Earlier this year, Marvel debuted Avengers: Age of Ultron and later this week, the movie will hit home theaters on Blu-Ray/DVD. Since Phase 2 has since come to a close with Ant-Man, Marvel is hard at work on a number of projects that will kick off Phase 3 and with that, we have a lot of stuff to look forward too.

Leading up to the launch of the Blu-Ray/DVD of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige and producer Jeremy Latcham sat down to discuss what is to come. /Film has posted the entire interview as a series of clips, but we will highlight the most interesting points of the interview below.

One of the big questions heading in to Phase 3 and the culmination of the entire MCU in Avengers: Infinity War is the location of the final two Infinity Stones, also known as the Infinite Six. Feige’s response to when we will see them is not surprising but he did shed light on why they make certain things stones and other’s not.

You will see the other two sometime in Phase 3, for sure. There’s a gauntlet that needs to be filled.

Some of it comes from the source material. The Cosmic Cube is always very important to Red Skull and for Captain America. We always knew in this film, Age of Ultron, that there was one in Loki’s scepter and that that was gonna end up in Vision’s head. The orb comes out of a structural plot need for a mcguffin.

Phase 3 will also have 10 movies by the time it is complete, and while Captain America: Civil War is deep in post production, there are multiple properties that are still without directors. Feige has previously stated he thought they would have all those directors locked down by now, but as he explains, it is a long process to get the right fit.

We usually have a kernel of an idea, a story to be, or even the tonality of a particular movie. We’re hiring a lot of filmmakers right now. It really comes down to numerous meetings, I guess Jon Watts is the most recent one on Spider-Man, where we sort of pitch them what we think the movie could be and then we start a discussion. If over the course of 3 or 4 or 5 meetings, they make it way better then what we were initially spewing to them, they usually get the job.

While there are movies that come chronologically before Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel has already announced Joe and Anthony Russo will be directing the two part phenomenon. According to Feige, they are already planning out this film but everything isn’t nailed down, like some fans might think.

Yes, in broad strokes, sometimes super specific things, but for the most part in broad strokes. They are broad enough and loose enough that if through the development of the 4 or 5 movies before we get to the culmination, we still have room to sway, and move, and surprise ourselves.

There have been questions about how long the original Avengers will be around and even with some of them willing to extend their contracts, Infinity War will be the end of some version of the Avengers according to Latcham.

I think it is definitely an end to some version of the team we’ve come to know as the Avengers. Who knows what exactly is going to happen yet in that film, but I think this version of that team, I think we start to hint at it at the end of Age of Ultron, that the team will be evolving.

It’s not the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I think it’s the end of part of it for sure. We’re still trying to figure out which parts that means.

Latcham also spoke about the “New Avengers” team we see at the end of Age of Ultron and revealed it wasn’t always the plan to have the group we have now, with Feige once again confirming Captain Marvel was in an early draft.

In early development, there was this notion of like there would be a ton of new people. Then it was like, we haven’t really introduced them, we don’t know where they’re gonna come from, and Joss kind of did not love that idea.

The post credit teaser for Age of Ultron showed Thanos wielding the Infinity Gauntlet and after previously being shown one in Odin’s vault, we weren’t sure if these were the same. Thankfully, Feige has cleared that up, with Latcham teasing one may be more real the other, which did not please Feige.

Feige- It’s not the same one.

Latcham- Which one do you think is the real one?

There is also a lot of excitement for Spider-Man to make his debut in the MCU in Civil War and thanks to the new deal between Sony and Marvel, he has a new solo moving coming in 2017. Feige addressed the new deal and their focus on Spider-Man, as well as the plans for Phase 3 without him.

Making that agreement with Amy and Mike and Tom Rothmans at Sony was great and really amazing. On a personal level making these movies it means a lot because you can do great things with Spider-Man and he can serve a great purpose in our universe, and thats where he belongs. Thats what was unique about him in the comics is not that he was the only superhero in the world, it was that he was a totally different kind of superhero when compared against the other ones in the Marvel universe. … It means a lot and now we better not screw it up.

The most important thing is the stand alone movie, relaunching Spider-Man with a stand alone movie with a new storyline that fits into this universe – thats job number one for us. And as is the case, the connectivity is great but it doesn’t drive the train. That being said, if I understand what you’re asking, we had… this has been a dream of ours for a long time, and we always had contingency plans should you know — which we always do anyways. Are we going to be able to make another movie with this actor? If we are then we’ll do this, if not, we’re going to do this. If we get the rights to a certain character that’d be great, then we’d do this, if not, we’d do this. So we always sort of operate with those alternate timelines available and are ready to shift if something happens.

There is also a bigger universe to the MCU that exists with the Guardians of the Galaxy. They are currently in a separate corner of the world but will likely connect at some point, even though that has not been decided just yet according to Feige.

Thanos and clearly the Infinity Stones are the link between all those movies. I do think there will be more crossover into that sector of the Marvel literal universe. When and if those specific characters start switching remains to be seen.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Doctor Strange before it, are the next two Marvel films we will see. So far we have gotten a good number of casting announcements for Doctor Strange plus confirmation of returning characters for Guardians 2. However, there are still plenty of roles yet to be filled for those two movies, plus other upcoming films, that we should hear announcements on by the end of the year.

I think it will be pretty quick. I think there will be quite a slew of casting announcements over the next few months. . . before the end of the year.

The interview ended by bringing up the possible return of Marvel One-Shots. Feige insists that they would love to and while they have plenty of ideas, such as Howard the Duck, Cosmo, or one involving Michael Peña as Luis, they don’t have the man power to make them with three movies a year being made.

We wrote up his earlier comments about the crossover potential for TV and films here.

Source: /Film