SPECIAL: MARVEL Phase 3 Line-Up - Part 1

Marvel said they were holding a big event with some big announcements...and they really mean BIG...in fact, it's beyond BIG...it's...the whole Phase 3 Line-Up!!
As a Marvel fan by heart & soul, this is an excitement overload...and below are my thoughts on them...

Here are the announced line-up:

Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016)



          This was speculated recently but it's nice to know it's been confirmed. (Hey, Marvel even joked with the subtitle Serpent Society, before revealing the truth towards the end of the event). The subtitle Civil War is a bit direct in hinting us of what the story is about, and Civil War is a story arc in the comics which, in essence, splits the superheroes of Earth into two sides, a pro registration and an anti registration, under Iron Man and Captain America, respectively. So, expect a big & emotional battle between our two notable Avengers above.
          Some of my friends have pointed out concerns that since Marvel have only introduced a rather small number of heroes in the universe, there may not be enough characters to call this a war, maybe not even a sense of it. Though it may be true that the scale & impact of the event may not be as powerful as it is in the comics, I personally have faith in Kevin Feige (President of Marvel Studios) and the team to pull off something amazing. 
          But, hey, Black Panther is confirmed to be in this film, so that's another exciting character in the mix, right?

Doctor Strange (Nov 4, 2016)



           This is my favourite of all the new characters to be introduced in Phase 3. In fact, Doctor Strange may well be my favourite superhero in the MCU so far (Note: superhero, not supervillain - Loki, Winter Soldier, Ultron - I just love villains), because there is a certain personality with the character Stephen Strange, and there's another thing about his style and his tone which makes him even more interesting. He is really rather different than other heroes that came before, and as Kevin Feige stated, this film will introduce the supernatural side of the universe, with parallel dimensions, etc. 
          One thing to note is that the release date is pushed to November, instead of the originally flagged July date. Nevertheless, a few months is nothing if it means getting yet another awesome Marvel film. Hey, especially if Benedict Cumberbatch is involved (Still...still...not officially confirmed...).

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (May 5, 2017)



           Guardians 2 is another that gets a change in the release date, albeit a move forward instead of a delay. One reason may be due to the unexpectedly huge success of Guardians of the Galaxy, but another may be simply because James Gunn have already started working on it, compared to other projects that may need to wait before getting started. Either way, Guardians was an excitingly fun surprise, and I certainly expect more of the same from the sequel, and I can't wait to see what James Gunn has in store for in the next space adventure.

More films to be discussed in the next post...