In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn talked about the movie and confirmed a couple of things worth mentioning.

First, Gunn confirmed that Guardians will in fact be “definitely connected” to The Avengers 3. He also confirmed that Thanos will be made for the movie using motion capture, and describes him as the “head of the snake.”

A couple of new images for the movie have also been released, including a group shot of the main characters and a close-up look at Star-Lord’s helmet. You can check them out below.

Marvel Studios is already one film into Phase 2 of it’s Cinematic Universe, which ends May 1, 2015 with The Avengers: Age Of Ultron. And before that we will get Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy. But no one gets as far as they do without any sort of planning. Hard to imagine that it started with just one Iron Man film. Since then, the studios has become a regular face of Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con. Every announcement made during their panel is talked about for weeks. But it also gives us some insight as to what the studio has planned for its characters.

That kind of planning goes a long ways away. Even before films like Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, or even Guardians of the Galaxy, there was a great deal of planning to expand this massive universe that Marvel has in its hands. So Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige gives us a look into the planning process and reveals just how far ahead the studio has planned.

The future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in Robert Downey Jr.‘s hands. His contract to appear as Tony Stark/Iron Man ended after Iron Man 3, In the few weeks after the film’s was release in early May, the actor entered talks with Disney to renegotiate his contract. But there were some wondering what would happen to the world that Marvel created if he did leave.

So for all of those who were worried that Downey Jr. would not be back, you can breathe a sigh of relief, as a press release from Marvel confirms that the actor has signed a two-picture deal to reprise his role as the iconic character in The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3.

Considering Joss Whedon is the chief creative consultant for all things Marvel at Walt Disney Studios, he would have oversight on the structure of not only The Avengers 2, but any other film that precedes it. One of the biggest stories to hit the web in the past few weeks came from El Mayimbe from Latino Review. According to his inside sources, The Avengers 2 would be a segue for Hulk’s solo film, Planet Hulk, and then use the World War Hulk storyline for The Avengers 3. Previous statements made by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige seemed to support that story.

It seems to make sense. Both Planet Hulk and World War Hulk were highly successful story arcs that sold really well on comic book stands, and those two stories would fit perfectly into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Whedon is coming out and saying that not only a Hulk solo movie would be “very, very hard” to do, but a new report seems to squash all the rumors and speculations of the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe being based on the two aforementioned Hulk story arcs.

Back in September, Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige stated that he had a couple of ideas for a Hulk movie. A solo film for Marvel’s green muscle bound hero has had some mild success, but for the most part the hero has been the most difficult to adapt, mostly because Marvel runs the risk of being repetitive in terms of what the Hulk will be doing.

Feige told MTV that Hulk was worthy enough of having his own film, but it was just a matter of finding the right story. Now a report from Latino Review says that Marvel has some big plans for the Hulk. WARNING, spoilers do follow, so if you don’t want to know about what Marvel’s plans has in store for the Hulk, then I suggest you hit that back button. But if you want to know, then hit the jump.