May 4, 2018
When Marvel announced last night that they would be releasing a movie on May 4, 2018, we’d be lying if we didn’t say it throw us for a loop. There’s no way that Marvel would ever release Avengers 3 on a month other than May as they want it to start the summer off with a bang, and working under that rule we assumed that Avengers 3 would have to be on the May, 2019 release date. May 2017 seems far too early, but we can absolutely see Marvel wanting to release their biggest property a year earlier (2018) if possible.
But we’re sticking to our guns. We still think Phase 3 will end in May 2019 for one big reason: Marvel has probably been running on the assumption that it would. Only when The Amazing Spider-Man 4 dropped out of the date did Marvel scoop it up. It’s true, Marvel could shuffle things around and bump Avengers 3 up a year, but we think they’ll keep it in 2019.
We also think that an extra May date is a decent indication that there will be a Phase 3 movie we had long assumed wouldn’t be made: Iron Man 4. After Captain America 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, we don’t think there’s another franchise that Marvel would have enough faith in to put it in the month where they traditionally put their biggest projects. May is reserved for the Marvel movies that you already know that you want, and Iron Man 3‘s over $1 billion gross is evidence of just how huge Iron Man 4 would be.
The big thing to consider when discussing the possibility of Iron Man 4 is Robert Downey Jr.’s contract. Downey is currently only signed on for Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers 3, but he has revealed that he’s more than willing to sign another contract, it’s just a matter of reaching an agreement. “Right now, this has just been swell, hasn’t it?” Downey said, of playing Iron Man. We think he signs on for Iron Man 4, and we think Marvel releases it here.
July 6, 2018
This is another date where it’s hard to predict what Marvel will do. If we were right and Marvel releases Iron Man 4 on May 4, this could be a date to try a project that isn’t nearly as bankable. If Avengers 3 is released on that date, this could be the start of Phase 4. If Iron Man 4 doesn’t get made and Avengers 3 is released in 2019 like we think then the summer of 2018 will be a very interesting one.
One property they might be finally ready to stick here is Black Panther. For a while, it was thought that Black Panther would be a Phase 2 film, so it’s a project that has been on Marvel’s to do list for quite some time. Of the properties that we don’t know when we’ll see the, Black Panther might be the most logical to be released here solely due to the fact that it’s been planned for so long. We’re not entirely convinced that Black Panther will have anything to do with the charge towards Avengers 3, so we’re guessing that it might have to wait until Phase 4.
Another direction Marvel could go is Ms. Marvel (or Captain Marvel, depending on which version of the character they elect to go with), introducing Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel before Avengers 3. Like we said earlier with Black Widow, Marvel will want to amp up their female driven superheros, and Ms. Marvel is the perfect hero to add to their universe. Could Ms. Marvel be big enough to be Marvel’s only movie in the summer of 2018? We think the audience would be there, but does Marvel? It’s distinctly possible that Marvel will want to introduce her in Avengers 3 before giving her a solo movie in Phase 4.
This is perhaps more of a long shot, but what if Marvel decides one character has more story that needs to be told before Avengers 3? What if Marvel decides we need Loki? We don’t have any info to back this up, but what if Loki has a story of his own that need to be told before Avengers 3? It’s entirely possible, and it would allow Marvel to focus more on his character in a movie that didn’t feature Thor. With all of the diehard Loki and Tom Hiddleston fans desiring it, we can see Loki being a big enough movie for Marvel’s summer of 2018, whether they get Iron Man 4 for May or not. We certainly don’t know what movie Marvel will stick here, but Loki would be their movie that would create the most buzz.
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