Sci-Fi Storm

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the writing duo behind all three Captain America films including the upcoming Captain America: Civil War (which started filming today), as well as Thor: The Dark World and all three Chronicles of Narnia films, and also created Marvel’s Agent Carter (man these guys are BUSY!), have been signed to take on what will be the climax of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Avengers: Infinity War, Parts 1 and 2.

Less than two months…opens on May 1st!

That earthquake you felt wasn’t real…it was just a rumored-but-still-surprising deal being made in Hollywood.

Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, owned by Sony’s rival Disney, struck a deal on Monday for Spider-Man which will allow the character to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – basically all the Marvel movies not done by Sony or Fox thus far, which all exist within the same “universe”, allowing for the crossover of the characters. Kevin Feige, who has led the MCU juggernaut, will come on board as a producer for a new Spider-Man film alongside Amy Pascal, who helped shepherd the Spider-Man franchise for Sony.

Sony will likely want to re-launch the franchise for a third time with a new face. With the second round starring Andrew Garfield, the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 made a decent amount of money but was considered a disappointment given its very large budget.

In the meantime Marvel has wanted to include Spider-Man alongside the Avengers – Spidey is a member of the group in the comics after all. Word is that they’d like to include him at least in a cameo for Captain America: Civil War, and I can forsee a bigger role for the webslinger in the third Avengers team film.

In the meantime, Sony had already penciled in a July 28th, 2017 release date – which had already been planned by Marvel/Disney for Thor: Ragnarok. So Marvel/Disney has agreed to shift all of the Marvel films back, with Thor moving to November, taking Black Panther‘s slot, who moves back to Captain Marvel‘s slot, etc. All the relevant dates have been updated in our calendar.

The leak of the trailer last week may have squelched the intended debut of the trailer on Marve’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. last night a bit, but Marvel did give us a bonus – a scene clip, originally shown at SDCC, that leads us into the trailer…

Marvel is staking out its claim for dates as much as 5 years out, setting release dates for more sequels and the Phase 3 titles. This includes a third Avengers movie, which will be split into two.

Here is a quick rundown [The initial version of this article neglected to list Captain Marvel due to an editing error]:

2016:

• May 6th: Captain America 3: Civil War, which will introduce Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman (42)
• November 4th: Doctor Strange

2017:

• November 3rd: Black Panther

2018:

• May 4th: Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1
• June 8th: Captain Marvel, Marvel’s first female-lead superhero movie, based on the Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers version
• November 8th: The Inhumans

2019:

• May 3rd: Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2

In case you haven’t seen it yet…oh my…but why do I feel depressed?

We finally have a few details on the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron! FRom Marvel’s release:

Marvel Studios presents Avengers: Age of Ultron, the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure.

Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, the team must reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and meet an old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision.

Written and directed by Joss Whedon and produced by Kevin Feige, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series The Avengers, first published in 1963. Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Patricia Whitcher, Stan Lee and Jon Favreau serve as executive producers. Get set for an action-packed thrill ride when The Avengers return in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron on May 1, 2015.

An interesting note about “an old friend in a new form” and Vision. Vision is an android in most versions of the comics. Paul Bettany is the voice of Jarvis…are we getting a new version of Vision for the movie?

Andy Serkis is really getting around – although you may still not see his face. Andy told Sci-Fi Now that his motion-capture company Imaginarium is involved in all the upcoming Star Wars projects, and he himself will have a role in Episode VII – but he isn’t say who – or what.

And now, in an interview with Variety, he said, “The Imaginarium is the performance capture consultant, and I’m playing a role (in both films [In reference to Star Wars as well]). On ‘The Avengers,’ I’ve been working closely with Mark Ruffalo.”

He’s working with Ruffalo to help further develop his mo-cap performance as The Hulk. “Performance capture was used on the previous ‘Hulk,’ but not to the same extent Mark is using it now,” he said. “There are tools and ways of working with an actor that makes them feel that they own the character. And a character the size of the Hulk needs ownership, which Mark has now.”

The Marvel franchise fans have let out a collective sigh of relief…ABC announced that they are picking up Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a second season, despite the Live+Same Day ratings not being terrific, but the show is a solid DVR performer.

To go along with it, ABC also picked up another Marvel series, Agent Carter, which follows Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), who was introduced as Steve Rogers love interest in Captain America: The First Avenger but was left behind when Cap was frozen and reappeared in the future. Now in 1946 and peace has broken out, Carter goes to work for the Strategic Science Reserve and must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark (Tony’s father).

ABC is ordering Agent Carter straight to series, as it did have a form of pilot already: Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter, a video short that was included with the Iron Man 3 Blu-ray release.

Marvel announced today that actor James Spader (Boston Legal, Stargate) will take on the role of Ultron in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron movie to be directed by Joss Whedon and expected to be released on May 1st, 2015.

Spader, who’s most recent feature credit was as W. N. Bilbo in Lincoln, has a lot of television experience as well – he has three Emmys for his role as Alan Shore in The Practice and Boston Legal, recurred on The Office and is starring in the upcoming NBC series The Blacklist.

Ultron is a robotic supervillain with an adamantium shell, making him nearly indestructible, and an Oedipus complex. In the overall Marvel universe, he was created by Hank Pym (Ant-Man) by duplicating his own brain waves, resulting in an unstable robotic intelligence, obsessed with constant upgrading.