1. THE HISTORY OF MARVEL CINEMA

It all started with a man… and his name was Stan…

We gotta hand it to the guy. Stan Lee is the man responsible for most of the iconic and beloved characters we’ve learned to love over many years. He alone has been in almost every single Marvel film to date. That’s pretty impressive. We thank Stan Lee for giving us this great outlet to escape life for a couple of hours at a time.

In 1944 the first ever Marvel film was released titled, “Captain America”. Marvel Comics back then was known as Timely Comics. The film didn’t do too well and shortly thereafter, the company eventually found it’s real name… Marvel! There was a forty-two year gap between “Captain America” and the next Marvel film which was released in 1986 titled, “Howard the Duck”. The film barely broke even with it’s budget and only took in a total of one million dollars. After that, they decided to release a rather risky film in 1989 titled, “The Punisher” and one year later went on to remake the original Marvel film, “Captain America”! They even have an unreleased 1994 version of “The Fantastic Four”.

The sad thing is… all of these movies bombed. Marvel had no success in the film industry at all. It looked towards certain motion picture companies to pick up characters but nothing came from it. Marvel’s only hope was their original format of storytelling; comic books. It wasn’t until 1998 when a man named Avi Arad came in and decided to take on the daunting task of bringing a Marvel character to the big screen once again. “Blade”, a vampire-action/horror film based on the Marvel character of the same name was released with an “R” rating by the MPAA. This of course was risky knowing that comic books were meant for children to read and bringing a character of that origin to the screen in a gruesome fashion could potentially receive controversial reviews. To their surprise and fortune “Blade” was a huge success which earned them enough to go on with two sequels; “Blade II” (2002), and “Blade: Trinity” (2004).

A year after the release of “Blade” at the start of the new millennium, Bryan Singer released the next film based off a Marvel franchise titled, “X-Men”. Bryan singer finally and successfully brought Super-Hero movies to the big screen! “X-Men” was more than a success, it was a future. A future for not only Marvel films… but Super-Hero films is general!

2. FILM RIGHTS AND FRANCHISES MARVEL DOESN’T OWN

Here is something that most people don’t necessarily know… Film rights are different from property rights. Marvel still owns most of the characters from the original and recent comics. They can still write comics and do as they please with them in any form or fashion. Except for film. Most people think that all of the Marvel films that get released are property of Marvel, where that’s not actually true. You see there are characters that Marvel has rights to cinematically. Let me give you a list of characters and franchises created by Marvel that they don’t have the rights to….

The Fantastic Four (20th Century Fox)

X-Men (20th Century Fox)

Spider-Man (Sony & Columbia Pictures)

Blade (New Line Cinema) — Marvel has regained the rights since the last release in the film series

Marvel, up until 2008, wasn’t a film studio (Which I’ll get into shortly). They were just a comic book company that were releasing the rights to different production and distribution companies to create films. Marvel still makes money, because the character is technically their property, but doesn’t ultimately have the final say in what happens to the films. The “X-Men” franchise fathered by producer/director Bryan Singer currently belongs to 20th Century Fox, as I mentioned above, and is proudly responsible for six very successful feature films including…

X-Men (2000)

X2: X-Men United (2003)

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

X-Men: First Class (2011)

The Wolverine (2013)

That’s not to mention the “X-Men” films that are currently in production including…

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Untitled “Wolverine” Sequel (2017)

Over all, the “X-Men” franchise will walk away with a solid NINE films! That’s IF they decide to stop after the “Untitled ‘Wolverine’ Sequel”, which something tells me that they won’t. Surprisingly, that’s not all for 20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics! Fox also retained the rights to two other properties of Marvel besides the “X-Men” which included “The Fantastic Four” and “Daredevil”. After the success of the first “X-Men” film back in 2000, they decide to once again collaborate with Marvel on a feature film called, “Daredevil” based on the comic and character of the same name starring Ben Affleck in the titular role. The film was extremely successful in box office numbers worldwide, but critics and fans apparently weren’t fancying the film very much. Some people even going as far as to say it was the worst superhero film ever made. That obviously didn’t stop Fox from green lighting a spinoff film called, “Elektra” based on the love interest for Daredevil and supporting heroine of the same name. Jennifer Garner reprised her role from Daredevil in the film portraying the titular role. The film had almost no success earning a total of $13.7 million after it broke even on it’s $43 million dollar budget. Almost 10 years has passed since the 2003 and 2005 releases of the Daredevil property and Marvel has regained the rights to the Daredevil character and franchise. The same year of “Elektra’s” release was a new film that again Fox and Marvel had collaborated on titled, “Fantastic Four”! All the while they were banking off of their first and aforementioned hugely successful Marvel franchise, “X-Men”.

“Fantastic Four” was released in 2005 and had about the same reception from the public and critics as “Daredevil” did. It grossed impressive numbers in the worldwide box office but received ridiculously poor reviews from critics and fans alike. Once again Fox decided they would take a gamble and create a sequel a la “Daredevil” despite all of the negative reception. In 2007 “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” was released and surprisingly didn’t do too bad in the worldwide box office. Of course it again, was a huge miss according to critics and fans. Therefore… 20th Century Fox shut down both franchises and released the rights to one of them. (Fox still owns “The Fantastic Four”) But do not fret dear Fantastic Four fans!! 20th Century Fox is set to release a complete reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise in 2015. With a much younger and interesting cast… this film may just be what Fox needs. Set for a June 19th, 2015 release date, Kate Mara, Miles Teller, Jaime Bell and Michael B. Jordan are contracted to play “The Fantastic Four”!

