Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce may have just slipped up in a recent interview revealing that Joss Whedon will be back to direct The Avengers 3.
In an interview with Movies.com, the Iron Man 3 writer was asked, “Will we see some aftermath of this short [All Hail the King] at some point, either in the cinematic universe or Netflix or any of the other crazy things Marvel is cooking up?”
Pearce replied, “Honestly, it’s a question above my pay grade. One of the things when you’re a writer or director in the Marvel universe is you come in, you leave some tasty morsels dangling at the end, and maybe you’re the one who comes in and picks them up again next time, or maybe it’s someone else, or maybe they just hang there awhile.”
He continued, saying, “Despite any cliffhanger-ness to the short, I also don’t feel like it’s unsatisfying. That’s all you can really hope to do. Unless you’re Joss and you’re making Avengers 2 and 3, and then you have a pretty good idea if you’re making the next one or not.”
He could just be assuming like the rest of the world that Whedon would be on board for the third Avengers film, but Pearce is someone who would be in the know and hearing it from him is more than we’ve heard from anyone else working under Marvel’s secretive umbrella.
Drew Pearce was being interviewed due to his Marvel One-Shot, All Hail the King, which will be included on Thor: The Dark World’s Blu-ray which hits store shelves today. It’s another great addition to Marvel’s popular short films and is definitely worth picking up.
Related: Thor: The Dark World Blu-ray review
Marvel has become known for planning their films many years in advance, with Captain America 3 and Thor 3 both being green-lit just this past month. The Avengers: Age of Ultron won’t even be hitting theaters until May 1, 2015, so even thinking about the third film feels somewhat inconsequential.
The Avengers smashed box office records back in 2012, so there will be a three year gap between the first and second film, which means we should expect the third film to arrive (pending the end of days) around 2018.
While it could simply be an off-the-cuff remark from Pearce, we’ll take Avengers’ news any way we can. Meanwhile, The Avengers: Age of Ultron is currently filming in the streets of South Africa and will be released May 1, 2015.
Source: Collider