Move over Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and possibly The Avenger. Marvel Studios has big plans for 2013 as the upcoming future as phase II of Marvel Cinematic Universe begins.
Since 2007 Marvel Studios has always delivered big news to Comic-Con. From Robert Downey Jr. first footage as Iron Man to revealing the full cast of the Avengers for the first time, Marvel Studios continues to exceed fan expectations and 2012 was no different. Hall H was the first place the Avengers assembled for the first time, and Hall H was again the first place to announce the next batch of Marvel upcoming movies which will define phase II of Marvel's Cinematic Universe.
As the panel started Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige was introduced on to the stage an reveal Marvel's next five films. First up was confirmation of an Ant-Man movie along with test footage, which will be directed by Edgar Wright. The footage played in Hall H features Ant-Man disappearing, changing in size in the film's final cut, knocking out two men in black suites. No confirmation on who will play Ant-Man, but fans can celebrate as an original Avenger will join the Cinematic Universe.
Kevin Feige was not done with the big news, in addition to Iron Man 3 the official titles for Thor and Captain America sequels were revealed on the big screen. Thor: The Dark World, will hit theaters in November 2013, while Captain America: The Winter Soldier gets released in April 2014. The last film announced is The Guardians of the Galaxy, concept art of Rocket Raccoon and the rest of Guardians were posted on the big screens as fans cheered in excitement. The Guardians of the Galaxy will most likely incorporate Thanos, the assumed villain for the Avengers sequel.
On a personal note, I am most definitely excited to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Prior to Comic-Con I published an article about Ed Brubaker's successful run on Captain America. Brubaker takes all the credit for re-introducing the Winter Soldier to comic book fans. When the title for the Captain America sequel went public Brubaker's comment on twitter.com described what every Captain America fan was thinking: "Holy !@$%."
SPOILER ALERT: If you do not know already the Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers WWII sidekick. Bucky was portrayed by actor Sebastian Stan in Captain America: The First Avengers. Based on the obvious movie title it is confirmed Sebastian Stan will reprise his role as Bucky, aka Winter Soldier.
After the big reveals for Marvel Studios the panel was abruptly interrupted by Robert Downey Jr. dancing up towards the stage to Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much." When Robert Downey Jr. was handed the microphone where he asked three questions to the Comic-Con attendees:
1) "How much do I love you?"
2) "How much do you love me?"
3) "Why aren't we watching any footage yet?"
The room went dark and the a special clip and trailer for Iron Man 3 debuted. The first clip featured Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark trying on his new armor piece by piece. The armor literally flies towards him and slowly Iron Man is assembled in a new armor. In the past Iron Man's armor was primarily red and had gold as secondary color. The new armor is the opposite in which gold is the primary color. Following the clip was the trailer which showed (in no specific order): the Iron Patriot armor, Tony Stark's Hall of Armors, US Military destroying Tony Stark's mansion along with the Hall of armors, Iron Man swimming through debris underwater, and Sir Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin.
After playing the trailer, Robert Downey Jr. introduced Iron Man 3 director Shane Black, and his co-stars Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau (director of the first two movies)
Highlights from the panel were: Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle's playful banter regarding putting on the armor for the movie, a fan's reaction to Robert Downey Jr. dance towards the stage, Robert Downey Jr.'s willingness to reprise Iron Man beyond his contract, and Favreau's passing of the director's torch to Shane Black. Iron Man 3 is schedule to come out next year and based on the trailer Iron Man 3 can very well be the most serious out of the Iron Man trilogy.
Click on the youtube links to see personal videos of Marvel Studios big movie title reveals and Robert Downey Jr. dancing on stage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSdoAFlYiqA&feature=player_embedded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxdDwbZCVBA&feature=player_embedded
