11/3/14 Marvel News Mash-Up – More Avengers: Age of Ultron, Spider-Man Rumors, and More!

WDWNT Author on November 3, 2014

Marvel Releases An Extended Trailer For Avengers: Age Of Ultron

The Avengers: Age Of Ultron teaser trailer was originally supposed to air during last week’s episode of Agents Of SHEILD, but due to the trailer being leaked early, Marvel decided to release the trailer early. To entice people to watch the episode of Agents Of Shield that was to debut the original trailer, Marvel released and extended trailer especially for Agents Of SHIELD that included a new scene from the movie.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqkR0SwFN_4]

What is great about this scene is you get to see the Avengers taking a break from the action and enjoying what looks to be a party at Avengers Tower. Thor, in his Earth casual clothes, challenges the other Avengers to do an almost impossible task, lift his hammer, Mjölnir. The writing on Mjölnir states, “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” So basically one must be worthy.

Both Iron Man and War Machine are unable to budge it.

If you notice, Captain America does move it, he just doesn’t lift it.

My opinion is that Captain America is holding back, and that he knows he can lift it, but he doesn’t want to show off to the other Avengers. In the comics, there are very few people, other than Thor, who can lift Mjölnir and one of those people is Captain America. You can’t be more worthy than Captain America. Another person who has lifted Mjölnir is Superman when the Justice League took on The Avengers in a DC/Marvel crossover (might as well throw in Captain America’s shield while you are at it).

So What About Spider-Man?

The one thing that that I was hoping that would be announced during the Marvel Phase 3 Event was that Spider-man would be joining the Avengers, but it didn’t happen. That doesn’t mean that it is not going to happen. Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel studios, was asked directly whether Spider-man will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and he replied, “Anything that wasn’t specifically and obviously revealed today is either not true at all, or still rumor until it’s worked out.” Originally Marvel was to have the Phase 3 announcement at this years New York City’s Comic Con, but Robert Downey Jr. was still in negotiations to star in Captain America: Winter Soldier and they wanted to make sure that it was official before they announced it. The last line that Kevin Feige said about Spider-man gives me hope. Until it’s worked out. I do believe that Disney, Marvel and Sony are working out a deal to bring Spider-man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which it will be beneficial to all parties involved.

In the comics, Spider-man is an integral part of Civil War. Some would say that you could not adapt Civil War without him. The truth is, it can be done, but it wont be as good. It is my gut feeling that in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, the after credit scene will consist of Spider-man swinging towards Avenger’s Tower.

Being the nerd that I am, I made a little preview of what I feel will go down:

Remember what I said if I am right and just forget that I ever said it if I am wrong.

Avenger’s: Age Of Ultron Clip Leaks Onto The Internet

During Marvel’s Phase 3 Event that was held recently, the audience was shown an exclusive clip from Avengers: Age Of Ultron. The clip has not been officially released but, at this time, a leaked version is available on YouTube. Basically, this scene is setting up the Civil War. Steve and Tony are outdoors splitting logs and there seems to be a lack of trust and a question of ones methods between the two of them. Some of the audio is difficult to understand, but here is a breakdown of what was said:

TONY: Thor didn’t say where he’s going to get answers?

STEVE: Sometimes my teammates don’t tell me things. I was kinda hoping Thor would be the exception.

TONY: Yeah, in time. We don’t know what the Maximoff kid showed him.

STEVE: I don’t know what she showed you. It’s enough to make you do something stupid. “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” — pulled us apart like cotton candy.

TONY: Well, it seems that you walked away alright.

STEVE: Is that a problem?

TONY: I don’t trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old-fashioned.

STEVE: Well, let’s just say you haven’t seen it yet.

TONY: Banner and I have been doing this research—

STEVE: —that would affect the team—

TONY: —that would END the team! Isn’t that the mission? Isn’t that the “why” we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home??

STEVE: Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time. What do you think?

(SPOILERS) Runor is that The Avengers will split up into two teams at the end of Age Of Ultron. Captain America will form his own team consisting of Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, essentially forming the West Coast Avengers. Iron Man will form the (East Coast) Avengers consisting of Thor, Hulk and Vision. Black Panther will appear in Captain America: Civil War but I am not sure whose side he will be on, and also not sure of Hawkeye. In Captain America: Civil War, I think that the main battles will consist of Captain America fighting Iron Man. But even though it hasn’t been announced, I would expect to see all of the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War, just their roles wont be as prominent as Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr.