Let’s not forget about our web slinging friend though. In 2002 Sony Pictures in Association with Columbia Pictures partnered with Marvel to bring one of the greatest Marvel heroes to life. “Spider-Man” was released in 2002 and was a HUGE success! I personally LOVED “Spider-Man”. Cult Classic, “Evil Dead” director Sam Raimi took the reigns and helmed the picture. It was extremely well received by critics and audiences around. It was so successful that it was granted a sequel in 2004, “Spider-Man 2” which to everyone’s surprise did even better than the first! Sam Raimi was on fire and everyone was loving it. The huge commercial success of the movie had Marvel on high with it’s films. This generation of films aside from it’s misses was doing great in the domestic box office. Fans were screaming and shouting one characters name in particular… Raimi answered the call of the fans and brought them what they wanted, Venom. In 2007 “Spider-Man 3” was released. This film had some pretty big shoes to fill considering it’s predecessors, but was it good enough to live up to the expectations? Apparently not. With big box office numbers and bad reviews from critics and fans alike, “Spider-Man 3” is what ultimately brought Sony to say no and put a halt on the franchise.

However that halt was not permanent. In 2012 Sony pictures, in an attempt to retain the rights to the Spider-Man franchise rebooted it entirely. “(500) Days of Summer” director Marc Webb (no pun intended) was chosen to take on the web slinger and co. in a brand new origin film which took it’s name from the original comic, “The Amazing Spider-Man”. An entire new cast was brought forth with an all new story. Considering this reboot was made for the sole purpose of Sony to keep the rights to the franchise… I wasn’t happy or expecting much. To my surprise what was produced was solid! Sony had finally done it. Marc Webb along with his impeccable cast gave Spider-Man the treatment it deserved. A live action comic book; a Saturday morning cartoon! The Amazing Spider-Man more than exceeded not only mine but most everyone else’s expectations. The success of the film granted it two more films to form a trilogy akin to Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” trilogy. The Amazing Spider-Man is up for release in just a few short weeks and apparently with the critical success it’s garnered so far it was granted another film. This brings the franchise a total of four films based on the wall crawler.

But wait! There’s more!

Recently Sony Pictures has gained enough confidence in the Spider-Man universe that it’s green lit two spinoff films based on villain league “The Sinister Six” and formidable foe “Venom”. The films are slated for release within the next four years and unless Garfield pulls out of the role, I highly doubt that the franchise will finish with a fourth film.

The information provided above is the basis of why any and MOST of the characters or franchises listed above will NEVER crossover into The Avengers franchise. THEY’RE OWNED BY DIFFERENT STUDIOS! This statement saddens me because the fanboy inside is screaming for crossover films with X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and The Avengers… It’s a sad day for all comic book nerds. I’m not saying that I’m not excited for the upcoming X-Men films or Spider-Man and Fantastic Four… In fact, I welcome them! I’m super stoked to see what new plot twists and story lines unfold… I just really wish they could all come together and become the awesomest group of heroes EVER!!

A moment of silence for the films that will never be made because of copyright laws and property ownership…

Now that you understand the world of Marvel films outside of Marvel itself… let’s get into what and who Marvel actually owns with their film rights.

3. ASSEMBLING THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

In the beginning of every Marvel Movie is the famous flipping pages of whatever Marvel Comic is about to come to life on the screen. Followed by the “MARVEL” logo surrounded in a white box amidst a red background. Now just because this appears in all of the Marvel movies, like I mentioned above, doesn’t mean that Marvel produced the movie itself. Now whenever you see the same logo come up before a movie but right under the word “MARVEL” it says, “STUDIOS”, that means that Marvel themselves produced the film and own the film rights to the specified character and surrounding ideas in the franchise. The films directly related and connected to “The Avengers” are all of the films that Marvel owns and independently produces. Recently Disney has been buying the distribution rights to a whole heck of a lot of material… Marvel Studios being one of those big purchases. So Marvel Studios, in association with Paramount Pictures (Sans “The Incredible Hulk” which was Universal Studios and a huge mistake on Marvel’s part) produces all of the MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU) films. And of course Disney is the distributor for those films.

What most people don’t understand about the MCU is that all of the films intertwine. They’re all connected. Every single film produced by Marvel Studios is linked together and co-exist in the same cinematic universe. It all started when producer Kevin Fiege realized that Marvel kept looking to other studios to produce the films when… they could probably just produce them all in house. So he and some other Marvel executives looked to what characters they still had film rights to. To their surprise what they found was truly a monumental film waiting to be assembled… literally. Fiege saw that the comic book and all tie in characters to “The Avengers” were available and ready to be produced. They thought of two characters who could be brought to life and decided to green light the projects.

