Last November, Marvel Studios announced their upcoming projects for 2007-08 (and beyond). There’s been a lot of updates since then, so here’s a compilation of what we know so far:
Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. stars in the title role along with Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard in the Jon Favreau-directed film, scheduled to hit theaters May 2, 2008. Favreau said they are aiming for a PG-13 rating. Read previous Iron Man entries here, here, and here.
The Incredible Hulk
Directed by Louis Leterrier, the sequel to 2004’s The Hulk gets an all-new cast — Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and William Hurt. The script is by Zak Penn and filming begins this summer in Toronto with a scheduled theater opening on June 13, 2008. See previous related entries here, here, and here.
Captain America
Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige told said that a Captain America feature is next up for the studio, with a script by David Self currently in development that would be part period piece, part modern-day story. He also said he hopes to get a director for the movie very soon to get this project in the pipeline within the next year.
The Avengers
The studio has had this plan in the works since last year, with Zak Penn to script the live-action adaptation. Reports are that Penn has not yet begun writing the script and there’s no word at this time as to which superheroes would be featured in this assemble piece, though The Avengers will bring many popular Marvel superheroes together on the big screen for the first time — possibly The Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America. Also, no word whether the studio will seek to cast actors already playing the superheroes (i.e., Robert Downey, Jr as Iron Man; Edward Norton as the Hulk).
Wolverine
Marvel and Fox are close to signing a director for this David Benioff-scripted X-Men spinoff, which will see the return of Hugh Jackman as the steel-clawed mutant. The studio plans to release this film before the planned Magneto spinoff.
Magneto
Marvel and Fox have this X-Men prequel spinoff in development with David Goyer directing. (See previous story.) The rumor so far is that Justin Chatwin, who starred in Goyer’s The Invisibles, might play the young Magneto.
Sub-Mariner
Jonathan Mostow intends to direct the film and is close to finishing a rewrite on the original script by David Self.
Thor
As we reported yesterday, according to an article in the LA Times, Matthew Vaughn (Stardust) will direct the Thor movie from a script by Mark Protosevich (Poseidon) based on the “Tales of Asgard” features from the comic books.
The Punisher 2
Punisher star Thomas Jane stated that he would not return for the sequel. Lionsgate is working on the P2, but no director or replacement for Jane has been announced yet.
Ant-Man
Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz) is attached to direct and co-write the script along with Joe Cornish. No one has been cast in the film and no release date has been scheduled, though there’s talks of a 2008 date. Wright said here that he’d like his adaptation to include both a flashback Henry Pym story as well as the more modern Scott Lang take, then have the two characters team up.
Nick Fury
Andrew Marlowe (Air Force One) is penning the script. Fred Ward — that’s right, from Remo Williams — is reportedly in talks to star in the title role.
Black Panther
From the LA Times article last month (transcribed here), Fantastic Four director Tim Story mentioned he’d like to include Black Panther in a FF sequel with Djimon Hounsou starring; a few years back, Wesley Snipe showed interest in playing the title role, but so far, so updates at all on this project.
No word yet on the following, all of which have been mentioned as possible Marvel Studios projects:
– Hawkeye
– Shang-Chi
– Cloak and Dagger
– Power Pack
– Daredevil 2
– Deathlok
– Iron Fist
– Luke Cage
– Doctor Strange
– The Gargoyle
– Werewolf by Night
Where’s Deadpool on this list? He’s by far one of the coolest comic book heroes ever! He would make for a great movie.
Comment by Bacon — June 16, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
Deadpool would be great as he is my fav comic character…but to do a his movie right especially with his sense of humor it would have to be rated R. I doubt most studios would dump lots of cash into a rated R comic movie. =\
Comment by TheDman — June 24, 2007 @ 8:23 pm
would be nice to see gambit… not in a solo, but geez, not even in any of the 3 xmen… all of them sucked by the way
Comment by mikeymike — June 29, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
well i think they can regulate deadpool’s quotes in to a much pg-13 type of quotes as possible though i can vision it’s a bit hard(from the writer’s perspective) to do a wisecracking dp on that trend still i think they should try since dp is owning a growing number of fanbase in comicdom
Comment by pnadz18 — July 13, 2007 @ 4:50 am
The lead role of the black panther seems created for djimon hounsou, i’m not a casting director but his voice fits T’Challa well, if he can get a true feel the character, he would be a better T’Challa than wesley snipes.
Comment by jonmichael — July 30, 2008 @ 10:37 pm