Since Disney set release dates for three mystery Phase Three movies last month, there’s been plenty of speculation as to which superheroes are set to make their debut when the third round of solo movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets underway with Ant-Man in 2015. Topping the speculation is the long-rumoured Doctor Strange and Black Panther adaptations, and speaking at the Wizard World Comic Con in New York City this past Saturday, Stan Lee may have confirmed as much.
Thanks to Dan Bonaparte, we’ve been sent video from Stan’s Q&A, where the Marvel legend addressed a question about the possibility of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers 2 building up to a Civil War / World War Hulk storyline for Phase Three, stating that Marvel Studios are continuously asking themselves what the fans want to see, before namedropping Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and Black Panther as four movies in active development at the studio. Have a listen to Stan’s comments here….
“I’m not involved in those decisions anymore, but the people at Marvel are spending hours trying to think ‘what will we do next?’ and there’s a damn good chance that they will think of just what you mentioned, ‘cos it would be a great idea and little by little everything you want to see will come along, because [Marvel] are just like you, they’re fans of the stories and they’re trying to think ‘what would the fans like to see next? What would we like to see next?’ So they’re working on Ant-Man, they’re working on Doctor Strange, they’re working on Guardians of the Galaxy, they’re working on god knows what. And did I say Black Panther also. Those are the ones I know about and there are others that I don’t even know about, and shame on them for not telling me.”
So, could Black Panther and Doctor Strange be Marvel’s two as-yet-unrevealed 2016 releases? With the San Diego Comic-Con just around the corner, we should probably expect to find out for certain very soon…
Originally published July 1, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