Benedict Cumberbatch Will Be “Doctor Strange”

For months I have been reporting that someone new is up for the role of Doctor Strange and recently Deadline has confirmed that Benedict Cumberbatch will indeed be Marvel’s newest cinematic superhero, Doctor Strange. I couldn’t be happier because Cumberbatch is the one that I wanted from the very beginning. He has proven to me, especially through his role in Sherlock, that his has great acting ability and he does indeed have the look needed for Doctor Strange. Still no official word from Marvel but it sounds like they are close to finalizing the contract.

After his career is destroyed, Dr. Stephen Strange, a brilliant but arrogant surgeon gets a new lease on life when a sorcerer takes him under his wing and trains him to defend the world against evil.

Doctor Strange will be released in theaters On July 8^th, 2016.

Captain Marvel Fan Made Poster

It is hard to believe that this is a fan made poster because it is practically perfect. I have a feeling that this is the costume that will be used when Captain Marvel hits the big screen because her current costume is not very family friendly. Captain Marvel (Ms. Marvel) is basically a combination of Wonder Woman and Superman. She has super human strength, the power of flight and cosmic powers, such as firing energy blasts from her hands. Captain Marvel’s identity is Carol Danvers and she is from Boston. Actress Katheryn Winnick is mostly known for playing Lagertha in the History Channel series Vikings.

Captain Marvel will be released on July 6^th, 2018.

Sideshow Collectible Corner

Another fantastic premium figure from Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys. This piece is from Thor: Dark World and is another example how much detail is put into these amazing figures.

That’s it for this week!

Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes – Avengers Playset Review

WDWNT Author on September 22, 2014

The title and tag line of Disney Infinity refers to the infinite possibilities for gameplay. The game came out in the UK on Friday 19 September (U.S. release is on Sept. 23rd) and as a huge Marvel fan, I dived into the first playset and managed to complete it and by Sunday morning. I haven’t really had an awful lot of time to explore the other facets of the game, community content or the improved Toy Box 2.0 mode, so this review will be solely based on my experiences of the first big piece of the experience – the action/adventure Avengers Playset which comes with every starter pack or collector’s edition starter park of Disney Infinity 2.0 – Marvel Super Heroes.

It’s also worth mentioning that by this point, over a year into the existence of the Disney Infinity franchise, I’m far down the rabbit hole, if you’ll excuse the Alice in Wonderland reference – so take my excitement with a pinch of salt if you’re unsure. As well as being a Marvel geek, I love Disney, so the idea of playing in each of the worlds was like catnip to me, and I really enjoyed my time with the original Disney Infinity on Wii U last winter. I still love my Wii U, but I wanted to bring my Disney Infinity 2 to my Playstation 4 as its where I now do the majority of my gaming. I was pleased to see that after signing into my Disney Interactive account of my PS4 when I booted up Disney Infinity 2, the service had remembered I’d collected every character in the original Disney Infinity and after swiping them all in on the NFC reader which comes with each Starter Pack or Collector’s Edition, the PS4 had remembered for example, that I’d levelled my Elsa to a badass level 10 ice queen.

As I said, I’m fairly committed to the Disney Infinity brand. My fiancé, well, he might use another word to describe it!

One of the other benefits for me of going with PS4 over Wii U, other than the graphical increase, was that Sony and Disney Interactive were releasing a Collector’s Edition which not only included Black Widow, Thor and Iron Man (as every starter pack does) but also an amazing light up frost giant display stand and the NFC figures for Captain America, Hawkeye and timed Playstation exclusive Hulk, and with the promotion running in the UK where you get another free figure (I choose Iron Fist) it meant that I was getting seven of the 16 figures in wave one for a slightly discounted rate compared to if I was buying them individually. And – I got that ace display stand! Plus, I was going to get all the figures and additional playsets anyway, so I might as well save a bit of cash. (You can tell I’ve had this conversation with my fiancé, can’t you?)

The Avenger’s Assemble!

Just a note on the quality of the figures before I jump into the gameplay. They’re just as well made as the first set of Disney Infinity figures. Very solidly made and beautifully painted. The bulky figures like Thor and Hulk have some weight to them but all figures feel like quality products, which is something that can’t always be said for the types of toys in the NFC gaming genre, for example, I find Skylander figures to be quite cheaply put together. Once scanned into the game, all characters have the same cartoony aesthetic. It’s very well done.

