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5 Ways In Which Avengers: Age Of Ultron Sets Up Phase 3

Now, with Avengers: Age of Ultron hitting theaters across Europe and other PAL regions and Ant-Man set to conclude Marvel's Phase Two in July, the long-discussed transition to Phase Three -- a transition that will introduce moviegoers to Doctor Strange, Black Panther and, crucially, Spider-Man -- is almost upon us.

1) Wakanda

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Black Panther

New York has and will continue to host Marvel HQ for the foreseeable future, with most of our beloved heroes fighting the good fight in and around the Big Apple. But with the introduction of even more characters throughout Age of Ultron, the geography expands to include the fictional nations of Sokovia in Eastern Europe (home of the Maximoff twins) and Wakanda in Africa. The latter will be familiar to Marvel Comics fans as being the kingdom ruled by T’Challa, aka Black Panther, set to get his own film in Phase 3 and portrayed by Chadwick Boseman.

Eagle-eyed Marvelites will remember that Wakanda was in fact teased during Iron Man 2, when Nick Fury’s global map pinpointed the locations of all superhero activity across the globe. Fast forward to 2015 and the location is almost taking center stage thanks to the aforementioned Black Panther standalone film.

When Ultron is assembling his drone army, his power-mongering plan sees him travel to a South African shipyard headed up by arms dealer Ulysses Klaw — more on him later — in order to gather seemingly every ounce of vibranium under the sun. Throughout this scene, there are numerous nods to Wakanda, and establishing the African locale as a key location in an ensemble piece like Age of Ultron will ensure that the more casual moviegoers are familiar with the context of the area before Black Panther rolls around in 2018.