UPDATE: Marvel Phase Three announcement
Remember that rumor about the lineup of The Avengers changing by the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, with most of the Avengers off fighting some threat while Tony Stark leads new team members in Avengers 3? Now that rumor has far more credence, thanks to a statement made by Marvel Studios chief and Ultron producer Kevin Feige. In an on-set interview with Buzzfeed, he said:
“The Avengers films, ideally, in the grand plan are always big, giant linchpins. It’s like as it was in publishing, when each of the characters would go on their own adventures and then occasionally team up for a big, 12-issue mega-event. Then they would go back into their own comics, and be changed from whatever that event was. I envision the same thing occurring after this movie, because the [Avengers] roster is altered by the finale of this film.” [emphasis ours]
This shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Chris Evans only has two more movies left in his current contract (Captain America 3 and probably Avengers 3), and he has plans to focus on directing movies. Chris Hemsworth, meanwhile, has other projects lined up, delaying Thor 3 to 2017 at the earliest. The other actors are more expensive to hire now, with only so many movies left in their contracts. Marvel is notoriously cheap; they’ll introduce newer, less expensive actors when possible.
So which character(s) might Avengers: Age Of Ultron be introducing as a lead-in for the new roster in Avengers 3? We already know Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) are on the team. It would make sense to have Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) join the third movie. We’re also not entirely convinced Evangeline Lilly is only playing Hope Van Dyne and not Wasp.
There’s one more potential surprise, though. Bleeding Cool notes that the Captain Marvel comic book isn’t among the many being cancelled, even though it has similar sales levels to some of the nixed titles. It does have good digital sales and strong editorial support, but here’s the interesting part: Bleeding Cool says the editorial staff “seem to be under the impression that, yes, Captain Marvel as Carol Danvers will be appearing in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, which might boost the sales of the comic book.”
If true, that would mean Marvel would introduce Captain Marvel in their cinematic universe on May 1st, 2015, more than a year before Wonder Woman is introduced in Batman V Superman on May 6th, 2016. It’s just speculation, but we’re hoping it’s true.
And speaking of new team members, we can think of another loose end they could reintroduce in a friendlier, more accessible form, because as Tony Stark said way back in The Avengers #16, “The ranks of the Avengers will always need replenishing”…
