Well, that was kind of anti-climactic. With Warner announcing an untitled Superman & Batman film for summer 2015 earlier today, fans at Comic-Con were hoping that Marvel Studios would try and top the rival studio with various possible announcements. After all, there’s plenty of options, there’s been an abundance of talk about Phase 3 films and Marvel has planned two dates for 2016 (May 6, July 8) and one for 2017 (May 5) without revealing what those films will be. But it wasn’t meant to be if you were hoping to find out what they were. If you were expecting to receive announcements about “Dr. Strange” or “Black Panther” movies, or more casting about the “Avengers” sequel, it didn’t happen.
The best fans got? Though they didn’t seem to mind at all, was the title of “The Avengers” sequel that also revealed its villain: “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron” (you can obviously see the new logo above). Created by Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, Ultron is a living automaton who, in the comics, is later revealed to be the creator of the Avengers character Vision (who seems poised to be joining the sequel and as probably played by Vin “can’t keep any secrets” Diesel; an announcement involving Diesel is apparently coming at the end of this month). No other ‘Avengers’ details were released, including what actors would play the the two new characters Quicksilver and his sister the Scarlett Witch.
If Twitter was any indication, fans were nevertheless wowed by footage of “Thor: The Dark World” (*spoiler,* *spoiler,* “Thor” gets his hand cut off by Loki at one point) and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (which sounds like it’s trying to be an action film meets a ’70s political thriller).
Footage of the space super hero movie “Guardians of the Galaxy” starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Benicio Del Toro, and John C. Reilly was also unveiled and fans seemed to be deeply impressed with what sounds like Marvel’s most comedic film to date. Little revelations learned from that film? Lee Pace will play Ronan The Accuser as rumored, Benicio Del Toro will play The Collector (as rumored), and Djimon Hounsou slipped up a bit and revealed that he is playing Korath, a disciple of the villain Thanos who was teased at the end of “The Avengers.”
“Guardians of the Galaxy” is still set for a August 1, 2014 release. “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron” lands in theaters May 1, 2015. No news from Edgar Wright‘s “Ant-Man” (due November 6, 2015) was unveiled. Three mystery Marvel release dates are still as follows below. Earlier in the day, Marvel debuted the pilot episode of their “Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.” TV show, elements of which you can see below as well, including a new photo of Cobie Smulders and a new featurette.
Marvel Untitled May 6, 2016
Marvel Untitled July 8, 2016
Update: You can watch the entire Marvel Comic-Con panel, minus the film presentations, below via Slashfilm.
