Future Marvel Movie Possibilities: Iron Fist; Black Panther; SHIELD

Here's a Marvel post that isn't based on rumor or innuendo: we know that Marvel has plans for movies beyond The Avengers, but right now they're pretty opaque. Ant Man has long been a possibility, but we know little about that, and there have been plenty of Doctor Strange stories, with screenwriters even hired. Now Marvel's Kevin Feige is on camera talking about characters that he's considered for screen treatment, and they include expected second-stringers Iron Fist and Black Panther.

MTV talked to Feige, who said,

I think what Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction have done with 'Iron Fist' lately is exciting...I think 'Black Panther' and Wakanda has some amazing potential to be a feature film. 'Doctor Strange,' as you've mentioned. There are some obscure titles, too, like 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' I think they've been revamped recently in a fun way in the book.

Some of those, like Iron Fist, have been mentioned before, and could be lower budgeted films.

Is there really a chance for a Guardians of the Galaxy film at this point? Probably not — seems like that would be a massively expensive undertaking — but that's the sort of character set that could appear in another film to gauge audience interest. And then there's the question of a SHIELD movie, which has been hinted at by Samuel L. Jackson in the recent past.

I think the answer [to 'will there be a SHIELD movie] is yes...I think S.H.I.E.L.D. could be it's own franchise. I think, frankly, 'The Avengers' is going to be told from that point of view more so than any of the other films at that point, so we're going to get an inside look [at how S.H.I.E.L.D.] operates.

Unfortunately, most of this is just conversation. But Doctor Strange is one that has come up in conversation with Feige many times before, and money is actually being spent to develop that. So if he's mentioning these other projects — even Guardians of the Galaxy — then there's more reason to expect they could happen.