Many expected Iron Man 3 to pave the way for Avengers 2 and perhaps it still may, despite contract issues that went public yesterday. The third Iron Man movie worked more as a stand-alone than any of the previous films and so what direction Phase Two will take us is still somewhat of a mystery.
Of course, Thor, Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy are the next three films that will lead us to Avengers 2 and beyond that only Edgar Wright's Ant-Man has been confirmed.
THR revealed in a lengthy article that Marvel is currently developing a handful of films based on more second tier characters including Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist and Black Panther. The article goes on to also confirm that a Doctor Strange movie is in development, a property that had been under considerable speculation for the past couple of years.
Additionally, Marvel is developing a reboot to their Blade property, a character whose movie rights recently fell back into their ownership.
Not all of these characters will factor in to Avengers 2 and the so-called Phase Three slate of films that the comic book movie studio is lining up. In fact, as more movie rights begin to revert back to Marvel, there will be more stand-alone superhero films that won't tie in to the Avengers franchise/universe.
The studio wouldn't confirm if they were developing a Ghost Rider, Daredevil or Punisher reboot, saying that they're just happy to have them back "at home" to be developed internally.
The Runaways is another property that Marvel has been trying to develop for several years. At a recent roundtable discussion, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige joked that Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce had written, "a script so good we ended up not turning it into a film." Pearce was then teamed with director/writer Shane Black and $700 million dollars (and counting) later Iron Man 3 is the box office juggernaut that we know today.
What do you think of these characters getting stand-alone movies? Are there any other Marvel characters out there that you'd like to see get their own movie?
