As the X-Men are an established part of Fox’s repertoire, Marvel are also considering bringing another band of extraordinaries into the universe. Inhumans, which was introduced back in 1965, follows a royal family of superthangs spawned from alien experiments on remedial humans. Intriguing. The brood, who are stranded on an evacuated planet, are viable for another prong of the third phase.
With Phase Two’s Guardians Of The Galaxy set to bring a whole new type of bonkers to the Universe, is there space for the Inhumans? Feige seems to think…yes!
“In other words, all the craziness that comes with Inhumans, we’ve done in the other movies already. But this would have some of the social drama that we haven’t really done yet. [Fox’s] X-Men, obviously, has been touching on that stuff for a while.”
Also on the table is The Hulk. In the running for his own feature, if he was granted a standalone film it would follow on from two earlier tries. 2003’s Ang Lee-directed version starring Eric Bana didn’t receive a lot of love from fans. The 2008 reboot with Edward Norton fared slightly better, but it wasn’t until Mark Ruffalo took up the role that the possibility of another stand alone flick came to light.
The rumour mill fired up good and proper at the notion of the Planet Hulk comic series informing the plot for The Hulk’s next live-action feature. Feige was quick to dismiss the idea:
“What we’re excited about exploring and expanding is Mark — and Banner’s not in Planet Hulk at all. The fun of the Hulk is his interaction with humans.”
So, what else is left to raid from Marvel’s vast catalogue of titles? What about Runaways? The story follows a troupe of kids with abilities, who discover their parents are evil masterminds and decide to overthrow them. Introducing the posse into the Universe was considered, to such a point that a script was re-written by Iron Man’s Drew Pearce. Feige says they haven’t dismissed it, saying that: “We just haven’t found where or how to do it… right now.” With all things Marvel, it’s figuring out the nuances and how a new franchise can slot amongst the existing ones.
He offered a similar response when discussing the recently-reacquired Daredevil, Blade, The Punisher and Ghost Rider. “I think we need to find the right time,” said Feige. With the rights returning to Marvel after Sony allowed them to lapse, it seems they’re in no rush to reboot them.
For now, there’s a lot to cut your teeth on. Marvel are putting all of their efforts into Phase Two at the minute, with five huge titles due within the next two years. Feige’s latest comments concerning the third stage have got us very excited though and Phase Two has only just begun…
What do you think lies ahead for us in the Marvel Universe? Let us know in the comments below.