In an interview with MTV, President of Production at Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, has announced that Edgar Wright’s ANT-MAN will be the official start of Marvel’s Phase Three in 2015. He also confirmed that DOCTOR STRANGE will finally be joining the cinematic universe as part of Phase Three. DOCTOR STRANGE has long been rumoured with directors such as Guillermo Del Toro once attached to the project. There were even rumours last year of Viggo Mortensen taking on the role in a cameo appearance of a Phase Two film. With DC continuing their idiocy of rushing out a JUSTICE LEAGUE film, this just goes to show how well planned Marvel are. Phase Two hasn’t even begun yet, but will kick off this April with IRON MAN 3.
Feige assured audiences that ANT-MAN will certainly be an Edgar Wright film, but firmly placed in the Marvel Universe:
ANT-MAN is definitely part of Phase Three. Like IRON MAN 3, it’s certainly set in the Marvel Universe, but it’s also through the lens of Edgar Wright — which is the only reason we’re making the movie…I’ve known Edgar since our first lunch together at Comic-Con in 2004. He asked me what Marvel was doing with ANT-MAN — we weren’t even a studio then; what a difference eight years makes! It’s very much an ANT-MAN origin movie from the perspective of Edgar Wright and his co-writer Joe Cornish. It will of course be firmly planted in the MCU, but a different corner than we’ve seen before.
Feige went on to discuss DOCTOR STRANGE’s role in the upcoming and ever expanding world of Marvel films:
Beyond that… ANT-MAN is the only one officially announced, but you probably don’t have to look too far to guess at the next list of characters we’re toying with and beginning to develop… DOCTOR STRANGE, which I’ve been talking about for years, is definitely one of them. He’s a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he’s totally different from anything else we have, just like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. He’s totally different from anything we’ve done before, as is ANT-MAN, which keeps us excited.
With all this excitement it would be easy to forget about what Marvel has just around the corner for us. So here are some words from Feige to remind us of IRON MAN 3:
I would say that the exercise of this film [IRON MAN 3] is very much standalone, more so than any IRON MAN film since the first one. But because we are in Phase Two and we’re heading towards another AVENGERS movie, there’s certainly a road that’s being paved — you just might not notice it…While you’re driving on the road, not knowing where it’s going, you might not realize that there are road signs and signals and lane changes that we’re setting up now — they might not be readily apparent the first time you see the movie…In this one, it has less to do with any sort of larger S.H.I.E.L.D. or cosmic overlay, but much more about Tony, his frame of mind, his viewpoint and the things he wants to pursue.
And finally, let us not forget what Phase Two will eventually lead up to. That all important AVENGERS 2:
It’s still early days, but I told [Whedon] after reading the first sketch outline he delivered — and there’s a lot of work still to do, he has to sit down and turn this into a movie — but there are already seven things in there that are worth the price of admission alone.
That’s a lot of Marvel goodness to take in and I can’t wait to see it all take place up on the big screen. As for casting DOCTOR STRANGE, how about Dylan McDermott (although, I’d cast him i anything), or maybe Jean Dujardin?
Source: MTV
