Not long ago, once Marvel Studios had proved itself as a major player in the summer tentpole game, a slate was released for all of the upcoming films from the new studio. Fans relished the thought of seeing Thor, Captain America and The Avengers on the big screen. Well, after this summer only one new film on that slate will be left (The Avengers) and audiences are left wondering: what will Marvel do next? Thankfully, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently talked about the future of the studio and what flicks are on the horizon.In addition to confirming sequels for Thor and Captain America (set in modern-day, no less) he discussed possible spinoffs for Black Widow, Hawkeye and S.H.I.E.L.D as well as the long-talked-about Dr. Strange movie. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.
In an interview with D23 Magazine (via IGN), Feige talked about what The Avengers means in relation to the evolution of Marvel Studios:
"X-Men was the dawn of the new Marvel cinematic age. Iron Man was the dawn of the Marvel Studios age and the establishment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the beginning of that continuity. The Avengers is the next big step. Once all these characters come together, it's the culmination of all that has come before. It launches a new era and a new time in the history of our films. Not only will it be the first film that our new home studio, Disney, will be distributing, but it will also renew each of these characters and launch them into their own franchises, starting with the second film to be released by Disney, Iron Man 3."
So essentially, The Avengers is the beginning of the next phase in Marvel’s development. What this means specifically, we’re not entirely sure. But when Feige discussed what other Marvel films are on the horizon, we can start to get an idea:
"Thor will go off into a new adventure, and Captain America will continue to explore the modern world in another film of his own. We hope that holds true for the characters appearing in that film — Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. —all of whom are more than worthy and capable of carrying their own films. And, we've got a lot of other characters we're prepping and getting ready for film debuts: the world of martial arts, these great cosmic space fantasies, Dr. Strange, and the magic side of the Marvel Universe. There are many, many stories to be mined."
What I find most interesting here is that the sequel to Captain America will take place in modern-day. Many have wondered whether the Cap sequel would further explore more of the WWII stuff, but it sounds like The First Avenger may be our only period piece Marvel flick for a while.
Other than that, this is pretty much more of the same: there will be lots of Marvel movies, starring lots of other characters. Hopefully ones like Black Widow and Hawkeye are fleshed out enough in The Avengers to generate interest in their own flicks. Though a Black Widow film could be cool, I didn’t really see much from Scarlett Johanssen in Iron Man 2 that made me pine for more. Nevertheless, it's exciting to hear that there's a lot more to come from Marvel Studios.