Big Marvel movie news today! The next big Marvel feature after Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2 will be the space epic Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a massive undertaking that may (or may not be) set in a future universe. But if you look at Marvel's current movie roster, it fits in perfectly.
In classic Marvel continuity, the Guardians of the Galaxy are a team of superheroes from the future, where an evil race — hilariously named the Badoon — is gobbling up their worlds. Eventually, the Guardians go back in time to recruit the Avengers for help, a move that brings alien calamity in its wake. There's also a modern (and way more marketable) incarnation of the team that stars an aggregation of endearingly weird aliens like Groot the living tree and the firearm-toting Rocket Raccoon (both below, as drawn by Mike Mignola).
According to Latino Review the script by Nicole Perlman is bananas good and will lead up directly to The Avengers 2 in 2015. Latino Review has also revealed that the big announcement for a Guardians movie will occur at this year's Comic-Con, although most of Marvel's time will be spent hyping up Iron Man 3.
So this is what we have coming out from Marvel in the near future:
- Iron Man 3 is currently shooting with a release date of May 3, 2013.
- Thor 2 is the next project gearing up for a shoot and has a release date of November 8, 2013.
- Captain America 2 is planned for April 14, 2014.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (sometime in 2014) will lead directly into Avengers 2 in 2015.
So where does that leave smaller projects like Ant-Man? Edgar Wright just admitted that he shot a test reel for the movie, and reports have lead us to believe that the script is done. We're betting that Ant-Man is slipped in between Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, especially with the rumors that the Iron Man 3 post-credits ending sets up Ant-Man. As for movies starring Dr. Strange, The Inhumans, and Black Panther, they are all still in deep development, but could easily be sprinkled throughout 2014 and 2015 should writing wrap.