Now that Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is officially underway with the release of Iron Man 3, fans have plenty to look forward to over the next couple of years, with Marvel Studios unleashing the solo sequels Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier along with the cosmic ensemble Guardians of the Galaxy building toward The Avengers 2 in 2015. Of course, Marvel is already looking beyond the second outing for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, with Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man set to launch Phase Three in November 2015, and now Kevin Feige has officially confirmed that the studio is moving into active development on the long-rumoured Doctor Strange movie.
“Doctor Strange is something that I talk about often and it’s sort of next up for us to dig into and explore,” said Feige in a chat with Collider. “Our executive producer of Iron Man 3, having done Captain America: The First Avenger and as that was finishing he started working on the bones that would become Iron Man 3, and now that he’s finished with Iron Man 3, he’s working on the bones that would become Doctor Strange. Now that Iron Man 3 is finished, some of our quote-unquote spare time is going to be devoted to trying to crack Strange. As we look past 2015, past Avengers 2 and Ant-Man, I think Doctor Strange should be one of the next movies in the years following that.”
So, with Ant-Man and Doctor Strange leading the Phase Three charge, are we likely to see any more new characters headlining their own solo adventures in Marvel’s next round of movies? There’s been plenty of talk about Black Panther finally making his debut in the MCU (in fairness, there’s always been talk about Black Panther making his debut in the MCU), but you’d have to expect Phase Three to incorporate at least one sequel – or an ‘Avengers-lite’ team-up of established characters, such as Hulk and Iron Man – before culminating with The Avengers 3. Still, with the likes of Daredevil, Blade, The Punisher, Inhumans, Heroes for Hire and now even Ghost Rider at Marvel’s disposal (to name but a few), the well certainly looks far from dry for Phase Three and beyond…