“Iron Man” was the first candidate of this team of heroes to get in on the action in 2008. Marvel had formed their own independent company to produce the film (Marvel Studios) and sought out a director for the film. Their choice, was extremely unlikely candidate Jon Favreau. Favreau actually only had one person in mind to take on the billionaire, playboy and philanthropist Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Out from the ashes of rehab was the huge risk, Robert Downey Jr. who gladly accepted the role. The odd couple of Favreau and Downy Jr. brought attraction to the project and when certain cast and crew members heard… they immediately signed on! Iron Man was released in May of 2008 and proved to be well worth the risk. The film received mountains of praise to which Marvel was relieved to hear. This was Robert Downy Jr.’s comeback and America was happy to welcome him back to the limelight with open arms! What made this film so unique was the fact that it did something that not many films had done before. It started a new trend that so many films would follow… As the film ended, those who waited til the credits stopped rolling were rewarded.

A post credits scene was implemented to the film starring Samuel L. Jackson as iconic S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury. He came out of the shadows and presented Stark with a proposition to what he called, the “Avengers Initiative”. Marvel had started something big, and audiences around the world knew it! But would a crossover film of that caliber hold up in cinemas? Well that was tested by the next Marvel Studios release… “The Incredible Hulk”.

Now a Hulk film had been done before starring Eric Bana as the titular character. The film was directed by Ang Lee and was deemed as one of the worst Superhero/Comic Book film adaptations ever. It truly was awful even considering the amazing cast and director it had. It honestly should’ve been AMAZING! But sadly it was quite the opposite. “Hulk” was released in 2003 and that’s the end of that story…. It didn’t really go anywhere after that. The film was forgotten and lost. However, Universal Studios were the people responsible for the film, so as far as distribution rights go… They still had them for the character. In July 2008, a mere few months after the release of Iron Man was a complete reboot of the character starring Edward Norton and directed by Louis Leterrior. Marvel Studios again independently produced the film in association with Universal Studios. The film was a huge success and even better… tied into IRON MAN!! At the end of the film Military Leader Ross sits alone in a bar drinking when he’s interrupted by a familiar voice, soon to be revealed as the man himself Tony Stark. He expresses to the General that he’s putting a team together.

The success of both those movies gave Marvel Studios the exact answer they had wanted. A yes to assembling their cinematic universe. Two years later a sequel to Iron Man was released fully featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and introducing Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. A few recurring roles came about including fan favorite Phil Coulson of S.H.E.I.L.D. He expresses to Stark at the end of the film that he is reassigned to New Mexico (Apparently Marvel had their plan all along) in a scene that threw out an ENORMOUS easter egg. A deconstructed shield with a star at the center… Captain America! The ending of the film is basically Fury telling Stark that he is unqualified for the “Avengers Initiative” which was unsettling to a lot of fans considering he is like the grand dad of the group. To everyone’s surprise those feelings went out the door when fans stayed for the now expected post-credits scene. The scene featured Phil Coulson drive up to a crater in New Mexico and give Director Fury a call. He explains that he found it as the camera panned down to see what he was referring to… The Mjolnir! The infamous hammer that belongs to the Asgardian God of Thunder, THOR!

Now that Marvel Studios was well underway of assembling their Avengers for the ultimate movie ever and to be the starting phase of what would soon become the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was time to tie up some loose ends. After the success of “Iron Man 2” Marvel Studios president and Producer Kevin Fiege decided it was time to expand a little bit more on the bigger picture. With a minimal budget Marvel produced two short films that would tie in to the aforementioned films; Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and Thor. The first was a film that connected Iron Man to The Incredible Hulk entitled, “The Consultant”. The films central focus is a conversation between Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Agent Sitwell (Maximilliano Hernandez) discussing the events that happened in New York that took place during “The Incredible Hulk”. Knowing what was best they decide to bring in the consultant to control the situation and ultimately recruit the giant green raged monster to the team. That consultant was none other than Tony Stark showcased during the ending scene of “The Incredible Hulk”. The second short to be released was a bridge that connected Iron Man 2 to Thor. “A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thor’s Hammer”. The film features Agent Phil Coulson stopping at a gas station to fill up on his way to New Mexico. During his pit stop the store gets held up by two thieves. Coulson intervenes and terminates the thieves. It’s a rather comedic piece and well worth making! Originally, there were a series of Marvel Comics that were extremely short and meant to connect certain issues together; these were called “One-Shots”. Marvel decided to go with that name for the short films and now have released 5 Marvel One-Shots!

In 2011 “Thor” was released starring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. The film was very well received and DEFINITELY tied in to the entire universe extremely well. The tesseract in the film was the main cause of strife between the characters and ultimately would become the problem The Avengers have to deal with. Tom Hiddleston played a very important part of the universe in being that he was Thor’s adopted brother Loki, God of Mischief. In the film Loki (being the bad guy) eventually decides to leave in a rather dramatic way (Faking his death) only to be included in the post credits scene with Nick Fury. He through some mystical powers is controlling what happens to the all powerful blue cube (tesseract) and sets up the premise and plot for a later film. Later that year the penultimate film of Phase One to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe was released, “Captain America: The First Avenger”. In Captain America we get a very good look at the start of the organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and follow around a few unlikely heroes (Howard Stark; Tony Starks father) who try and stop an evil organization called HYDRA, who use the tesseract (yes, that thingy from Thor) as their main source of power. The Red Skull is the main villain for the film and is portrayed magnificently by Hugo Weaving. At the end of the film Captain Steve Rogers (Captain America for those that don’t know) gets frozen in ice, basically cryogenically freezing his body for a good 70 years or so until someone finally digs it up. S.H.I.E.L.D. wakes and welcomes him into the new world with a mission… to save it.

