Big things are always expected from Marvel Studios at the San Diego Comic-Con International; yesterday was no exception, and boy did they deliver the goods once again. Opening the panel to a packed Hall H, Marvel’s President of Production Kevin Feige got things underway by announcing that the studio has four ‘Phase Two’ movies in active development – Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 (out May 3rd, 2013), Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World (out November 8th, 2013), Anthony and Joe Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier (out April 4th, 2014) and – as widely expected – the cosmic ensemble Guardians of the Galaxy (out August 1st, 2014).
Feige went on to introduce Edgar Wright, who brought with him the test footage that he shot for his long-in-gestation Ant-Man adaptation a couple of weeks back (read a description of said footage here). Although no release date was given for Ant-Man, the project was officially announced as part of the Phase Two line-up on Marvel.com, where the following logos were also debuted…
Shifting back to Guardians of the Galaxy for a moment, and Feige confirmed that line-up will feature Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Star-Lord and Gamora (the latter of whom happens to be the adopted daughter of Thanos). Following the announcement, Marvel Studios unveiled a piece of concept art giving us our first look at the team…
Following on from Wright’s Ant-Man footage, Robert Downey Jr. arrived on stage to introduce footage from Iron Man 3, which included Tony testing out his new armour, a scene between him and Happy Hogan (Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau), brief shots of Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), Savin (James Badge Dale) and Rhodey (Don Cheadle) and the destruction of Tony’s Malibu home, before ending with the big reveal of Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin.
Here’s a shot of Tony’s new armor, and be sure to take a look at a detailed recap of the footage and subsequent Q&A over atCollider, or head on over to ComicBookMovie for video, which sadly doesn’t include any of the footage…
So, we now have a solid understanding of how ‘Phase Two’ of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will play out, and it seems like there’s exciting times ahead. It may prove a gamble, but it’s good to see Marvel Studios branching out and trying something different with Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, which you’d imagine will arrive in 2015 as a lead-in to The Avengers 2.
Will the gamble pay off, or would you rather have seen Black Panther or Doctor Strange as part of the Phase Two line-up?
Originally published July 15, 2012. Updated November 29, 2022.
