As Marvel’s The Avengers opens in a few short months, it’s time to look forward to the studio’s development slate after the all-star superhero movie. We already know that Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 are the next to go into production, as they’ve (finally) attached a director and a new screenwriter to the former, and the latter has Shane Black in the director’s chair. For now, the release schedule looks like this:
- The Avengers on May 4th, 2012
- Iron Man 3 on May 3rd, 2013
- Thor 2 on November 15th, 2013
- Untitled Marvel 1 on April 4th 2014
- Untitled Marvel 2 on May 16th 2014
While the untitled Marvel films have yet to be unveiled, we now might have an idea of what at least one of the films may be, as it looks like Captain America 2 may be going into production by the end of the year. Hit the jump for more.
In an interview with IMDb Television (via JoBlo), actor Neal McDonough (who played Dum Dum Dugan in Captain America: The First Avenger) was asked about the Captain America sequel and revealed that he may be donning that bowler cap sooner rather than later:
“They’re planning [to go into production] for the end of this year, because Marvel does one film at a time. So they’re going to do Thor 2 and as soon as Thor has wrapped, they’ll do Cap 2. Hopefully right after that, we’ll jump into Nick Fury because that’s the one I’m looking forward to more than anything.â€
If production does indeed begin at the end of this year, we can safely assume that Captain America 2 will fill one of those 2014 release slots. Chris Evans previously hinted that Marvel would be waiting until 2014 to release the follow-up, and this interview with McDonough seems to corroborate his statement. It should be noted that McDonough may have misspoke regarding Marvel only doing one film at a time, as both Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 are set to open next year and neither have gone into production, meaning that both will have to start filming this year.
As for that Nick Fury movie, a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie has been on Marvel’s “to-do†list for quite some time, and seems a sensible follow-up to an Avengers movie. All the superheroes come together for The Avengers, then we get three movies centered around standalone characters (Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 3) followed by another “ensemble†piece starring our favorite supporting characters from the Marvel universe. Just because McDonough says he’s “hopeful†that the Nick Fury movie will be after Captain America 2 doesn’t guarantee that that’s the case, but it certainly makes sense.
If the S.H.I.E.L.D. pic isn’t the other movie taking that 2014 slot alongside Captain America 2, the studio has no shortage of spinoff films currently in development. Films for both Black Widow and Hawkeye are in the works, as well as non-sequel, non-spinoff films like Ant-Man, The Inhumans, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Details on the state of each of these films are firmly under wraps, so we’re unable to assess if any of them are far enough along to qualify for the 2014 slot.
At this point, Captain America 2 and the S.H.I.E.L.D. movie make the most sense for the spots. Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige recently said that he hopes to be building towards The Avengers 2, and this sequence of films certainly fits with that road map. Hopefully we’ll get an official announcement on the status of Captain America 2 soon. The First Avenger scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were previously tapped to pen the sequel, but the film is currently without a director.