The playset itself is a fun action/adventure brawler where the Avengers are called in to save Manhattan from an eternal winter caused by Loki and M.O.D.O.K teaming up an launching an onslaught of frost giants and robot drones across the city. Whilst I could have done with a bit more variety in terms of enemy type (you get essentially five or six type of villain in this playset), the length of the adventure and relatively high challenge of the enemies meant I wasn’t every really bored of the action.

The gameplay plays out in character missions given out by Nick Fury, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson as in the film franchise. Later in the adventure Lady Sif, The Wasp and Captain Marvel all are additional quest givers. Quests are usually a variant on beat up a group of villains, move the citizens to safety, destroy a piece of evil tech or protect a piece of Avengers tech, and whilst I believe that this would get stale over a long playtime, the diverse powersets of the Avenger characters, and the relatively short playtime meant that I didn’t ever really feel I was doing the same thing over and over again. One of the weird omissions seems to have missions based around car chases/races, but I’m sure that some clever fan will base some Toy Box adventures around these shortly. Similarly, one of the very simple things I enjoyed in the first Disney Infinity was collecting the playset pieces dotted around the map in capsules. It was a very simple gameplay mechanic but it was fun to hunt these down and instantly rewarded your exploration of the playset. These playset pieces are now purchased through an online storefront where you trade in the “sparks” you’ve collected in missions. Bigger and more important playset pieces, like characters or villains, are unlocked as the rewards for completing story missions.

In terms of scripting the dialogue is written by comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis and its all good fun and draws heavily from the cinematic element of these characters. Quest givers are all well voiced and give you a bit of a interaction as you collect missions from them. There were some moments where logic jumps occur, for example, the big bad of the game is norse trickster Loki, as I’ve mentioned, but his introduction as the villain comes without any major introduction or deduction that he is behind the trouble in the city. Suddenly the quest givers are mentioning the battle against Loki, or an assault on his hideout before narratively, we’ve been shown he is the villain. You can sort of forgive this from the fact that this could be deduced by the cold spell on New York and the frost giants, but it does take you out of the story for a little moment. Also, regarding the quest givers, their dialogue sometimes repeats in the middle of a battle which is a bit annoying. Similarly, I felt that it was strange that it didn’t personalise my playthrough in anyway. For example, I got the exact same intro to quest whether I played as Hulk or Black Widow or Iron Man, where it would have been more engaging even if it the default dialogue was just proceeded by a “Tony” or a “Thor”. A little niggle I know.

All of the characters are fun to play as and as Iron Man and Thor in particular it is quite a rush to zoom around the city, strafing in out out of skyscrapers as you move from mission to mission. Cap, Hawkeye, and Natasha all have their ways of getting around too, with motorcycles and hoverbikes introduced quite early on with the latter being much easier to drive. The handling on the motorcycles is really difficult to get the hang of as it much too sensitive so I didn’t find my self hunting down the bike races dotted throughout the city.

Thor checks out the snowy weather at Avengers Tower

Throughout the playset I found myself excited to switch between the characters I’d collected to level them up and unlock new and greater powers, from increased damage from ranged attacks to super jumps, all over the combos and new powers you unlock are fun and you’ll want to level up each of your figures to see all that they can do. Any figures you’ve got from Disney Infinity 1, while they can’t enter the Avengers playset, they now also too structured skill trees which allows some limited progression system. Whilst we’re on the subject of the characters, throughout the Avengers playset there are gold tokens with either Nova or Rocket Racoon’s face on them. Collect 10 of each “crossover coins” and you then unlock the ability to play as as both Rocket Racoon or Nova in the Avengers playset, as long as you’d shelled out for the NFC figure (which, of course, I had!). It’s very clever marketing, I can almost imagine the kids who collect these coins but don’t have the figures so they nag their parents until they get them. You could be cynical of this, but the reference to the other available figures so far in Disney Infinity 2.0 is much more tastefully done than in the first game. There were areas and unlockables in the original game’s playsets that you couldn’t get unless you had each character in the playset, and for some like The Incredibles, that meant shelling out for five figures. Disney Infinity 2.0 so far hasn’t had any of these bits.

