More Details on Marvel's 'Black Panther'; No Solo Movies for Black Widow or Hulk

Have you had time to come down off the high from Marvel's announcements today? Basically, the studio revealed their complete Phase Three lineup and their release dates, official titles, and so forth. They also revealed Chadwick Boseman would be starring in a Black Panther movie, that a Captain Marvel film had been confirmed, and so much more it's probably best you just go here and read the whole thing. There are still a few minor details left to cover, though, mostly provided by Marvel Studios' chatty chief, Kevin Feige.

First up is Black Panther, which will arrive in 2017, thus beating Warner Bros.' Cyborg film by a good three years and becoming the first prominent superhero film since Blade to feature an African-American lead. We can expect to see Black Panther appear first in Captain America: Civil War and play a major role for all of Phase 3 and beyond. Deadline says Marvel has locked in Boseman for a 5-picture deal, which is pretty much par for the course. As for who else could be working on the film? None other than Reginald Hudlin, producer on Django Unchained and director of two of my all-time favorite comedies, House Party and The Great White Hype. Hudlin wrote a meaningful but ultimately terrible run of Black Panther comics some years back, following on the heels of writer Christopher Priest's amazing 5-year stretch which truly redefined the character.

Marvel is finally giving fans the female-led superhero film they've been asking for, and it will feature Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel. Danvers is a soldier born and bred, beginning as a pilot in the Air Force (one of her numerous superhero codenames was Warbird) and rising to the ranks of NASA security chief. She eventually encountered the Kree alien Mar-Vell aka the original Captain Marvel. A freak accident caused her to become a Kree/human hybrid, granting her the powers of flight, super strength, invulnerability, and energy projection. Feige says it will be through her that we'll see a merging of Marvel's cosmic and earthbound stories.

So if Captain Marvel is getting her own film, what about Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow? Or Mark Ruffalo's Hulk? With so many new characters being introduced, is there room for some of the original and extremely popular gang to get their own solo franchises? Well, not anytime soon...

Feige: "Well, frankly, as I said in the presentation, it’s about bringing new characters to the screen. Black Widow couldn’t be more important as an Avenger, herself. Like Hulk, the Avengers films will be the films where they play a primary role. Her part in Avengers: Age of Ultron is very very big, and further develops and further enhances her character. The plans that we have for her throughout the rest of the Avengers saga is very very big, and lynchpin, in fact, to those films. So instead of taking her out there, or instead of doing a prequel, which we haven’t done yet, continuing the forward momentum and the continuity of the cinematic universe. Of which Widow is a key, key part."

Same goes for the Hulk...

Feige: "Well, I wouldn’t say he’s absent from the timeline, I’d say Hulk is going to appear in many of those movies, particularly all those Avengers movies leading up to 2019 and Infinity War. Mark Ruffalo is on board for all those films, and we’re excited to bring him to those films. What happens with a standalone Hulk film? I’ll only say what I would have said about Black Panther last week or Captain Marvel the week before that, or Doctor Strange the week before that, or Guardians of the Galaxy two years ago, or Ant-Man ten years ago: we’ll see. We’d love to do it, we’d love to find the place to put it, but right now, Hulk will be appearing, with his friends, in their films."

Basically, today was the Marvel presentation we were hoping to see three months ago at Comic-Con. Better late than never. [/Film]

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J.J. Abrams Talks "Honoring But Not Revering" 'Star Wars'

The Producers Guild of America held their Produced By Conference yesterday, and it involved a 75-minute discussion between Reginald Hudlin and J.J. Abrams. While the whole thing was likely very informative and entertaining, many of the attendees were probably waiting to see if Abrams would address Star Wars in any way. Towards the panel's conclusion, Abrams was pressed on the subject by Hudlin, who wanted to know if his film would be based on any of the Star Wars novels...

Abrams: "I think the key in moving forward with something like this is in honoring but not revering what came before. There's that deep feeling of infinite possibilities that I think was the ultimate thing I thought when I first saw 'Star Wars' which I would -- and probably will -- give my left arm to try and come close to again." 

That's pretty much in keeping with Abrams' attitude for all of the franchises he's been a part of, from Mission: Impossible to Star Trek, and it makes sense to approach Star Wars from the same angle.  For the most part, Abrams stayed general in discussing his plans, but he did reveal plans to pack up his family of five and move from Los Angeles to London by the end of the year.

Abrams: "[W]hen I came into it there was already a pre-arranged thing for them to be shooting in England which, really does make me insane. I've never shot a movie outside the US or out of L.A... We are, most likely, if all goes ahead, going to be moving to London at the end of the year... There's a whole lot of stuff happening at home. It's not an easy thing."

Production on Star Wars: Episode VII is expected to begin in early 2014 for release in the summer of 2015.  [Variety]

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