeping plan for their “Phase 3” releases that included nine films over four years. The plan was met with enthusiasm from comic book fans–it’s nice to know that studios are confident enough in a genre/storyline to think that far ahead. It’s also nice to know that Marvel has a plan.
The MCU amended their roadmap expanding it even more. The new plan looks like this:
- May 6, 2016: Captain America: Civil War
- November 4, 2016: Doctor Strange
- May 5, 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- July 28, 2017: Spider-Man
- November 3, 2017: Thor: Ragnarok
- February 16, 2018: Black Panther
- May 4, 2018: Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1
- July 6, 2018: Ant-Man and the Wasp
- March 8, 2019: Captain Marvel
- May 3, 2019: Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2
- July 12, 2019: Inhumans
- May 1, 2020: Unknown Marvel Film
- July 10, 2020: Unknown Marvel Film
- November 6, 2020: Unknown Marvel Film
The big news here is the official announcement of an Ant-Man sequel, and the addition of Wasp to the roster of heroes. Frankly, this caught me a little off-guard, since Ant-Man was far from a smash hit critically or financially (note: I looked it up, and the film actually made a respectable $400 million, worldwide. Better than I thought, but nothing in the Guardians of the Galaxy vicinity).
The three “Unknown Marvel Films” scheduled for 2020 are a bit fun to speculate about. I have some guesses below, ranked in order of likelihood:
Spider-Man 2 (Probability 99%): Even unsuccessful films starring the Wall-Crawler have been profitable (Amazing Spider-Man 2 made over $700 Million), so it’s hard to imagine that Sony and Marvel won’t bring the popular character back for another movie.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (Probability 95%): If the second film even approaches the success of the original, Marvel would be insane not to bring the “Space Avengers” back again. Chris Pratt is blowing up as a legitimate A-List star, and he’s under contract for four more films (plus an appearance in another non-guardians film–likely Infinity Wars). They’ll probably ride this train for as long as they can.
Doctor Strange and/or Black Panther 2 and/or Captain Marvel 2 (Probability: 90%): My guess is that Marvel wants to see how these new characters do before they lock themselves into sequels. However, barring complete box office bombs, it’s hard to imagine the studio skewing from their tried and true plan of building up lesser known heroes through cameos and multiple solo films. I’d wager that at least one of Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel or Black Panther get a sequel.
Captain America 4 (Probability 60%): Robert Downey, Jr. has basically announced he has no interest in another solo Iron Man film, and with that character off the table, Captain America becomes the most profitable hero to date. While Chris Evans is likely moving on after Infinity Wars II, the studio still has Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan, under contract for a whopping eight more films. He’ll likely pick up the shield, following Evan’s departure (following the story in the comics). Besides, it makes sense to have a big name character film as a tentpole for the less established characters.
Planet Hulk (Probability 40%): This is wishful thinking on my part. Universal is still entitled to 50% profits from any solo Hulk film and Marvel probably isn’t interested in a movie that would be so risky (given the lackluster response to previous Hulk movies) and so expensive to make. I know I should make peace with that…but damnit, I want me some Planet Hulk or World War Hulk.
Great speculation . i think those are real plausible.
As I read more online, Thor: Ragnarok appears to have elements included here.