The next film that was released for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one that changed the course of film entirely. Joss Whedon, god of all geeks, was chosen specifically by Marvel to write and direct what would be one of the greatest achievements ever put to film. Culminating all of Marvel Studios previous films’ characters Whedon successfully tied EVERY SINGLE MARVEL FILM together in a movie so nerdtastic, it made over $1,000,000,000 in 19 days!! On May 4th, 2012 Marvel’s The Avengers was released. The film starred the likes of every titular character from all of the films produced so far. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye all teamed together to fight against earth’s biggest threat yet! One so big it had to assemble six heroes together to defeat it! Asgardian foe Loki from “Thor” had made a deal with an alien race known as the Chitauri to take out the human race and rule the earth forever with the power of the tesseract. Every single actor reprised their roles as earth’s mightiest heroes, except for one. Because of the dispute with Universal and Marvel, Edward Norton backed out of reprising his role as The Incredible Hulk for The Avengers. Mark Ruffalo was hand picked by Whedon to play the monster and surprisingly blew everyone away. Since making his first appearance as the character he has only been in one other film in a cameo role.

The film had done what no other film had done before and that was to beautifully create a shared universe for different film franchises. At the end of the film we get a glimpse at what to expect from future Marvel films… After the defeat of Loki and his Chitauri army, the leader is rather upset. He looks to an intergalactic being for guidance and basically says, we’ll get revenge or something like that. The point is, that being he is speaking to isn’t just some random character… It’s one of The Avenger’s ultimate villains, “Thanos”. Figuring that he would be the bad guy for The Avengers 2, everyone was wrong. With the high success of The Avengers, Marvel immediately green lit two sequels to which Whedon started working on right away. Early on in the development stage Whedon expressed that Thanos would NOT be the main antagonist for the sequel and that Marvel had bigger and better plans for him.

Marvel’s The Avengers was the cap to Phase One of the Cinematic Universe. A year later Marvel moved forward with plans for Phase Two. In May 2013 Marvel released the third installment in the “Iron Man” franchise kicking off Phase Two. I must say, that even though “Iron Man 3” is my least favorite Marvel film to date… they apparently stepped up their game in intertwining stories not only from franchise to franchise… but within each other. The third and honestly what seems to be final film for everyone’s favorite metal man seemed to be the ultimate climax for the character bringing his story full circle. They seemed to tie up all the loose ends very well and are ready to move on with more marvel films… to which they have. Later on in 2013 “Thor: The Dark World” was released and at the time became my favorite Marvel movie! It seems like they’re just kind of showing off now that they have an extremely solid foundation for all of their characters. Still, it told a great story that had a few tie ins and easter eggs here and there, but not anything worth mentioning. The big events that will echo throughout the Cinematic Universe wouldn’t unfold until this year, with the new release of Marvel’s third film for their Phase Two, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”

Without spoiling too much the events that took place in The Winter Soldier will change the face of the Marvel Universe forever. I’m extremely excited to see where the universe goes from here… it seems to me like the films from here on out will get quite a bit darker and slightly more serious as opposed to their first phase which was very light hearted and comedic for the introductory stories. After the release of The Winter Soldier Marvel has four confirmed films in the making right now. One in Post production, another in Production and the last two in Pre-Production. In August of 2014 Marvel will release a film with all new unlikely characters including a raccoon with a machine gun and a tree person. “Guardians of the Galaxy” written and directed by James Gunn will be a breathe of fresh air to see this summer because of the comedic effort that’s being brought into the film. Starring Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and Benecio Del Toro, Guardians is sure to leave quite the impression on the Cinematic Universe considering that the director just released a statement saying that Ultra Villain “Thanos” will play a key part in the film and that it all intertwines and leads into the THIRD installment of The Avengers.

The last film in Marvel’s Phase Two for their Cinematic Universe is none other than the sequel to the 2012 monstrous blockbuster. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” will be released in May of 2015. Joss Whedon is set to write and direct once again with all of the cast returning from the first film. The film introduces a number of different avengers also, confirmed and rumored. Confirmed Avengers that will appear in the film are…

Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)

The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)

Thor (Chris Hemsworth)

Captain America (Chris Evans)

Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)

Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson)

The Vision (Paul Bettany)

War Machine/Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle)

Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)

Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)

And the Avengers that have been rumored to make an appearance are Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) who were both introduced in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. If this is true, it will bring a total of 12 AVENGERS to the big screen in 2015. That’s one big movie! They’re all teaming up together to go up against their biggest threat yet. Ultron played by none other than James Spader. You may know Spader from his role as Robert California in the tv sitcom “The Office”. I know that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are usually referred to in the X-Men comics because their dad being Magneto and all. But somehow Marvel was able to get them into their universe without problems and honestly from the Post Credits scene in “Captain America:The Winter Soldier” they seem to be fitting in very well, along with villain Baron Wolfgang von Strucker portrayed by Thomas Kretschmann. Even though Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are mutants, I’m pretty sure Marvel doesn’t have the rights to call them that due to Fox obtaining the rights to everything X-Men (except Quickie and Scar Witch; even though Quciksilver is coming out in “X-Men: DOFP” with a different actor playing the part), so their “word” for mutants in this universe is “Miracles”.

