SDCC 2012: Marvel Announces PHASE 2 Lineup

Yesterday during the Iron Man 3 panel, Marvel officially announced their 2013/2014 film lineup. They gave official titles to the two movies that were already confirmed as well as release dates to the coming Captain America 2 now “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” coming 4/4/14 and Thor 2 which is now “Thor: The Dark World” set for 11/8/13. Marvel also officially announced their much speculated and worst kept secret 2014 film as being “The Guardians Of The Galaxy“.

Marvel Studios has dubbed “Guardians of the Galaxy” a “big space epic” that will introduce various cosmic entities from the Marvel Comics universe. The superhero team first appeared in “Marvel Super-Heroes #18” in 1969, created by Arnold Drake & Gene Colan. In 2008, the team was rebooted by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning in “Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #1.” The team”s live-action roster will include Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. And also Thanos, the villain who made his live-action debut unexpectedly during Marvel”s The Avengers mid-credits stinger, is expected to reprise his role. With a screenplay written by Nicole Perlman, a graduate of Disney”s screenwriting program, no director is yet attached. And distributor Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has scheduled “Guardians of the Galaxy” for release on August 1, 2014.

Concept art of the “Guardians Of The Galaxy”

slot machines width=”576″ height=”336″ /> Concept art of Rocket Racoon

As if the nerds in Hall H weren”t already foaming of the mouth Marvel producer Kevin Feige had one more trick up his sleeve as he introduced Edgar Wright to the stage. Wright who had spent the last few days twittering that he was in London surprised the San Diego audience as he walked out with a copy of Marvel Premiere, revealing that he may use that Ant-Man heist story as a basis for his version of the film. There is now no doubting the fact that the character is on his way to the big screen and that Wright will helm the movie. Test footage was shown and it appears as if the hero will wear the Irredeemable Ant-Man costume. His face was covered, so there”s no indication as to who was playing him, and the suit is black with red highlights. Ant-Man is shown standing only a few inches tall in an air vent before suddenly growing in a flash and taking out two guards. He punches another in the face while in his small size, knocking one of the guy”s teeth out before sliding down his tie, returning to his natural size, and flipping the guy over. He then makes his escape…commence pants shitting. While no release date or cast were announced it is safe to assume Marvel has plans for us to see Ant-Man in the near future (my guess 2015 before Avengers 2).