Kevin Feige talks the cinematic future of Dr. Strange, Punisher, Blade, and Ghost Rider

Before the light bulb finally turned on over their heads, Marvel allowed the film rights to a number of their top characters scatter to the winds of other studios. For instance, 20th Century Fox owns the X-men and Fantastic Four, while Sony is currently swinging pretty high with Spider-Man.  With Iron Man 3 already well on its way to breaking all sorts of records, attention has turned to what's coming up next, and it looks like Marvel is going to have even more toys to play around with.

During a lengthy piece in EW, Marvel President Kevin Feige talks about how Blade, Ghost Rider, and The Punisher have all reverted back to Marvel control. This follows on the heels of news that Daredevil had also re-entered their camp after Fox struggled to mount a reboot last year. Feige didn't sound too keen on bringing Daredevil back to the big screen any time soon, and he's just as much of a damper when talking about the latest arrivals...

Feige: “Whenever a character comes back to us, it's usually because the other studios don't want to make the movies anymore - and that usually means the [previous] movies may not have been particularly well received. They all have potential, but we're not going to say, 'We got it back - make it!'"

The truth is, Marvel has had the rights to all of these characters for awhile, so this isn't all that much of a revelation. The real news is Feige's attitude towards using them. Marvel reclaimed Punisher not long after 2008's Punisher: War Zone, a film which has taken on something of a cult following despite an extremely poor performance at the box office. The same can be said of 2004's The Punisher, which starred Thomas Jane, and was popular enough that he's continued to play versions of the character in short films.

The first Ghost Rider film performed really well for Sony, but last year's sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance bombed so hard that even Nicolas Cage swore off doing another one.  Blade is interesting, though, and Marvel may be inclined to put him back in play sooner than the others. It can be argued quite effectively that the Blade trilogy, which featured a memorable performance by Wesley Snipes, helped usher in the modern age of superhero movies. David Goyer (Man of Steel) and Guillermo Del Toro (Pacific Rim) contributed towards making it a consistent hit, with all three films earning well over $100M during a time when comic book movies were a hard sell.

But one character we definitely know will be appearing sooner rather than later is Dr. Strange. Feige has already promised the character would be part of Phase Three, and Justin Theroux has been mentioned as someone who may don the sorcerer's cape. So it's a little strange that some news outlets are making a big deal out of this quote by Feige, where he basically just reiterates what he's already revealed....

Feige: "Dr. Strange is something that I talk about often and it’s sort of next up for us to dig into and explore.  Our executive producer of 'Iron Man 3,' having done 'Captain America: The First Avenger' and as that was finishing he started working on the bones that would become 'Iron Man 3,' and now that he’s finished with 'Iron Man 3,' he’s working on the bones that would become 'Doctor Strange.' Now that Iron Man 3 is finished, some of our quote-unquote spare time is going to be devoted to trying to crack 'Strange''.

How is that any more of a confirmation than what he's said before? He also adds this bit which amounts to absolutely nothing, but has been blown way out of proportion by some...

Feige: “As we look past 2015, past 'Avengers 2' and 'Ant-Man,' I think 'Dr. Strange' should be one of the next movies in the years following that.”

Since we already know that Ant-Man begins Phase Three, obviously Dr. Strange is going to come after that. If anything, this is the most incremental movement on a film many expect to be a really big deal, especially with it looking less certain there will be any more Iron Man solo movies.