Marvel’s 2013 Lineup Will Lead to ‘Avengers 2’

With just about six months until The Avengers hits the big screen, Marvel Studios still has its eye on the future. Next May's superhero conglomeration will be the fruition of a four-year process that began with Iron Man in 2008 and included Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has announced that 2013 will begin a second series of films that will lead to The Avengers 2.

The news came from The Avengers panel at New York Comic-Con. Various outlets covering the festivities reported Feige telling the crowd how "Phase Two" will go down:

"We’re in pre-production on a movie called 'Iron Man 3' right now. We’ve got a great director called Shane Black who’s taking the reins. It’s the first of what we refer to Phase Two of this Avengers Assemble talk, which will lead to an 'Avengers 2.' Those movies will be a part of that." 


Feige previously confirmed to Entertainment Weekly a few weeks back about some of the other films expected to be part of "Phase Two" including Thor 2 and the lesser-known Guardians of the Galaxy and The Inhumans. IGN asked Feige about whether some new characters would factor in The Avengers 2.

"Absolutely [there will be a new line up]. That’s the fun of it — introducing new characters. Seeing how will things change after Iron Man goes through his next adventure? After Thor goes through his next adventure? If we do another Cap adventure, how will things change? The dynamic between them? Their own worlds? So that the dynamic in 'Avengers 2' is actually quite different than it is in the first one." 

Feige also told IGN that he would love to see Dr. Strange in The Avengers 2 and that news of that film's progress will come sooner than later. We've known for some time about a script, but it appears other progress has been made. The only question mark is Ant-Man, with the script from Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish still festering somewhere at Marvel.

In small-screen news, Marvel TV head Joseph Loeb discussed The Incredible Hulk TV series being produced by Guillermo del Toro. He told IGN (and Feige confirmed) that the series will focus on the early years of Bruce Banner before The Hulk becomes known to the world. Mark Ruffalo will not reprise his role in the series, but the CGI backbone of The Avengers hulk will be recycled for the show, presumably to help with costs. The show won't be related to the films per se, but won't butt heads with them either.

Does "Phase Two" sound like a good idea to you?