Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 2 & 3 thread.

So critics have screened Ant-Man, and 1.) they like it, 2.) it antidotes the gyp of the end of "Ultron", by giving us two awesome stingers.

Mild spoiler...

There's an Avenger in Ant-Man.

Review of Ant Man: http://mashable.com/2015/07/08/ant-man-review-earths-tiniest-hero-is-also-marvels-funniest-movie/

Scarlett Johansson/Black Widow is sporting her super short hair from the comics.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/38019/-civil-war-haircut-ultron-blu-ray-trailer

Rumored breakdown of the teams in Civil War.

First pic of Black Panther on set.

D23 showed a sizzle reel for Dr. Strange, and a trailer for Civil War.

Only descriptions so far, but fuck that, I want the real deal.
Hopefully it'll be posted soon.
Stay tuned.

Oh, here's a nifty little factoid I heard on a podcast.

Since production people consider Marvel phase 2 as the middle act, therefore the "Empire Strikes Back", of the series, to pay homage to ESB, someone gets their hand cut off in every phase 2 movie.

(Warning: contains spoilers for people too lazy to get their asses to theaters)

Iron Man 3- Various Extemis soldiers lose and regrow arms.
Thor 2- Thor gets hand cut off, turns out to be a Loki hologram.
Cap 2- Winter Soldier.
Guardians Of The Galaxy- Nebula.
Ultron- Klaw.
Ant-Man- Yellow Jacket (arm sucks into his body during a malfunctioning shrink)

Rumor is, Marisa Tomei as sexy Aunt May will cameo in "Civil War".

Allegedly, Marvel's considering rebooting Blade, but will make it about Blade's daughter, possibly with Wesley Snipes in a mentor role.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/38548/marvel-s-blade-reboot-changes-characters

Sexy Aunt May?

Thanks for making me feel dirty, Marvel.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/38588/-civil-war-promo-art-showcases-teams

Art claiming to be official concept art of the teams in Civil War.

The 1-on-1 combats seem pretty obvious

Cap vs. Iron Man (natch)
Scarlet Witch vs. Vision (power hitters, potential tie-in to canonical relationship)
Hawkeye vs. Black Widow (existing personal dynamic)
Falcon vs. War Machine (both can fly)
Winter Soldier vs. Black Panther (new guys)

That thing flying around that isn't Falcon is Falcon's drone, Redwing (named after the biological falcon from the comics).

Oh, I'm mistaken.

The character that I thought was Scarlet Witch is actually Agent 13. Hmmm...

I thought it might be Mockingbird, similar hairdos and all.
But, that would mean the MCU acknowledges SHIELD, and we can't have that.

I think that acknowledgment is 1 way only. You will *never* see evidence in the MCU that Coulson is anything other than dead.

Hope that isn't it, because I'd be hard pressed to see how Cap's team would last long enough to make a credible movie. Every single heavy hitter is with Iron Man.

Though I'd expect Tasha to switch sides at some point.

And I'm a bit surprised that Scarlet Witch isn't prominent. Considering her character's back story with the Starks, you'd think she would be itching to take him on.

I'm thinking Cap'll get Spider-Man, and in the third pic, you see he's got Ant-Man on his shoulder.

Scarlet Witch has got to come in on Cap's side. If not, Cap's team won't survive first contact with the Vision.

Another way to balance it would be to make Agent 13 represent SHIELD's backing. Could be why Fury isn't in it - he's given orders to have Sharon Carter be the point man to back Cap, as he can't officially do so given the politics of opposing the registration act. That gives Cap's team lots of tech to help balance out Tony's presence as leader of the other side.

And IIRC, they haven't revealed yet that Sharon is related to Peggy. Supposedly Peggy's death scene is at the start of the next movie - that could be how Sharon is reintroduced and start that romance arc. In which case, between Bucky being the instigator of the Civil War and Agent 13/Sharon being upgraded to being worth showing as one of the team members it underscores how this is a Cap movie, and not just Avengers 2.5.

Yeah, I like that - we'll see if I'm anywhere close, lol.

Well, it depends on what the stakes are. Not sure how they are going with the Act - but its possible that this will be more espionage oriented like CA:WS. In which case Cap's team may not need to beat Iron Man's team, just stay free long enough to succeed at their agenda. In an espionage battle Cap's team has a significant edge. Black Widow of course is excellent at that, but Ant-Man would definitely give it to team Cap.

Ant Man is the only real power on the team in the promo art. If you add Wanda and Spiderman, yeah, Cap's team has a fighting chance if they need to go straight on. But I'd still say the Vision tips it in IM's favor. Winter Soldier is seriously bad ass, but even with his bionic arm he can't take on War Machine, let alone Stark.

The other wild card is Black Widow - there's lots of speculation that she is working as a double agent, but nothing of that is from any official source. I do have a hard time seeing her motivation to supporting the Registration Act.

Any way, looks like a hell of a lot of fun.

Mads Mikkelsen rumored to be up for a villain role in Dr. Strange.

Baron Mordo is already cast, so could it be.....Dormammu??

Nightmare?

If he were Mephisto, that'd be good setup for Infinity War.

Shouldn't assume he's anyone estalished and/or super-powered.

He could be like Robert Redford's character in Winter Soldier, a non-powered human antagonist created for the movie.

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/0neAHGT

This needs to happen!! Clip is from one of the Avengers cartoons.

Shit, have him just be Hannibal.

Stephen Strange- *Leaves surgery, comes back* wait...WHERE'S HIS BRAIN?!?!?!

Hannibal- *Sneaks out of operating theater daintily dabbing corners of mouth with a hanky*

(Newspaper montage shows Strange framed for gross malpractice, fired, barely avoids jail)

Oh, right, keep forgetting, Lady Sif is supposed to be in tbe mix too, substituting for Thor.