As THE AVENGERS 2 gets closer to being a reality, Marvel will begin prep work to film in anticipation of the schedule 2015 release date. While Joss Whedon has formally announced that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver will appear in the super squad sequel, rumblings have not quit that Black Panther will make an appearance as well. Those rumors were further fueled when Cape Town film studio head Anant Singh took to South African radio to indicate that Marvel was looking to shoot a part of THE AVENGERS 2 there.
With THE AVENGERS 2 primarily shooting in the UK, location shooting in South Africa could be for many different reasons, but it does feel like a strong indicator that Black Panther may be part of the sequel story. It does fit with Morris Chestnuts’s vague tweets about the role. With all of the original cast coming back (possibly without Jeremy Renner), is THE AVENGERS 2 bordering on character overload?
Not necessarily. There are no indications that Black Panther will be more than a minor introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and could in fact just be a setup appearance for Phase Three. So far, we only know that ANT-MAN is a lock for the next round of Marvel movies with several hints that DOCTOR STRANGE will be there too. Marvel honcho Kevin Feige also told Entertainment Weekly that they are looking at also developing a movie based on The Inhumans.
“Inhumans is cool, they’re really great characters,” he said in a recent interview, getting more animated about this title than almost any other he discussed. “The most powerful guy is the king who doesn’t say a word and if he does — lookout. That’s awesome. And the notion of the Terrigen Mists, this notion that you go through and don’t know what you’re going to be on the other side, is incredibly compelling dramatically. In other words, all the craziness that comes with Inhumans, we’ve done in the other movies already,” Feige says. “But this would have some of the social drama that we haven’t really done yet. [Fox’s] X-Men, obviously, has been touching on that stuff for a while.”
The idea that Marvel/Disney would develop another superhero team in addition to both THE AVENGERS and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is bold, but also the ideal way to feature so many heroes with a limited number of films. Plus, you don’t need to give minor heroes an entire feature for themselves, you can explore if their is a fan base and see if a solo film is worth making (i.e. Hulk).
The future is looking wide open for Marvel and Phase Three. Now we just need to know who will be in it. THE AVENGERS 2 closes out Phase Two on May 1, 2015.
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