After Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment boldly slotted their delayed Man of Steel sequel into a placeholder date held by an untitled Marvel Studios movie on May 6th, 2016, Marvel recently claimed that they would not be giving up the date, and were happy to duel DC at the box office.
Speculation naturally ran rampant as to which mystery movie Marvel would be so confident in, going against such a massive production as the currently-untitled Man of Steel follow-up, which will introduce Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman to the new DC Cinematic Universe. Now however, The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that the untitled Marvel Studios movie is none other than a third Captain America movie, which Marvel Studios recently green-lit, and is currently negotiating with sibling Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors, Joe and Anthony Russo to return and helm.
This would appear to corroborate reports that Marvel Studios is immensely pleased with the final cut of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which recently held its Hollywood premiere, and is generating tons of buzz amongst critics and Marvel fans alike. Given that the highly successful Iron Man movies appear to be wrapped up, with star, Robert Downey Jr. only signed for re-appearances in The Avengers: Age of Ultron and the untitled third Avengers movie, Chris Evans’ Cap may be being groomed by the studio to fill the box office void as their big moneymaking hero.
Obviously, seeing as the movie has just been green-lit, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier won’t be publicly released for another couple of weeks, no details exist as to what direction a third Captain America movie may take. About the only thing we can infer at this point is that Chris Evans will almost certainly be returning to the role of Captain America, given his remaining contractual obligations.
Marvel has traditionally and exclusively kicked off the Summer blockbuster movie season in May since the 2007 release of Spider-Man 3, making it all the more unlikely that they’ll want to let DC steal their well-established spot on the calendar. They have continued plans to do so all the way through 2018, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 kicking off this year’s Summer blockbuster season, The Avengers: Age of Ultron starting it in 2015, the apparent third Captain America movie now slotted in for 2016, a mystery movie holding the date for 2017, and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 in place for 2018.
Might DC be attempting to start a tradition of their own, going directly against Marvel to kick off every Summer blockbuster season? If that’s the case, then the old adage remains true; When massive media corporations compete, nerds win!
Do you think that a third Captain America movie is enough to stave off the massive Man of Steel sequel at the box office? Do you think that Marvel or DC will blink and delay (or push up) their movie? Were you hoping that Doctor Strange or one of the other heavily-rumoured Marvel Studios movies was competing instead? Feel free to leave your comments below.
In the meantime, don’t miss Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which comes to 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theatres on April 4th. A high-profile behind-the-scenes special will also be airing on ABC, Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe, with inside looks and sneak peeks at the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its future projects, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, on March 18th, 8:00-9:00 P.M EST.
As usual, Eggplante’s got all of your updates on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as they happen!