It’s easy to see why so many people love the Marvel universe: it’s filled with superheroes who embody our sense of justice but also share the same emotions that we, as regular Joe’s and Mary’s, experience every day.
What exactly it is about these heroes that is uniquely appealing to us is hard to pinpoint. It may be that Marvel has given us these figures to look up to — figures who remind us that almost every evil is beatable and that despite that, the strongest of us are not always perfect. We put our faith in these characters; they will always be there to save the day. They give us hope.
Each hero has his own story and motive for protecting the world and its inhabitants. Those who constitute the Avengers are the primary focus of Marvel. We know them all by name: Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, the Black Widow, Thor and the incredible (and angry) Hulk.
The next movies in the Marvel cinematic enterprise are the “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Thor: Ragnarök.” Another hero is getting his own movie: Ant-Man, the ex-con turned defender of the world who can shrink to the size of an ant and telepathically communicate with insects. With the promise of these movies to come, we can only marvel at the complex universe Marvel has created and continues to develop.
Plenty of movies have turned original comic book heroes and villains into flesh and bone incarnations of our favorite good guys and devious bad guys. Marvel may just do the best job. It all began in 2008 with the release of “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk.” Two years later we saw “Iron Man 2,” and in 2011, we were given “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.” These movies culminated in the 2012 release of Marvel’s “Avengers.” The release of these movies from 2008 to 2013 constitutes Marvel’s “Phase One.”
Phase Two began in 2013 with “Iron Man 3” and “Thor: The Dark World.” This year, we saw “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The second phase will conclude with the release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Ant-Man,” both slated to come out in 2015. Here’s what to expect.
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” (May 2015)
The second Avengers movie will pick up where Tony Stark put it down. We saw at the end of “Iron Man 3” that Stark was finished with being Iron Man: he destroyed all of his suits and successfully removed the arc reactor from his chest. In “Age of Ultron,” Stark attempts to reboot a peacekeeping program with the indestructible and highly intelligent robot, Ultron. Created by none other than Stark himself, Ultron, voiced by James Spader, shuns the task of keeping the world safe in the absence of superheroes and views humankind as flawed and evil, the only remedy being its extinction. The plot thickens as the robot is self-aware and can evolve into better, stronger forms. Will we see Stark return to the Avengers as the famed Iron Man? The movie will also introduce twins Quicksilver, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and the Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen.
“Ant-Man” (July 2015)
“Ant-Man” is the story of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), his mentor. Lang, a skilled thief, is enlisted by Pym to help protect the Ant-Man technology, called Pym Particles, from those who wish to abuse it. The particles allow their user to shrink in size but retain their regular, human strength. Lang, as Ant-Man, must face Darren Cross/Yellow Jacket (Corey Stoll), who uses the particles to create his own Yellow Jacket suit, an advanced version of the Ant-Man suit. We’ll catch glimpses of Howard Stark (John Slattery), Iron Man’s father, in flashbacks during the movie. “Hobbit” star Evangeline Lilly will play Hope van Dyne, Pym’s daughter.
Phase Three of the Marvel cinematic enterprise will consist in part of continuations of the storylines of Captain America and Thor. Here’s what to except from these.
“Captain America: Civil War” (May 2016)
“Captain America: Civil War” will pick up after the events of “Age of Ultron” and will show Steve Rogers’s tense relationship with Bucky Barnes. It will also include Iron Man, and the title implies they’ll go head-to-head. Iron Man supports the Superhero Registration Act, while Captain America opposes it. Those who stand with the act side with Iron Man, while those who are against it will side with the Captain, splitting the superhero population in two. Unfortunately, Iron Man will appear as the villain, along with Crossbones, portrayed by Frank Grillo, in “Civil War.”
“Thor: Ragnarök” (July 2017)
The third Thor movie is centered on Ragnarök, the Norse apocalypse and the “end of all things.” So naturally, Thor will have to deal with the harbingers of this disaster: Surtur and his army of Fire Demons. As we know, Loki is still around, so that can’t mean anything good for Asgard, or the rest of the universe. He may in fact be the catalyst for the apocalypse. The events that take place in this movie will ultimately affect the rest of the Marvel universe.