Shortly following the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron will be the start of Marvel’s Third Phase. In July 2015 Marvel will introduce a brand new character through his own solo film. “Ant-Man” directed by Edgar Wright the man responsible for “The Cornetto Trilogy” will star two big name actors in the titular role. Paul Rudd will play Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Michael Douglas will play Hank Pym… also Ant-Man. I’m assuming that either they’ll be learning from each other in the film as previous and recent Ant-Man or there’s a factor of time travel that could be involved. Not much information has been released about the film other than the cast and that it’s about Ant-Man.

There’s a number of different films Marvel has in the planning stages that they’ve mentioned such as Dr. Strange, Black Panther, The Incredible Hulk 2, Thor 3, Black Widow and more. However the only films confirmed with release dates and directors are Captain America 3 which the Russo brothers will be returning to work on and The Avengers 3 which of course Joss Whedon will write and direct. Amidst the wonderful universe Marvel has successfully created with feature films and short films there’s also another media outlet that they decided to take full advantage of.

Television has been growing exponentially over the past 10 years especially with shows like LOST, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Bates Motel and above all others… Breaking Bad. The television outlet has become one that is almost held above feature films now. Budgets increasing and talent flocking to be cast on the next big fad in television. Marvel saw this and thought that they would make good use of it to expand their universe. In the 2012 film The Avengers, fan favorite Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. was killed by the Asgardian villain Loki and is what ultimately drove earth’s mightiest heroes to… well, avenge something. He played an important role in the assembling of the universe and is what brought the team together to become The Avengers. This was a sad day for all fans of the franchise considering he had become a very iconic character. In 2013, Marvel launched a television series that premiered on ABC focusing on the actual members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Joss Whedon acted as the creater and show runner for the series and wrote/directed the pilot episode. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” premiered late 2013 and brought back from the ashes of death Agent Phil Coulson! It was a shock considering it was very evident he had died in The Avengers. The show starred brand new characters who acted as a team run by Coulson to take care of trivial problems and extinguish an evil group called “Centipede” who was run by a mysterious figure named The Clairvoyant. Thinking that this may just be a show that took place before his death I dismissed any speculation. That is until I saw the first episode. It was said that he returned from the dead and was treated to a very well deserved retreat in Tahiti (The Magical Place). None of it sat very well with me so aside from the show being relatively cheesy I’ve stuck with it up until now, impatiently awaiting it’s final episodes of it’s 22 episode season. Apparently Nick Fury took extreme measures to revive Couslon and a lot of the shows emotional depth comes from that subplot. The show has held it’s ground very well and should be up for renewal sometime soon. Although I can’t see how, considering S.H.I.E.L.D. is basically gone and lost after the events that took place in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. What is extremely awesome about “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is that it’s not only a stand alone show, but it intertwines also with the feature films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Theres plenty of episodes that make mention of certain heroes names and other fun easter eggs. Theres also two episodes so far that are direct tie-ins to Marvel’s feature films, “Thor: The Dark World” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. The season starts sometime after the events of “Iron Man 3” and looks to be ending right in between “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”. The effects of what happen in these feature films echo throughout the show due to it all being connected. The fact that Marvel has now made the show to intertwine with their feature film and short film universe is just mind blowing to me.

Before I go any further, here is a detailed list of all the Marvel Feature Films, One-Shots, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes in chronological order and by phase…

PHASE ONE:

01. Iron Man

02. The Incredible Hulk

(Marvel One-Shot) The Consultant

03. Iron Man 2

(Marvel One-Shot) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer

04. Thor

05. Captain America: The First Avenger

(Marvel One-Shot) Agent Carter

06. The Avengers

(Marvel One-Shot) Item 47

PHASE TWO:

07. Iron Man 3

(Marvel One-Shot) All Hail the King

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

1. Pilot

2. 0-8-4

3. The Asset

4. Eye Spy

5. Girl in the Flower Dress

6. F.Z.Z.T.

7. The Hub

08. Thor: The Dark World

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

8. The Well

9. Repairs

10. The Bridge

11. The Magical Place

12. Seeds

13. T.R.A.C.K.S.

14. T.A.H.I.T.I

15. Yes Men

16. The End of the Beginning

09. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

17. Turn, Turn, Turn

18. Providence

19. The Only Light in the Darkness

20. Nothing Personal

21. Episode 21

22. Episode 22

10. Guardians of the Galaxy

11. Avengers: Age of Ultron

PHASE THREE:

