Avengers 2 Takeover

The Avengers is still about half a year away, but over the weekend, Marvel Studios' President of Production, Kevin Feige, spoke about the next set of films following The Avengers. Iron Man 3 will be the first in the pipeline (due for release in May 2013) and part of what Feige called "Phase Two of this Avenger Assemble talk".So Iron Man 3 will lead to Avengers 2, as will Thor 2 and the films currently in development.

Personally, I think Marvel is making a huge mistake. I enjoyed this build toward The Avengers in the current Marvel films, but as evidenced in Iron Man 2, too much extraneous info can pull a film down. I argue constantly with friends that Iron Man 2 was actually a pretty good movie. It was simply mired down by the heavy-handed presence of Nick Fury and SHIELD. Black Widow could have worked on her own. In fact, the revelation of her involvement with SHIELD could have been saved for the after credit sequence.

Furthermore, Avengers will now be its own established franchise. Allow all the franchises to build and grow on their own merit. Let Iron Man 3 be its own film where Tony Stark has to face the threat of the Ten Rings Cult. In Thor 2, let Thor face another threat from Norse mythology (Hela, Surtur) or other pantheons on other worlds (Ares). Captain America 2 should explore Captain America in the present and the modern Hydra. Captain America most closely allows for SHIELD and build up toward the Avengers. Should it ever be made, Incredible Hulk 2 should feature the Hulk fighting other Gamma threats. The Leader was teased with the inclusion of Samuel Stern and his exposure to Hulk's Gamma bleed-off. He could be the mastermind in the background like the Mandarin potentially hides behind the Ten Rings Cult.