Kevin Feige Teases Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Three

Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige likes to tease fans because he knows it drives us up a wall. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Three set to get under way next May with Captain America: Civil War, fans already have a rough idea as to how some story lines play out but there are still some big questions hovering over what we will be seeing over the next several years. While doing the publicity rounds for the blu-ray release of this past summer’s The Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Feige fielded some of those questions and responded with some partially oblique answers.

One of the biggest questions stems from the first film in Phase Three – Captain America: Civil War. In the comics story that is inspiring the film, things do not end well for the titular hero. Or at least as far as things go in a medium where death is not quite as permanent as it is in the real world. How will that potentially impact the other films in the cycle, particularly the two-part Avengers: Infinity War that will close things out? When MTV posed this to Feige, he steered his answer more towards the structure of the three solo Captain America movies.

It’s very much, in a certain way, the completion of a Captain America trilogy. I think one day you’ll look back and watch – Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War – and it’ll be one of the most unique and different trilogies ever around a single character.

Since the first film, First Avenger, basically deals with the creation or birth of Captain America, will the concluding film complete that natural cycle and focus on his death? It is possible. It has been rumored for sometime, though those rumors could very well be being fueled by fan expectations built off of the original comics story. Chris Evans has certainly stated that he would love to continue playing Cap after his current contract is finished with the studio and is scheduled to appear in Infinity War. So perhaps death could not be as permanent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well.

For the upcoming Doctor Strange movie, Feige confirmed to IGN that the film will indeed be an origin story with British actor Benedict Cumberbatch portraying an arrogant surgeon’s journey to become the Earth’s greatest sorcerer. He also laid out a hint as to the importance of actress Rachel McAdams’ so far unnamed character’s importance to the story.

[McAdams] plays a very, very big part in the movie and represents a certain point of view of the worlds that we experience in that movie, but Doctor Strange, without a doubt, is the character we follow through the movie.

Is Feige hinting that McAdams’ character, with her “certain point of view of the worlds” (note the plural), is not necessarily a native of Earth? If so, that would seem to indicate the fan speculation that she will be playing Clea, Dr. Strange’s apprentice and sometimes lover.

But perhaps the biggest revelation came from Feige in his discussion with Comic Book Resources. When asked about the seeming discrepancy of seeing the powerful artifact known as the Infinity Gauntlet in one of the Asgardian armories in the first Thor film while the villainous has more recently been seen at the end of Avengers: Age Of Ultron trying to assemble the powerful Infinity Stones needed to power the Gauntlet. Did Thanos steal his Gauntlet from Asgard between movies when no one was looking (or filming)?

Feige responded –

[S]ir, it’s a great question. It’s a good question. I may as well answer because you asked it, which I like. It’s not the same one. Not the same one.

So how do these puzzle pieces contribute to the picture that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Three? We’ll see starting next May with the release of Captain America: Civil War.