Marvel unviels their next four projects

[Tribal Warfare]

Marvel Unveils CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and ANT-MAN

Saturday’s Hall H panel for Marvel at Comic-Con was billed as Iron Man 3, but from previous experience we all knew to expect more goodies from Marvel Studios than just IM3. We were right, as the studio announced full, intriguing titles for Thor 2 and Captain America 2, confirmed Guardians of the Galaxy (including which characters will appear), and revealed test footage for Ant-Man with a surprise appearance by Edgar Wright.

Hit the jump for my full recap of this “update” portion of the Marvel panel. [Update: We've updated the article with concept art for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie as well as logos for all the upcoming Marvel films]

Chris-Hemsworth-Thor 2 the dark worldFeige opened the panel by saying that they’re working on four movies in active development. The first is Iron Man 3, hitting theaters on May 3rd, 2013. He then went on to reveal titles for two previously known sequels, and confirmed another property that we’d heard rumblings of in the past few weeks.

Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)
Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014)

For fans of the comics, the subtitle “The Winter Soldier” should provide a hint as to where the Captain America sequel will go. The title is a reference to a comics storyline that will find Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) taking an integral role.

guardians-of-the-galaxy-movieFeige added that Zachary Levi has been confirmed as the character of Fandrel in the Thor sequel, and revealed the team that will be unleashed for Guardians of the Galaxy:

StarLord
Drax the Destroyer
Rocket Raccoon
Groot
Gamora

In a fantastic surprise, Feige then introduced Edgar Wright to talk about Ant-Man. Wright had been tweeting about being in London for the past few days in an effort to throw fans off, but he came out to a very warm reception.

“I’m taking the Terrence Malick approach to superheroes,” said Wright referring to the long road of development on Ant-Man.
Wright and Joe Cornish wrote two more drafts of the script last year, but they’ve been done for quite a while.

ant-man-movie-logoThey then revealed test footage that Wright shot for Ant-Man, after Wright toyed for a bit with the audience saying they wouldn’t really want to see a clip of stuff with wires and blue screens in it. It’s completely unfinished since they shot it two weeks ago, but they showed the footage anyway because Marvel absolutely owns Comic-Con.

The footage opened with Ant-Man sitting on a ledge in an air conditioning vent that lead to a hallway guarded by two agents. The costume was pretty metallic looking, and he snuck through the vent hole and started running down the hallway. He morphed to normal size, shocking the guards, then morphed back down to ant size and kept running. Still in “ant size” he leapt up and punched one of the guys in the face, knocking the spit out of him, then he ran and attacked the other guard.

The footage was obviously rough, but I thought the big/small effects worked great. Wright found a way to make Ant-Man’s power work in a cool and useful way on screen, while still allowing room for the playful tone that he does so well. While I was hoping we’d see someone like Simon Pegg play the role just for fun in the test footage, the actor was wearing the Ant-Man helmet the entire time so we never saw his face. The lights then came back up.

“I’ve been doing one second of that for the last six years,” quipped Wright
Wright confirmed that the costume seen in the test footage will most likely be what makes the final film. He described it as a mix between the Silver Age and contemporary Ant-Man, adding “Ant-Man will kick your ass one inch at a time.”
Wright said there’s no casting to announce, but “revealed” that Ant-Man has been here in Hall H all day, pulling out an Ant-Man title card and putting it on the table next to him.

Wright then left the stage to make way for the Iron Man 3 panel, but these bits of news from Marvel were met with wild applause from the audience. Hit the comments to discuss the goings-on from today’s Marvel panel, and read Matt’s recap of Iron Man 3 right here. [Update: Simon Pegg tweeted that he, Nick Frost, and Wright start filming The World's End in 10 weeks, then Wright will film Ant-Man sometime next year.]

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by Valiant

Umm, right. So Downey did not look like Stark, and somehow Dempsey does not look like Strange. What are you smoking? Both of those actors look like said comic hero.

All of the actors mentioned loved the characters. If you do not like Dempsey, that is fine. But, he is a decent actor, loves Dr. Strange and looks the part. Maybe with your vision Melissa McCarthy looks closer?

