STORY: 'Black Panther' Back in Development at Marvel

Some of those projects have been discussed in the past (Guardians and Ant-Man are actively at different stages of preproduction), but is this the first time that anyone actually connected with Marvel -- even as tenuously as Lee -- has mentioned Inhumans as a future project for the studio?

If Inhumans is actually being developed for a Phase 3 (or beyond) project, it's a smart move for Marvel Studios. Created by Lee and Jack Kirby in their 1960s run on Fantastic Four as a race of genetically modified humans given spectacular powers by a vapor known as the Terrigen Mists, populated by characters with names like Black Bolt, Medusa and Karnak.

STORY: Marvel's New Heroes Are 'Inhuman'

Later this year, Marvel is set to overhaul the concept in an event called "Inhumanity," in which many regular humans will be revealed to be descended from Inhumans, giving them latent powers that could manifest in later life -- in other words, a version of the central "mutant" concept of X-Men, but one whose movie rights are controlled by Marvel ("Inhumanity" will lead into a January-launching series, Inhuman, as part of Marvel's All-New Marvel NOW! publicity push).

Elsewhere in the same interview, Lee explains that he doesn't think that Marvel is in any rush to offer up a movie with a female lead anytime soon. "The thing is, the women like these movies as much as the guys," he said. "So we don't have to knock ourselves out finding a female."