What Are Marvel’s 5 New Films?

Marvel Studios just revealed the release dates for five more films coming your way through to 2019. They’ve planted their flag in five new dates between 2017 and 2019 taking the total number of films in their development pipeline to eleven.

Those new dates, adding to the six that have already been announced are, 28 July and 3 November, 2017; 6 July and 2 November, 2018; and 3 May, 2019.

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That’s impressive stuff from the Disney off-shoot, which has already released nine hugely successful films since ‘Iron Man’ kicked the whole thing off in 2008.

The blockbuster studio hasn’t named which films will coming on these new dates, but we’re confident in making a few predictions.

All these dates are the US release dates to save confusion, as the UK dates may vary. Expect some concrete announcements at San Diego Comic-Con later this week.

28 July 2017: ‘Black Panther’?

Marvel Studio boss Kevin Feige has hinted that the studio will continue with a “one sequel, one new character” model going forward from 2015 which sees the release of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and ‘Ant-Man’.

2016 will see the release of ‘Captain America 3’ and probably ‘Doctor Strange’, while ‘Avengers 3’ will likely bring a close to Marvel’s Phase 3 slate in May 2017. So who could be up next for the mid-Summer 2017 release?

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We’re pinning our hopes on ‘Black Panther’. Marvel is said to have been casting this one for a while now, so we’re hoping they reveal who will be playing T’Challa or at least a director at Comic Con. Black Panther is one of the most popular characters in the comics and it would be cool to see a Marvel film set outside of the urban sprawl.

3 November 2017: ‘Thor 3’ or ‘Iron Man 4’ or ‘Hulk and Hawkeye’?

The mighty Thor dominated the November slot last year with ‘The Dark World’ and there’s something irresistible about those festive slots going to fantasy-tinged films. However, if Downey Jr was to have one last solo hurrah as Tony Stark, this could be the time to do it.

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There’s an outside chance that Marvel might team up two or more of their lesser-serviced characters for a film at some point in the future. A Hulk and Hawkeye film would satisfy both Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner who are desperate for their own chance to shine.

6 July 2018: ‘Captain Marvel’ or ‘The Runaways’?

Could it be time for Marvel to finally take the plunge and give us a female-fronted superhero film? We think so. But rather than giving Scarlett Johansson her own ‘Black Widow’ film, we expect Marvel to announce a Captain Marvel film to bolster their female line-up. Her cosmic powers would be a great way to link the earth-bound heroes with the space-set ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.

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Alternatively, Marvel has been circling an adaptation of the teenage team-up squad ‘The Runaways’ for some time now, so could this project finally get green lit to capitalise on the YA boom?

2 November 2018: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’?

Director James Gunn has pretty much confirmed he’ll stay on to make the sequel to this summer’s new release as long as it’s a hit. Early signs are that it’ll be another box-office winner for the studio, so we expect ‘Guardians 2’ to take this slot.

3 May 2019: ‘Crossover Event Movie’

If Joss Whedon doesn’t demand ‘Avengers 3’ is pushed back to this slot, we think Marvel will commit to a crossover event movie for this slot.

The company has multiple crossover event arcs in their comics, which link all their solo comics together into one overarching universe-spanning story. A good template could be Mark Millar’s ‘Civil War’ which saw every hero imaginable picking sides before a huge showdown.

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Marvel has the cajones and the confidence to attempt something similar in movies. Just think, ‘The Avengers’ meets ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ meets ‘Agents of SHIELD’ meets ‘The Defenders’, its Netflix-only team up squad. It would be a logical step for the studio which is always looking to push the boundaries.

After all, pre-2008 who would have thought ‘The Avengers’ would be possible? You’ve got to dream big people!

Here’s the rest of Marvel’s upcoming slate in case you were curious…

1 August 2014: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

Marvel’s first foray into the sci-fi realm is coming out in UK cinemas 31 July and is getting good pre-release buzz. Check out a trailer here.

1 May 2015: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’

This one has been in the diary for a while. Joss Whedon’s finale to Marvel’s ‘Phase 2’ sees Earth’s mightiest heroes reuniting to take on the evil robot Ultron.

17 July 2015: ‘Ant-Man’

Even Edgar Wright’s untimely departure couldn’t derail ‘Ant-Man’, Marvel’s heist film about a man with “the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength”. Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas are set to star with Peyton Reed taking over the directing reins.

6 May 2016: ‘Captain America 3’

After the runaway success of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, Marvel was quick to reveal a third Cap film would take this previously announced slot.

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The Russo brothers will return to write and direct this threequel which will go head-to-head with ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ at the US box office.

8 July, 2016: Probably ‘Doctor Strange’ (date previously announced)

This date has been pencilled in the Marvel diary for a while now with no film officially attached. We expect the studio to officially confirm ‘Doctor Strange’ at Comic Con as ‘Sinister’s Scott Derrickson has already been announced as the director, so the pre-production must already be in full flow. Benedict Cumberbatch for Stephen Strange? Here’s hoping.

5 May, 2017: Expected to be ‘The Avengers 3’ (date previously announced)

The two previous ‘Avengers’ films have taken the coveted Independence Day weekend, so we’re confident the third will also take this slot. The long-anticipated smack down between the ‘Avengers’ and the evil Thanos is likely to be the thrust of this one.

What do you think of our predictions? Are there any other Marvel characters who demand their own movies? Let us know below.

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Image Credit: Marvel Comics/Marvel Studios/Disney