12. Ant-Man

13. Captain America 3

4. THE FUTURE OF THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

One of the coolest things about the MCU is that in the midst of it all being connected and intertwined is that the stories still come from and stay pretty faithful to the source material. Never had anyone accomplished what Marvel has, as successfully as they have either. Before the universe became what it is, no one expected to see characters from other franchises make cameo appearances in the films. It all started with Nick Fury mentioning to Stark the “Avengers Initiative”. Never did we expect to see him come up in “Thor”, a movie surrounded by mythical and mystical beings from Asgard that seemingly had NOTHING to do with “Iron Man” or “The Incredible Hulk”. Captain America bringing everything home and tie-ing up all loose ends with it’s subtle hints at everything we hoped and dreamed of thus leading us to where we are now. The point is, even though a lot of us have read the comic books we still have no idea where the masterminds behind the MCU will take us next. We can only speculate through easter eggs and subtle hints that the films give us. Recently there has been a few character names dropped, post-credits scenes and possible actor meetings with Marvel Studios that lead us to believe certain future projects are well underway and what those projects will entail. I suppose it’s time I let you in on what secret conclusions I’ve come to through these speculations. I present to you… the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now that “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is completely underway and ready to come to a close on the first season, it seems that Marvel has really taken a liking to the television outlet. There’s been quite a bit of talk about Agent Peggy Carter from the Captain America franchise getting her own solo ventures through tv. Nothing has been confirmed, but Hayley Atwell has expressed interest in reprising her role for a tv series. Considering she had her own Marvel One-Shot (Agent Carter) it’s not completely crazy to think that she could get her own show. Again this is all rumors and speculation. Nothing has been confirmed by Marvel themselves. However, in other Marvel television news, it was announced last year that Netflix signed a a deal with Marvel to produce four drama series based on Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones. These shows, each 13 episodes, will eventually culminate in the characters teaming up in a 10 episode Defenders miniseries. It seems like Netflix is really taking the put up a whole season for you to watch at your own leisure approach. Now, I’m assuming that these tv shows won’t have direct connection to the films but will still co-exist in the same universe. Basically meaning that it’s highly unlikely that Thor or the Guardians of the Galaxy are going to come down to help these guys on Netflix fight off some common street crime. Maybe some cameos from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (Although S.H.I.E.L.D. is pretty much nonexistent) here and there. Just a few easter eggs to remind us that it’s all connected to one REALLY BIG universe. Honestly, I’m really rather excited for these shows to flourish.

In the Marvel comics there’s an African Nation called Wakanda and incidentally Avengers: Age of Ultron is being filmed in South Africa (along with some other exotic locations). The nation Wakanda is home to a character that apparently has a solo film in development. Avengers: Age of Ultron could just be creating the bridge to bring in the leader of Wakanda, T’Challa aka the Black Panther. In “Captain America: The First Avenger” it’s expressed by Howard Stark that Vibraium is one of the most rare metals in the world and that all that earth contained of it was used to form the shield Cap wields in all of his film appearances. However, at some point either A. Cap needs a new shield or B. Stark needs vibranium for some odd reason or another, will occur and when it does… they will venture on a quest into the only known place that is the primary source for the rare metal; Wakanda. This will work as a plot point and a reason to bring in the character of the Black Panther. There’s a very long line of stories that could possibly come from the discovery of Wakanda being the source for vibranium and it could well act as a stand alone film for the Black Panther. Either way… It’s only obvious that we’ll be seeing the nation and/or the character rather soon.

In Whedon’s upcoming film “Avengers: Age of Ultron” the titular character will act as the main antagonist of the film but what we’ve learned from reports and confirmed in the post-credits scene to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Baron von Strucker will play a vital role in the film. Keeping a close eye on the twins he seems to call “miracles” (Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver) the leader of HYDRA played by Kretschmann will eventually be defeated in some sort of fashion because Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver aren’t baddies. They are part of The Avengers in Age of Ultron and that can only mean they somehow escape and that probably means the defeat of Strucker. However that doesn’t mean he’ll be killed off so quickly. Thomas Kretschmann has signed a multi-picture deal with Marvel so that can only mean he’s going to play an extremely prominent character in the universe. Being the leader of HYDRA which is the main cause of problem in both “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “The Winter Soldier” I can only assume that he’ll return in Steve Roger’s third solo adventure as the star spangled man with the plan. Considering that S.H.I.E.L.D. was completely taken over and infiltrated by HYDRA I’ve come to the conclusion that not only will von Strucker be a burden to Steve Rogers but an even bigger burden to earth’s mightiest heroes themselves. I seriously cannot wait to see where they take the character and his story considering I’m a huge fan of Kretschmann’s work.

