Marvel Comics Phase Three headed by Ant Man and Dr Strange

The stable of characters at Marvel Comics is quite vast that range from science fiction to horror to even the supernatural. After Spider-Man, Dr Strange is the other major creative collaboration that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko crafted in the early days of Marveldom.

A vain and greedy surgeon, Dr Stephen Strange lived life to the fullest at the expense of his morals until he met with an unfortunate accident that cost him the use of his hands. Searching the globe for answers, he fled to the far East where he encountered the Ancient One who saw great potential in the fallen physician. After completing his studies of the arcane arts, Stephen returned to America and set up shop in Greenwich Village where his services were free to any who needed them. Using his hands to weave patters in the air that conjure up unseen forces from other realms, Dr Strange protects our reality from invisible threats from other dimensions.

A magic-based superhero is just the kind of off-beat hero that could make Ant Man look downright sensible in 2015 if Dr Strange’s inclusion on ‘Phase Three’ is to be believed.

Via MTV:

Marvel Studios has a lot in store for fans with their wave of Phase Two films: “Iron Man 3” and “Thor: The Dark World” in 2013, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” in 2014, and “The Avengers 2” in 2015.

But Joss Whedon’s “Avengers” sequel isn’t the only Marvel Studios release scheduled for 2015. In November of that same year, the world will finally see Edgar Wright’s “Ant-Man,” long-rumored but now on the fast-track towards reality as the official start of Phase Three.

“‘Ant-Man’ is definitely part of Phase Three,” Marvel’s Kevin Feige told MTV News during our recent interview. “Like ‘Iron Man 3,’ it’s certainly set in the Marvel Universe, but it’s also through the lens of Edgar Wright — which is the only reason we’re making the movie.”

“I’ve known Edgar since our first lunch together at Comic-Con in 2004,” he continued. “He asked me what Marvel was doing with ‘Ant-Man’ — we weren’t even a studio then; what a difference eight years makes! It’s very much an ‘Ant-Man’ origin movie from the perspective of Edgar Wright and his co-writer Joe Cornish. It will of course be firmly planted in the MCU, but a different corner than we’ve seen before.”

Indeed, “different corners” appears to be a theme of Marvel’s third phase. “So much of the stories we’re telling [right now] is about the core ‘Avengers’ characters we’ve now met, and they’ll be evolving in big, surprising ways, in Cap’s next movie and Thor’s next movie and of course in ‘Iron Man 3,’ as we get them all into the next ‘Avengers’ film,” said Feige. “Beyond that… ‘Ant-Man’ is the only one officially announced, but you probably don’t have to look too far to guess at the next list of characters we’re toying with and beginning to develop.”

Could the oft-rumored “Doctor Strange” be a part of those plans?

“‘Doctor Strange,’ which I’ve been talking about for years, is definitely one of them,” he confirmed. “He’s a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he’s totally different from anything else we have, just like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ He’s totally different from anything we’ve done before, as is ‘Ant-Man,’ which keeps us excited.”

This makes 2015 one of the most ambitious years in major motion pictures targeting a specific demographic with the recently announced Star Wars: Episode VII directed by JJ Abrams, Avatar 2, a possible Fantastic Four Reboot, Justice League (if it ever happens), The Avengers 2 and a possible Hulk solo movie all planned for the same time period.

Can the universe survive such a thing?

Get ready for your close-up, Dr. Strange

Master of the mystic arts, guardian of humanity against the forces of darkness, Dr. Strange is an ideal choice for the next Marvel Comics property for the big screen.

The arrogant and selfish Stephen Strange was a gifted surgeon who only used his gifts for personal gain. So brash is Strange that he smokes (again) in the operating room! After cannily finagling a business deal out of what should have been pro bono work, Strange is involved in a horrible car accident that robs him of his talented hands. Refusing to be anything but a brilliant surgeon, Strange spends all of his money foolishly attempting to heal his hands with no success. Strange ends up a vagrant, hopelessly wandering the streets until he hears of the ‘Ancient One’ who may hold some solution in far off Tibet.

Strange manages to find his way to the far off land and also to the home of the Ancient One but still has not learned humility. In the home of the wise seer, he meets the Ancient One’s pupil, Baron Mordo… who is definitely evil. Mordo has plans for the Ancient One that will result in him stealing the old man’s power from him, leaving Mordo as the Sorcerer Supreme. Strange elects to stay on in order to somehow stop Mordo.

