Marvel Movies Phase Two

San Diego Comic Con took place this weekend, traditionally (for me, anyway!) this time of year is like Nerd-Christmas! New comics are announced, The Big Two reveal their plans for the rest of the year, movies are previewed and...I could go on but I'm sure you get the jist.

The Marvel Studios Panel was always going to be an exciting affair. Still riding high from The Avengers Marvel Studios could have announced a Batroc the Leaper movie and I would have lapped it up like an eager puppy!

i can think of a couple more things to add your list, Batroc...

They didn't announce a Batroc the Leaper movie (seriously, this guy is real look!) but they did reveal the next 'phase' of Marvel Studios movie.universe. Universe, as it turns out, is now a much more apt description of what Marvel are building....but, as ever, more on that later.

(caveat: you might need some spare pairs of underpants, don't say I didn't warn you)

Let's talk sequels first of all, the three primary Avengers have a film series of their own now and the Iron Man films in particular are great examples of a character having their own little corner of the universe to run around in, carving a distinct niche. Watching the Iron Man, Cap and Thor films now, having seen them all on screen together in The Avengers, only reaffirms that. Cap is the man out of time, Iron Man has the tech-espionage on lock-down and Thor can pretty much visit any of the Nine Realms! 

Thor has earned a sequel Thor: the Dark World, due next November, will hopefully see a lot more of these Nine Realms mention in the first film (we saw the frost giant realm pretty bad ass). It is also worth noting that this will be directed by Alan Taylor who has directed Game of Thrones..including both extremely awesome season finales!

Game of Thrones is AWESOME

Captain America also gets a sequel, The Winter Soldier arrives in 2014 and is based on the character created by Ed Brubaker in his run on the comic. Winter Soldier is Bucky, Cap's best buddy who (in the film, at least) fell off a science-Nazi train to his 'death' and (in the comics) is resurrected by the Russians, so he is like a communist Captain America!

in communist Russia, skin tight metal sleeves wear YOU...

Again, this sounds great, Marvel are being creative and using characters they actually have the rights for (Fox own the movie rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four, Sony own Spider-Man) and some fan favourites are being made real....DO YOU PEOPLE REALISE HOW GOD DAMN LUCKY YOU ARE!!!

Award for the sequel I'm most excited about goes to Iron Man 3, out next May. JESUS CHRIST IN REVERSE I'M EXCITED ABOUT THIS FILM. It is loosely based on the Warren Ellis Iron Man mini-series, Extremis. In Extremis an experimental techno-biological virus is injected into a  vengeful nutcase and to defeat him Tony Stark pretty much has to change his biology to become...something else!

*guttural sex noise*

Whilst I doubt Marvel will stick totally to the Extremis mini-series (it IS pretty brutal, you should read it!) I think some things will be brought across, chiefly the evolution of Tony's armour and how he has to evolve with it. The concept art above, to me anyway, looks like the gauntlet has flown across the room onto his arm, by the end of Iron Man 3 will we see Tony Stark suit up like this:

work it, girl!

I certainly FUCKING hope so!

Ben Kingsley is slated to appear as classic Iron Man baddie, The Mandarin! Which is very cool indeed. Hopefully they will use The Mandarin as he appears in Fraction and Larocca's Iron Man run; a self deluded, alien power ring wielding playboy/despot!

did i forget to mention MANSABADMAN!

Iron Man 3 excites me the most because out  of all the comics Iron Man's roster of villains is most ridiculous and I'm anticipating anything being thrown at me, could Iron Man 3 give us the first glimpses of a cinematic version of M.O.D.O.K?

dear god, i hope so....

But the two most exciting things announced by Marvel Studios were the new films slated for 2014. You'll be needing those fresh undies at the ready soon.

Ant-Man is getting his own movie directed by Edgar Wright, of Spaced and Scott Pilgrim fame! Wright has a great visual style and I think that this could be a really unique film. Imagine the super hero-y bits from Scott Pilgrim ramped up with a bigger budget.

do you want ants? cos that how you get ants!

The character of Ant-Man is a firm fan favourite and was present even in the earliest incarnations of The Avengers. I want Ant-Man in the next Avengers movie and I want 'loveable rogue' Nathan Fillion to play him. Joe Cornish (of Adam and Joe fame) is meant to be writing for this film too, seriously excited!

get Hollywood on line one! we just found their Ant-Man!

But the most pant wettingly exciting announcement was that in 2014 we will be sitting down in the cinema to watch a Guardians of the Galaxy movie! holy shitsnacks!

what's the collective noun for a group of bad asses? an awesome of badasses?

For the uninitiated the Guardians of the Galaxy are a band of intergalactic heroes that live in the hollowed out head of a dead Celestial and count amongst their ranks a talking Raccoon, a walking tree, a telepathic Russian dog and a dude called Starlord. They inhibit the 'Cosmic' part of the Marvel universe and have frequent run-in's with Silver Surfer, Thanos and the Inhumans. 


So that's your universe right there! We have the weird, supernatural elves and frost giants covered thanks to Thor and now we can safely assume that future Marvel films will have an even bigger scope! the fact that Thanos briefly appears at the end of Avengers proves that Marvel know what they are doing here. Are we going to see an big screen incarnation of the classic Infinity Gauntlet storyline?

fuck yeah!

So, exciting times ahead! Marvel sure know how to get me reaching for my wallet with out fail, at least for the films. I'll see you back here in 2018 for my scathing review of the Batroc the Leaper film!

the ball is in your court Marvel, bring Batroc to the big screen...