Agree to disagree on Downey, but kinda skipped over my central point where it doesn't matter. Also, Nicolas Cage LOVED Ghost Rider. Fought for years to get that movie done.

[Bowser]

Plus, look at the shitstorm Fox is dealing with for making the Human Torch black.

[Aries Walker]

Don't I know it. Other Marvel characters have been race-flipped before, but that's always been because the perfect choice for the actor happened to be black (Michael Clarke Duncan, Idris Elba, Samuel L. Jackson). The Human Torch, though, is a prime example of the pandering I was typing about earlier, because they cast his sister with a white actress; that means they'll have to (for narrative and non-confusing-the-audience purposes) explain the multi-ethnic siblings in the story. So he doesn't just happen to be black, they're changing the character so he is black, and making it a plot point, even if only a minor one. Terrible move for what will be a terrible movie.

It's also overshadowing the rest of the ways they're dooming that movie before it begins, not the least of which is that Mr. Fantastic looks like he's 25, and Ben "The Thing" Grimm is being played by the short, thin, lithe dancer who was in Billy Elliott.

Marvel should have those rights reverted back by 2020, I should think.

[Direckshun]

I have never, ever found the FF interesting.

Comics, movies, nothing. I really don't like them. Nothing hostile, just really superbly bored by them.

[Deberg_1990]

Rumors have been floating that Sony has no idea what to do with Spider-Man and may allow him to crossover into the Marvel flicks. Who knows? But Sony knows they botched it.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by kysirsoze

I also don't get people caring about race.

They're racists. What do you expect from them?

Gender is a little different, since I think it has a more fundamental effect on the character. I'm for women being more represented

Changing characters for the sake of diversity is just the sort of stupid shit that ruins characters. Making the icons female instead of male, gay instead of straight, black/hispanic instead of white, etc..., is not just an insult to the characters, it demonstrates a lack of creativity and ability on the part of the writers.

[007]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Rumors have been floating that Sony has no idea what to do with Spider-Man and may allow him to crossover into the Marvel flicks. Who knows? But Sony knows they botched it.

So, another reboot eh?

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Rumors have been floating that Sony has no idea what to do with Spider-Man and may allow him to crossover into the Marvel flicks. Who knows? But Sony knows they botched it.

Meh. They have so ruined Spidey for me that I don't really care what happens. Now FF & SS returning to Marvel? That would be awesome. Would love to see a cosmic SS & Galactus intro movie done right, just in time to blend with the Gauntlet storyline.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Changing characters for the sake of diversity is just the sort of stupid shit that ruins characters. Making the icons female instead of male, gay instead of straight, black/hispanic instead of white, etc..., is not just an insult to the characters, it demonstrates a lack of creativity and ability on the part of the writers.

And this is the problem.

There isn't a lack of quality female/black characters in the Marvel U. There's plenty. Most better than the few they're using now.

Hollywood just chooses to ignore them...

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I have never, ever found the FF interesting.

Comics, movies, nothing. I really don't like them. Nothing hostile, just really superbly bored by them.

Agreed. Although Silver Surfer and Human Torch are pretty cool.

Originally Posted by Rausch

And this is the problem.



There isn't a lack of quality female/black characters in the Marvel U. There's plenty. Most better than the few they're using now.



Hollywood just chooses to ignore them...

There are several women and a handful of blacks but they're lacking in other areas. Not many Hispanics, Asians, etc. that I can think of off the top of my head.

That's why I always liked the X Men. A lot of diversity in that group.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by Rausch

And this is the problem.

There isn't a lack of quality female/black characters in the Marvel U. There's plenty. Most better than the few they're using now.

Hollywood just chooses to ignore them...

[unlurking]

Terry Crews would be awesome.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

Well, yeah.

[Aries Walker]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Agreed. Although Silver Surfer and Human Torch are pretty cool.

The Human Torch is a surprisingly complex and interesting character. Same with his sister; Sue's character arc during Civil War was fascinating.

Oh, and they're launching another Secret Wars next year.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2...sive/16987121/

[unlurking]

Interesting. Wonder how/if that will influence the movie story lines. It seems like it will take another 5-6 years before they can complete the Infinity Gauntlet story.