Somehow Strange side-steps learning humility to discovering that the energy fueling his immense ego can instead be transfered to something akin to courage. (full article here)

The idea of a Dr. Strange film itself is not exactly new. Alex Cox (Repo Man) had worked on a script ages ago and an infamous TV movie was released in 1978. In 1992, another attempt was made by eventually released as Doctor Mordrid starring Re-Animator’s Jeffrey Combs. Perhaps this time, we will finally see a high quality feature film version of Dr. Strange along the lines of Thor, Iron Man and Captain America (rather than Ghost Rider and Elektra). What is interesting is that this will be the first project by Marvel Entertainment released under Walt Disney Pictures banner.

What’s very interesting is that this could feature the return of director Sam Raimi to the comic book movie genre… and wouldn’t he be the perfect choice for Dr. Strange?

Via ReelzChannel:

Last June, Marvel Studios hired Conan: The Barbarian reboot screenwriters Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to write a script for a potential Doctor Strange movie. While not the most well-known character in Marvel’s canon, the move was an attempt to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one that was approved by the character’s creator, Stan Lee.

While Oppenheimer and Donnelly obviously have experience working with supernatural and fantasy comic book characters after working on Conan and Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, their script was apparently good enough for Marvel to move forward. Twitch Film reports that Marvel has received the Doctor Strange script and are putting together a shortlist of directors in order to find someone to “oversee continued development”.

While the Twitch report remains unconfirmed, it did get us thinking about which directors could end up on Marvel’s shortlist. Director Francis Lawrence is no stranger to comic book adaptations that include the magic and sorcery, even if his 2005 adaptation of Constantine opened to mixed results amongst audiences. It doesn’t appear that Warner Bros. will bring back director Martin Campbell for Green Lantern 2, leaving the Casino Royale director available, but, considering the poor box office results for Green Lantern, perhaps Marvel will look elsewhere.

Another pie-in-the-sky candidate, if he’s available, is Sam Raimi, who is no longer tied to the Spider-Man franchise and could be looking to get back into the comic book movie business. The combination of Raimi’s signature visual style, combined with his proven success with comic book characters, would make him ideal for Dr. Strange.

Whomever Marvel chooses, they have time. Any potential Dr. Strange movie won’t reach theaters until at least 2014, as 2013 will already see the releases of Thor 2 and Iron Man 3. Then there’s the possible sequels of Captain America 2 and, should The Avengers prove successful at the box office next summer, an Avengers 2. Marvel also has an Ant-Man adaptation in the works, with a new script from writer-directors Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish turned in last month.

So… who is Whiplash?

poster_ironman-2 As you may have noticed, filming has begun for the mighty Marvel sequel to the hit action film of 2009, Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. will return to don the iron pants that he loves so much along with Gwyneth Paltrow as the lovely Pepper Potts. Don Cheadle replaces Terrance Howard as Jim ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes which has many fans excited but the big addition is the duo of villains… sort of.

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Hollywood’s comeback kid and star of The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke will play the part of Whiplash and Scarlet Johansson will portray the Black Widow (who later becomes a hero so it’s difficult to guess how she will be represented in the film). Most readers know who the Black Widow is, but who is Whiplash?? He’s not much of a ‘heavy hitter’ villain in the vein of the Mandarin (long rumored to be the central baddie of IM 2 but perhaps it was deemed far too much of a xenophobic choice as the Mandarin is a very negative stereotype), so why hire an actor who has recently returned to the cradle of success?

First appearing in the pages of Invincible Iron Man in 1968, Mark Scarlotti actually has much in common with Tony Stark. Both a re gifted men with a creative streak and penchant for invention. However, while Tony Stark was born into greatness, Scarlotti did not earn it or have it thrust upon him. He took to working for the mafia (called the Maggia in Marvel Comics… no joke! Apparently Stan Lee was fearful of angering real life gangsters) and attempted to take down Iron Man as a show of strength.
Using a custom-made whip that could tear through anything, Scarlotti met crippling defeat at the armored hands of Tony Stark several times over, even after a super-villain make-over into the character Blacklash.

So I ask again, why Whiplash? My best bet is that they are attempting to take an obscure villain and develop him into something new from the ground up (as Tim Burton did with the Penguin). If not, the ‘dark mirror’ option of presenting a twisted version of Tony Stark is a possibility. Seeing as how both men are weapons inventors, and both actors around the same age, this may work.

I’m also guessing that both Whiplash and Iron Man will be vying for the attention of Black Widow in the movie, which could make things interesting. In any case, I have every confidence that Favreau will hit another one out of the park with this sequel (whatever that means).

Next time, Black Widow.