In a universe equipped with giant green raged monsters, talking raccoons, super soldiers and norse gods it doesn’t seem to difficult to see a sorcerer come into play. However up until this point Marvel has not yet given up the idea that science is the thing responsible for everything. Norse gods from another world? Yeah, merely worm holes that go to another dimension or “realm” if you want to keep it all Marvel. All of the flying hammers and mystical machines? Yep… all explained by science through Thor’s girlfriend Ms. Jane Foster. She and Erik Selvig (Natalie Portman & Stellan Skarsgard) are the people responsible for explaining just how everything that seems magical in the MCU… isn’t. Up until now even through all of the really out there stuff Marvel’s thrown at us, there’s always been an explanation. There’s a science behind everything, mostly it being that technology in other worlds in FAR more advanced than ours is here. Which only makes sense and it disproves the idea of magic and sorcery in the MCU. But what if a character was introduced that even S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t figure out how he got his powers? In “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Dr. Zola creates an algorithm that detects potential threats for HYDRA all around the world. There a few names thrown out by Agent Sitwell that are potential threats, one being our big green friend Bruce Banner and the other a nobody in the universe as of now named Stephen Strange. This is a character that Marvel president and producer Kevin Fiege has been talking about adding to the MCU for quite some time. It seems that the character may be showing up a littler sooner than we thought. Fiege recently commented on the character saying that a solo and introductory film for Dr. Strange isn’t impossible. “So is Stephen Strange the Sorcerer Supreme? Probably not at that point. Is he an unbelievably talented neurosurgeon who’s opinionated and kind of arrogant? Probably. That might put him on the list.” So be on the lookout for a Dr. Strange movie sometime within the next few years.

Each of the six Avengers that appeared in the 2012 film have signed muti-picture deals with Marvel. And the deals only go so far. Each of the six characters have signed on for six movies. Six and only six unless Marvel decides to up their contract and if the actor is willing to continue suiting up for the role. Here’s a quick List of the Avengers and films they’ve been featured in totaling up how many films each have left.

Iron Man

1. Robert Downey Jr.

The Incredible Hulk

2. Edward Norton

Iron Man 2

1. Robert Downey Jr.

2. Scarlett Johansson

Thor

1. Chris Hemsworth

2. Jeremy Renner

Captain America: The First Avenger

1. Chris Evans

Marvel’s the Avengers

1. Chris Evans

2. Chris Hemsworth

3. Jeremy Renner

4. Scarlett Johansson

5. Mark Ruffalo

6. Robert Downey Jr.

Iron Man 3

1. Robert Downey Jr.

Thor: The Dark World

1. Chris Hemsowrth

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

1. Chris Evans

2. Scarlett Johansson

Avengers: Age of Ultron

1. Chris Evans

2. Chris Hemsworth

3. Jeremy Renner

4. Scarlett Johansson

5. Mark Ruffalo

6. Robert Downey Jr.

It’s obvious that there’s not a lot of films left for our heroes to be in. Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow has never received a feature film of her own. Only used as a supporting role or part of the team in The Avengers films. So far she’s been in three films and is currently shooting for her fourth, “Avengers: Age of Ultron”. With that, she only has two more films to go. It’s safe to assume she’ll be included once again in the third Avengers film, but then it’s also safe to bet that we’ll be seeing her in her own solo film sometime REALLY soon. It’s been hinted at that Black Widow has quite the past. Specifically stated as her having “red in her ledger”. She was once a Russian spy (hence her name) and Agent Clint Carton aka Hawkeye was tasked to terminate her. He failed to complete the task and instead gave his evaluation of her to S.H.I.E.L.D. stating that she would be a great asset to the team. You can see the obvious connection that her and Hawkeye share in the film The Avengers and from what producer Kevin Fiege has mentioned she’ll have quite the prominent part in Avengers: Age of Ultron. There was a little bit more backstory to her given in The Winter Soldier but still we have no idea of what she’s done in her past against America. Apparently it’s pretty hardcore though. Aside from speculation on it being delved into on a solo film or as a side plot in another heroes film, her past will be revealed and I’m sure Marvel has been waiting to reveal it all this time because it’s going to be well worth it.

Another Character that’s gone up to bat in many of Marvel’s films is Robert Downey Jr. who plays Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Downey Jr. signed a six picture deal with Marvel and has already been seen in four movies not including his brief cameo in “The Incredible Hulk”. Downey’s next film for Marvel is 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and will be his fifth film as the billionaire mastermind. The third Avengers installment will serve as his sixth and final film for our metal friend and I don’t really think he’ll come back for any more ventures. I highly doubt that Marvel would even recast him just to keep the character alive. Honestly, no one else can play Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. So either he’ll retire from being a superhero and focus on living a normal, healthy life with Pepper occasionally giving a brief cameo as a consultant to The Avengers or he’ll bite the dust. I highly doubt it’s the latter. What people don’t realize is that when he started as Iron man in 2008 he was 43 and when he finishes he’ll be 53. A whole ten years will have gone by with him playing the role. Honestly I feel that he deserves to put the character to rest. He’s done us a great service as being the best Tony Stark there could be and we appreciate it. The only thing that throws me off slightly is the Marvel One-Shot that directly follows and ties in to “Iron Man 3”, “All Hail The King”. I truly think it’s safe to assume Downey Jr. will be taking a rest during Phase Three and ready be put on the sidelines in post-Phase Three films.

