Captain America: Civil War (News)

We are just over three months away from the beginning of Phase 3. Even though Captain America: Civil War finished filming long ago, they recently started the pre-scheduled re-shootings. Thanks to those re-shoots, MCU Exchange recently got some new set photos which do not reveal much concerning any additions to the film - or what shots they could be re-shooting.

If the most recent report is true, it doesn't appear as though they'll be looking to change too much during reshoots. Devin Faraci from Birth.Movies.Death is reporting that he has heard from multiple sources that recent test screenings for Civil War have been testing "exceptionally well." The only thing that audiences have not been agreeing on? How it ranks with other Marvel movies.

The only thing they disagree on is whether the movie tested as well as or better than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which had previously been the best-testing Marvel movie. Further, my sources tell me that the movie doesn't pull any punches in the third act, and that if Marvel execs had been concerned about the film going dark places, these stellar test screenings have alleviated all those fears.

Captain America: Civil War is set to be released on May 6^th 2016

Doctor Strange (News)

The Martian supporting actor Benedict Wong is the latest actor to join the cast of Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange. He will be taking on the role of Strange's sidekick, Wong. So now there are two Benedicts in Doctor Strange!

Wong is Stange's right-hand man who is is a master in the martial arts of Kamar-Taj. He also performs healing duties, assists in occult matters, and tends to Strange’s affairs. One of his more important duties is looking after Strange’s body when he is astral projecting himself into other dimensional planes.

Doctor Strange is set to be released on November 4^th 2016

Guardians of the Galaxy (News)

Yesterday's news from the folks at Geek.com that Ego the Living Planet would appear in next year's Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 set the nerd news cycle on fire with reports and speculation. While many pieces were quick to label Ego as the villain of the Cosmic sequel, we aren't quite so certain.

While Ego is an incredibly interesting character, it's debatable whether or not he can, or should, antagonize the Guardians in the second film. In our team conversation, it was overwhelmingly clear that Ego may better serve the narrative as a plot device, potentially helping further open the door to the greater Cosmic beings in the MCU and that the original article's comment about him making "an appearance" may have been misconstrued.

Guardians of the Galaxy is set to be released on May 5th 2017

Thor: Ragnarok (News)

The Thor: Ragnarok rumors continue to fly. In the wake of their report about the fate of Odin in the movie, Geek.com is back with a new piece of info about the Marvel sequel.
Spoilers ahead.

Cate Blanchett has been in talks to join the cast for a while now, and Mark Ruffalo recently revealed that she'll be playing a villain if her deal goes through. There's been speculation that she might play Hela, the Goddess of Death, and Geek.com's sources tell them that Hela is indeed going to be the major villain of the movie. She'll travel from the realm of Niflheim to Asgard, where she'll team up with Loki in some capacity. But this next part is the most fascinating aspect of this report, and has big implications for the rest of the MCU movies:

In Thor: Ragnarok, Hela and Loki will have set their plan well in motion by the time Thor gets wise to what’s going on. Hela ends up creating the incident to Thor’s journey in the film. According to our sources, when Thor confronts Hela, things do not go well. Not only does she banish Thor from Asgard, but she destroys Mjolnir!

Thor: Ragnarok is set to be released on November 17th 2017

Avengers: Infinity War (News)

Brothers and co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo made headlines this week thanks to a Q&A session they held at Wizard World Comic-Con New Orleans over the weekend. While they were there promoting the upcoming release, Captain America: Civil War, they also teased the massive size and scope of their next Marvel project, Avengers: Infinity War, offering a hint at how many characters will be in the two-part saga and how it’ll place the spotlight on secondary Avengers characters.

They were quoted using the number “67” in reference to how many Marvel characters at the time were up on a board in their offices as they plan out Avengers 3 and 4 but in truth, that number is misleading.

As for the status of the script, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely – who wrote all of the Captain Americas and Thor: The Dark World for Marvel as well – have a pair of outlines completed and have begun penning the first draft of Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1. The news goes to show how prepared  Marvel Studios is for Phase 3 and how they’ve learned from the first two Phases. Everything seems to be meticulously planned out from the beginning this time, which helps explain how every Phase 3 movie already has writers and directors attached with the exception of 2019’s Captain Marvel.

Captain America: Civil War will release on May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man – July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – March 8, 2019; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on May 1, July 10 and November 6, 2020.

Doctor Strange (Concept Art)

Marvel has added a new piece of Doctor Strange concept art to the collection of goodies they've released. This shows Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange spending some time in his base of operations, the Sanctum Sanctorum, which is located in New York’s Greenwich Village. If you're not familiar with the Sanctum Santorum, here's a description from Marvel:

The odd three-story townhouse at 177A Bleecker Street in New York's Greenwich Village is known in some circles as the residence of occult expert Doctor Strange. Few, however, realize that it is also the Sanctum Sanctorum of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange.

 

Doctor Strange is set to be released on November 4^th 2016