With Captain America: The Winter Soldier opening in theaters on April 4th, the press junket for the film was recently held in Los Angeles.  Many, many outlets took part in the event, which means many people got to pick Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige’s brain.  Some small bits of news, information, and trivia have trickled out as a result, and we’ve compiled them all in one tidy story.  Briefly:
  • The hunt for the Doctor Strange director is ongoing but the tone will be an infusion of Stanley Kubrick and The Matrix.
  • Marvel will not be backing off its May 6, 2016 release date—now revealed to be Captain America 3—even though Warner Bros. recently slated Batman vs. Superman for the same weekend.
  • The Avengers was sent back from the MPAA multiple times with an R rating.
  • Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver will not be linked to Inhumans in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
  • Sebastian Stan signed a contract for 9 Marvel films.
  • An Avengers-related Easter Egg hidden in Captain America: The Winter Soldier has been revealed.
Hit the jump for details on the aforementioned news bits. Firstly, if you missed any of the news we gleaned from our own Winter Soldier interviews, peruse the links below:

Doctor Strange

doctor-strange-comic A report surfaced recently that the director shortlist for Marvel’s still-not-officially-announced Doctor Strange movie has been narrowed down to Scott Derrickson (Sinister), Jonathan Levine (50/50), and Mark Andrews (Brave).  Speaking with /Film, Feige both confirmed and denied this short list, adding that the list isn’t actually all that short:
“We’ve met with all of [those three]. Some of those three are not in contention anymore, some of those three we’re still talking with and there are many others. We have not narrowed it down as much as the internet thinks. I wish we had.”
With regards to how Marvel actually intends to handle the magic aspect of Doctor Strange, Feige offered up a tantalizing tease in a separate interview with /Film:
"Are you watching the Cosmos series? That’s magic, [the quantum physics]. It’s unbelievable. If somebody knew how to tap into that stuff, what’s the difference between that and magic? You don’t get into it in Harry Potter, but if a scientist went to Hogwarts he’d find out how some of that stuff is happening! We’re not going to spend a lot of time on that, but there will be some of that. And particularly for a character like Strange, who goes from a man of science to a man of faith and who traverses both worlds. And sometimes there won’t be an answer! Sometimes he’ll want an answer – 'How is this happening?!' – and nothing. Doctor Strange needs to be a Ditko/Kubrick/Miyazaki/The Matrix mind-trip."
While many assume that Doctor Strange will be Marvel’s July 2016 release, in a separate interview with Huffington Post, Feige suggested it might be a little farther off:
“It's time. It's time. I would be surprised if [Doctor Strange so close to being official] were the case, yeah. Maybe three or four years, yeah, we'll see. But, I would like it to be the case. Much like Vin Diesel, I like it when something finally happens, and then we can talk about what it is -- versus rumors of what it could be or should be or isn't yet [laughs].”
Marvel is expected to unveil its full Phase Three slate—or at least most of it—at Comic-Con this summer, so hopefully we get confirmation at that time.

Marvel vs. DC in 2016

captain-america-3-chris-evans Marvel has had the release date of May 6, 2016 staked out for quite some time, so it came as a bit of a surprise that Warner Bros.—and by extension DC Comics—recently pushed its high-profile Man of Steel follow-up to the same date.  There’s absolutely no way both films will be opening that weekend, thus cannibalizing each other’s box office, so the question now becomes which one will move.  The first weekend of May has been host to Marvel movies for a long, long time, beginning with Spider-Man in 2002, so it would be quite surprising if Marvel shifted. Speaking with /Film, Feige said Marvel Studios has no intention of losing this game of chicken:
“We’re certainly keeping the date there and we’ll announce what that movie is, I assume, in the next few months.”
A recent report has revealed that film to be Captain America 3, but when asked if Comic-Con was the target for Marvel unveiling its full slate, Feige responded:
“That would be great, I’d love nothing more than to be able to announce them all [at Comic-Con]. But if it’s ready beforehand, we’ll probably do it beforehand. If it’s not ready then, we’ll do it after.”

The Avengers Rated R?

avengers-chris-hemsworth-clark-gregg PG-13 is the target rating for any big studio tentpole, as it allows for the largest audience reach and thus massive box office potential.  While Marvel’s superhero films have been much lighter in tone than other studios’ pictures, Feige revealed to Movies.com that The Avengers actually received an R rating from the MPAA upon initial review:
"When we submitted The Avengers, the first couple cuts of it came back from the MPAA rated R. That happened twice. So we went back and had to make adjustments."
Which scene was it, exactly, that treaded R-rated territory?  Well, it’s a spoiler for those who haven’t seen The Avengers, but it’s the scene in which Agent Coulson encounters some…trouble:
"Well, whenever you impale somebody from their back and the blade comes out their chest, there are issues."  
Click over to Page 2 for the rest of the Marvel news bits, including a Winter Soldier Easter Egg revealed.

Continue Reading for CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 Easter Egg Revealed, Sebastian Stan's 9-Film Deal, and Inhumans

Inhumans in AGE OF ULTRON?

quicksilver-scarlet-witch-avengers It’s no secret that the inclusion of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver characters in Avengers: Age of Ultron has brought up some contractual issues regarding character rights.  In the comics, the duo are the offspring of the X-Men mutant Magneto, but Fox owns the rights to the X-Men as well as the word “mutant”, leaving any and all refrerences off limits to Marvel.  For Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel is allowed to use the characters of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (the rights of whom are shared between Marvel and Fox), but they can’t allude to their mutant past.  So, how will Marvel bridge this gap? Huffington Post broached the issue with Feige, asking if the inclusion of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in Age of Ultron is a way to introduce the Inhumans:
“Well, Inhumans is something that we are definitely thinking about and we think there's great potential there for a great movie. But, no, no -- we have not linked those two… As it relates to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver? No. No, no, no.”

Sebastian Stan Signs 9-Picture Deal 

captain-america-sebastian-stan Marvel is known for signing its actors to long contracts; most notably, Samuel L. Jackson signed a then-unheard-of 9-film deal starting with Iron Man.  Well it looks like another actor has signed a large deal, and this one’s a bit unlikely.  Speaking with Newsarama, Captain America star Sebastian Stan—who plays Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier—revealed that his Marvel deal is for nine films:
“I think I actually have nine.”
It seems odd that a villainous character would sign such a lengthy contract, but seeing as how the comics have Bucky eventually picking up the Captain America mantle from Steve Rogers, this provides an easy fix should Chris Evans decide not to re-up his contract after his own six-picture deal is finished.

AVENGERS Easter Egg Hidden in THE WINTER SOLDIER

the-avengers-tony-stark-robert-downey-jr-image Now here’s a piece of information that could be considered a spoiler for those extremely averse to news regarding an upcoming film.  The Easter Egg in question only appears for a brief second, so it’s not that much of a spoiler, but if you want to try and spot it yourself without any help, turn back now. The folks over at /Film asked Feige about Easter Eggs in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and he revealed that the new Avengers Tower makes a very brief appearance:
“You get a quick glimpse, I don’t know if you noticed, of the new Stark Tower – which is not the Stark Tower it’s the new Avengers Tower [in Captain America: The Winter Soldier]. We show it in there. It goes by *snaps* real fast during that [SPOILER] sequence. But it’s there.”
There are likely even more Easter Eggs hidden throughout the pic, as a reference to Doctor Strange apparently makes an appearance as well.