Shocker: Kevin Feige Won't Confirm Joss Whedon As Phase Three Godfather

A bit of advice when asking questions that are years out from having an answer: don't take whatever non-answer comes too seriously. There're a few rounds of early questions going around this week, whether it's a WB exec being asked about Wonder Woman appearing in Batman Vs. Superman, or Kevin Feige fielding questions about all corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For example, while doing Thor 2 press Feige was asked whether or not Joss Whedon would return to oversee the third phase of the Marvel Universe, leading up to the third Avengers movie. The second one isn't shot yet, and won't be released for a year and a half, and people expect Feige to say "oh, yeah, he's totally locked in for the third"? Come on. 

So, asked about Whedon and the films leading up to The Avengers 3, Feige told Screen Rant,

 It's still being determined. All of his efforts right now are in what he's doing for us primarily, obviously, writing and prepping Age of Ultron but also in reading the drafts of the films in phase 2, watching early cuts to inform him where the characters are going to end up in the beginning of Age of Ultron and also to get his input and his wisdom into all of these. But right now it's all about leading up to Age of Ultron.

In short: hey, we've got one huge movie to do already before worrying about the one (or many) after it. Whedon is under contract with Marvel until June 2015, at which point, sure, he and Marvel could re-negotiate. (At that point, Kevin Feige might also decide he wants to explore other options.)

It's easy to be excited about what Marvel is trying to build, but lets see where the next couple movies end up before assuming Whedon will be part of Marvel's plans for the forseeable future.