Another disappointing aspect of the game so far for me has been the few female characters available to play as in the Disney Infinity 2.0. Whilst the original game was far from perfect in terms of equal gender representation, there were many more female characters available. From the Marvel stable we get Black Widow and Gamora. Yes, Captain Marvel, White Tiger, The Wasp and Lady Sif all appear in the game as support characters, but it would have been nice to see a few more playable female figures. Marvel comics has a huge amount of iconic female characters who have served as Avengers and it would have been great to see them in the game as playable. As cool as Nova was as a crossover character for Avengers I would have much preferred flying around the city as Carol Danvers, and as mighty as Hulk was at smashing through the frost giants, I would have loved to play as the Sensational She-Hulk on the team too. Maybe they’ll introduce some more female superheroes is Disney Infinity 3.0 (along with the rumoured Star Wars playsets).

The playset took me about five to six hours to complete, at which point whilst the mains story was complete, there were still racing, flight and rampage challenges to do throughout the city, and still some flight or jump orbs to pick up too. At the time of completion my characters have levelled up to be between level 8 (Thor and Captain America) to level 5 (Hawkeye, Rocket Racoon and Black Widow) with Hulk, Nova and Iron Man being somewhere in the middle.

I’m looking forward to jumping into the other two playsets (Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimate Spider-Man) and seeing if they have any more to offer. Even if they don’t, these little bite-sized five hour adventures are perfect for the bursts of action and I can’t wait to see what the community introduces with the Toy Box mode of gameplay.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Superheroes released on Friday 19 September 2014 in the UK and is released Tuesday 23 September 2014 in North America. The starter pack including the game, NFC hub, Avengers playset piece, two toy box games and Black Widow / Thor and Iron Man NFC figurines carries a RRP of £59.99 / $79.99. The title is available for PS3, PS4, Wii U, XBOX 360 and XBOX One. Hulk figurine is exclusive to Playstation platforms for 30 days from release. All other figurines are sold separately and available from launch for all devices.

9/11/14 Marvel News Mash-Up

WDWNT Author on September 11, 2014

Guardians Of The Galaxy Becomes This Year’s Highest Grossing Domestic Movie

I definitely was one of the doubters when this movie was first announced. I knew very little about the super hero team that contained a walking tree and a gun crazy talking raccoon and figured Disney was scraping the bottom of the barrel with it’s Marvel properties. Disney took a big risk, casting relatively unknown actors, and an unknown director, but in the end somehow it all worked and paid off. According to Box Office Mojo, Guardians Of The Galaxy (GOTG) has become 2014’s highest grossing movie with a domestic gross of $284 million well on its way to reaching $300 million. It’s foreign gross is $273 million with a cumulative global gross of $557 million. Disney’s next gamble is with Big Hero 6, which is another Marvel property that very few have heard of.

Here are the top 5 domestic grossing movies for 2014 year to date courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

Marvel Not Involved With The Promotion Of Big Hero 6

Speaking of Big Hero 6, if you have seen the trailers and the posters for the movie, the name Marvel is nowhere to be seen, even though this is a Marvel property. Part of the reason is because the movie and the comic book share the name of the team, but very little else. It was decided jointly by Disney and Marvel that the characters from the Big Hero 6 movie would not be part of the Marvel Universe. In the comic, the characters and the overall mood are darker. Two main characters, Sunfire and Silver Samaria, do not appear in the animated movie. These characters have both appeared in the X-Men and Wolverine movies, who’s movie rights are owned by Fox. Recently while being interviewed by Comic Book Resources, Marvel’s Editor in Chief, Axel Alonso, confirmed that there are no plans for a comic book tie in. Alonso said, “The characters and stories that have appeared in our comics are very different from what they are in the film. Releasing material that would be viewed as movie tie-in product would be a disservice to film goers. We wanted the Disney folks to be able to create their own unique style and story, unencumbered by those older stories.” As you can see in the above image, there is a big difference in Disney’s interpretation of the heroes and Marvels original design. Big Hero 6 is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 7th, 2014.

Stan Lee Confirms That A Black Panther Movie Is In The Works

While attending Fan Expo Canada, Stan Lee was available to answer questions regarding a possible Black Widow spinoff movie with Scarlet Johansson. “We haven’t made a Black Widow movie but she’s been in some of our movies, and she will be featured more prominently as we move forward,” Lee said. “And the chances are she will have her own movie because eventually all the superheroes are going to have their own movies. They are already working on Ant-Man, Dr. Strange and the Black Panther and there are others I am not allowed to talk about.” So he kind of let the cat out of the bag that they are indeed working on a Black Panther movie. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the character in 1966 and the Black Panther has the honor of being the very first black super hero to appear in comics. One of the locations that was used in the upcoming movie Avengers: Age of Ultron was an area in South Africa. It’s possible that this could be used to represent the fictional kingdom of Wakanda, which is the kingdom of the Black Panther. In the comics, the Black Panther protects his kingdom from invaders by using his powers that give him animal like characteristics and super human strength. The Black Panther eventually becomes a member of the Avengers. Nothing has been announced but it’s very possible that the Black Panther may make his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

Al Pacino Wants To Be In A Marvel Movie

Recently Al Pacino was attending the Venice Film Festival and declared his love for The Guardians Of The Galaxy movie. Deadline.com was able to interview the actor and he explained to them why he felt that the movie was, in his words, “a most entertaining, inventive, beautiful film.”

