The Future of the MCU

At the time of writing this we as comic book movie fans have a fantastic slate of Marvel Studios movies to look forward to. With Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy coming out in 2014 (This year) and Avengers: Age of Ultron and Antman in 2015, one can not help but wonder what the future of the MCU will be.

These are predictions for Marvel films after 2015. And just to let you know i am basing this on a studio mindset not a fan-boy mindset.

2016
Doctor Strange (March to May)

REASONING:
From all the rumors that are out there it's arguably this is one of the films in development that is the furthest along. Kevin Fiege has a love for the character and mentions him many times in interviews. Also using a character like Doctor strange will grow the universe further just like they are trying to attempt with Guardians of the Galaxy. Also, i believe, it's another avenue where they can introduce another Infinity Stone.

We all know by now Marvel are known for placing a movie at the beginning of the American summer(I live Australia). Iron Man 3 last year, Avengers the year before. Why break what works? Obviously this year Captain America: The Winter Soldier has an earlier date but i believe that has something to do with getting prepared for Avengers 2.

Thor 3 (July or November)

REASONING
Was there any doubt? According to boxofficemojo.com Thor: The Dark World made roughly 630 million dollars on a 170 million dollar budget. Obviously it's not all profit, taking into consideration Movie theater cuts, actor back end deals etc. But that's a win in any studios book.

Here's the thing with the release date, marvel are tossing about. They have enjoyed the November releases of late. But with Guardians of the Galaxy releasing in August this year and Antman being brought forward from November to July in a heavy packed summer in 2015, this begs to question, where do you put the God of Thunder? My bet they'll stick him in November. A lot of delayed 2015 movies like Independence day, Pirates of the Caribbean etc. are now in that year and there will be no Twilight, Hunger Games or James Bond to speak of. Plus keeping there movies 6 months apart is what they would want.

2017
Black Panther (April)

REASONING
The other obvious choice. Kevin Fiege once said that they like the structure of the coming years by having a franchise movie along with an unknown. And with all these cosmic characters going around lets bring it back to earth. A little more grounded but still fantastical. This character is another who has been rumored to be far into development. Even as far to have rumored casting.

As explained earlier, It's their spot to lose. It gives them a 6 month gap like normal. There will (most likely) be no Spiderman or X-men movie that year. And if there is they will most likely be spin-offs (Venom, X-force etc.).

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

REASONING (August)
Surprised? Obviously this pick is very dependent on how much Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier make at the box office. My thinking behind this is that Marvel attempt to keep there actors as happy as possible and avoid doing straight up back-to-back movies. Plus a lot of the actors contracts are almost up. Why use up Chris Evans' contract if you don't need to? From what we know it's likely the Guardians won't be in Avengers which means they can stretch out these movies further.

If the first Guardians works, why not do it again? As mentioned before it would not be a shock to place the movie in November.

2018 - Future

To be honest i don't think Marvel will have Avengers 3 in 2018. But they will want that May spot. And if they do go with the Infinity Gauntlet story, they will want Ms. Marvel (which they should not name her that in the movie) part of that.

So thank you all for reading and leave comments below. This is my first Editorial, so please be gentle.

P.S Hulk will not get another movie. He has just got too much baggage with his previous movies. Marvel want to expand.