Chris Evans who plays Captain Steve Rogers aka Captain America has appeared in “Captain America: The First Avenger”, “The Avengers” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. totaling in at half the movies he is signed on for. He also is returning in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and a confirmed third installment to the Captain America franchise. That brings his film appearances to a total of 5. We can only speculate that he’ll also return for the third Avenger’s adventure and it seems that Captain Steve Rogers might just arrive at his final destination. Chris Evans himself has expressed that eventually sometime soon he’d like to retire from acting and try his hand at being the man behind the camera. This only means that he won’t be signing on for any more Marvel movies. With The Avengers 3 being his last film it’s only logical that we’ll see the cap bite the dust on this one. In the comics Captain America dies in Civil War and while it’s quite possible to see this film adaptation it won’t likely be when Rogers is around anymore. In some way or another Captain America will get killed off in his final film. Why? Because it’s just not cool to recast someone and especially someone like Captain America. It could very well be Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones (Frank Grillo; Captain America: The Winter Soldier) who assassinates him as he did in the comics. It seems that for now Marvel is scared to kill anyone big off of the universe, however “fake deaths” have been teased and are very well taken by audiences. There’s a lot of character development in these films and for a hero of that caliber to go in a heroic way just might be what Marvel needs to up their game. Only this time… it won’t be a fake death. Captain Steve Rogers will die in his final film with Marvel. This would really change the tone for the MCU and honestly have effect on every franchise linked to The Avengers. Captain Steve Rogers forever will be remembered and honored in the films… but that doesn’t mean that character’s mantle dies…

Sebastian Stan who played Steve’s Best friend Bucky Barnes in “The First Avenger and reprised his role in “The Winter Soldier” tackling the titular role may just be the answer to Steve’s death. You see Chris Evans may only be in a six picture deal with Marvel but Sebastian Stan has stated that he has a NINE picture deal with Marvel. He’s appeared in two which means that he still has a whole SEVEN films left. SEVEN! In the post credits scene of “The Winter Soldier” it showcases Bucky at the Smithsonian museum looking at the Captain America display only to find a section showing the fallen hero Bucky Barnes (himself) as Steve’s best friend and ally during World War II against HYDRA. It seems that he is realizing who he is and might go through the same painstaking process that Steve did in “The Avengers” and “The Winter Soldier”. It’s only wise for him to seek redemption as to what HYDRA has made him do and to regain alliance with Captain America and dare I say… The Avengers. At the end of “The Winter Soldier” Steve tells Falcon to suit up as they decide to embark on a manhunt for The Winter Soldier setting up an obvious sequel. My only concern is that, if “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is between “The Winter Soldier” and Captain America 3 then how will he come into play in Age of Ultron? Is Steve just going to drop the whole manhunt and leave Falcon behind for a while while he defeats Ultron with earth’s mightiest heroes? I highly doubt that. It seems to me like Falcon could just play a small part in Age of Ultron and I wouldn’t doubt the film starts with them finding The Winter Soldier. Will he fight Ultron too? It’s hard to decipher but quite awesome to think about. Either way, Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier will one day take up the mantle of Steve Rogers either as inheriting the suit and becoming the new Captain America after Steve dies, or He’ll just fill in the gap as The Winter Soldier when Steve dies. Not to mention that in “The First Avenger” during the train sequence, right before Bucky dies he picks up Cap’s shield and uses it… AND in “The Winter Soldier” there is a point where he and Rogers are fighting that Bucky takes a hold of the shield and uses it exactly as Steve has. Coincidence? I think NOT! More like foreshadowing to the max. Point is, Evans has only six films, three of which are done and the fourth underway whereas Stan has another seven films to complete… I’m stating the obvious.

It’s all leading up to the ultimate showdown! Slightly touched on when we saw a small glimpse of the Infinity Gauntlet in Thor and confirmed when we saw the greatest post credits scene known to mankind! Thanos, the ultimate mad titan appeared, smiling to the leader of the Chitauri after he says that the humans won the battle of New York and to challenge them would be suicide. The funny thing is, Thanos embraces death, so to him this is just what he wants! Like I’ve stated before, Thanos won’t necessarily be the main antagonist for Avengers: Age of Ultron. No, Thanos is being set up for a much bigger a better introduction. It seems like Marvel is sticking to the book on this one. The Infinity Gauntlet needs to be activated and the only way to do so is for the individual who bears the Gauntlet to acquire the six Infinity Stones. They all have a very specific attribute to them; time, space, soul, power, reality and mind. Once combined with the Infinity Gauntlet it gives the host unlimited and infinite power. In “Thor: The Dark World” it was stated that The Tesseract and Aether are two of the Infinity Stones. I have a strong feeling after Guardians of the Galaxy we’ll find out where the other Infinity Stones are on account that Thanos’ daughter Gamora is one of the Guardians of the Galaxy. This just means that he’s being set up to be the ultimate villain and the biggest threat to The Avengers! Thinking about it… Avengers 3 is going to be INSANE!

Overall, Marvel clearly knows what they’re doing and I’m so stoked to see where the universe goes. Kevin Fiege recently stated that he has a map on his office wall much like that of the nine realms in Thor. Apparently the map has films and ideas lined up til 2028… That’s FOURTEEN years from now. If they keep up their streak and start with three films a year they’ll walk away with over FOURTY films intertwined in their cinematic universe. They obviously have everything under control and other studios such as DC are trying to mimic what Marvel has done. It’s mind boggling to think about but I think we should all appreciate and thank Marvel for giving us an amazing world to immerse ourselves into, not only for one or two films, but years worth of films! Marvel has beautifully created an immaculate universe and it’s only going to get better. Just as comic book readers have been doing for time and time again, people and fans alike are sort of accepting that there’s a time when heroes need to come together and there’s a time when they don’t.