Pacino said, “It was not something I would readily go see, but my kids got me to go, and one has to draw the line at where prejudice starts and where it ends — that was good stuff!” He had even more praise: “I recognized the ingenious stuff they were doing; the invention, the attractiveness of the way they were performing it. It had Shakespearian feeling to it at times. I was caught up in the big screen, the great sound…” So, would he do the sequel or another Marvel movie if one were to come his way? “I would do anything that I could understand in terms of how I fit in it. And you know, of course if I could fit in it. Anything’s possible. You know, I did Dick Tracy and I got an Oscar nomination, so come on. I mean, what can I say?”

I was with him until he reminded me of Dick Tracy. Still if they can find a character that he is suited to play, I’m sure it would be fine. Wouldn’t mind hearing him say, “I know it was you, Loki. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!”

Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice Kneels Before Captain America 3

The biggest battle of 2016 was supposed to be who would win the box office when both Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice (BVS) and Captain America 3 were to open on the same day. Originally BVS was to be released in 2015 but due to script issues, it was pushed back to May 6, 2016. After the success of Captain America The Winter Soldier, Disney and Marvel announced that they planned to release their sequel on the same day. So the two big questions were 1) Who was going to win the box office weekend? and 2) Which one would blink first? In this game of Chicken, Captain America won because BVS eventually moved its release date to March 25^th, 2016. Each company wants to make the most bang for their buck and more than likely the release of two big movie on the same day would hurt the box office for one if not both of the movies. If I had to chose who would have won that day, I would have bet the farm on BVS. As much as I love Captain America, it would be a no brainer for me to see BVS first. And even though personally I think that Warner Brothers could have thrown a dart out of the window and struck someone that would be a much better Batman than Ben Affleck, I can guarantee you that I will see that movie at least 3 times. This is the movie that most comic book nerds have been waiting for all of their life. I was kind of hoping that they would go head to head because I really think that Disney/Marvel were going to surprise us and have Captain America 3 be Captain America Vs Iron Man. Maybe.

First Look At Variant Covers Of The New Thor

That girl has some big arms and tiny little legs. This October Marvel will debut the new Thor. Prepare for an all-new era of the God of Thunder as a brand new female hero explodes into the Marvel Universe! The great hammer Mjölnir lies on the surface of the moon, unable to be lifted by anyone in all the heavens – even the Mighty Thor! Something dark has befallen the Thunder God, leaving him unworthy and unable to lift his magic hammer. With an army of Frost Giants invading Earth, the Odinson may not have the strength to stop them – and the hammer will be lifted by an all-new Thor! A mysterious woman unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before!

Marvel Releases Variant Covers To Support Bullying Prevention

Marvel has teamed up with the organization STOMP Out Bullying to help promote anti-bullying awareness. “The center of Marvel’s storytelling history is the eternal struggle between good and evil, with many of its greatest Super Heroes having to contend with — and rise above — bullying, in all its forms,” said Axel Alonso, Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics. “We are proud to join forces with STOMP Out Bullying on its important bullying prevention awareness mission. We hope that all our fans take a moment this month to educate themselves on the need to stop bullying among our youth by checking out the free resources STOMP Out Bullying has to offer.” These special covers will be available in October which is National Bullying Prevention Month.

Amazon And Disney Battle Over Home Video Profits

This story is not necessarily Marvel related but more Disney related. A few months ago, I noticed when the Captain America: The Winter Soldier (CATWS) Blu-ray became available for preorder on various sites, it was not available on Amazon.com

Amazon decided not to accept preorders for Disney titles, including CATWS. Amazon also refused to promote the movie as well as other Disney owned movies. Amazon has had similar disputes with Warner Brothers because they wanted more of the profits from the sale of movies on their site. I usually order my movies through Amazon so it was a bit of a surprise that they were not carrying CATWS but it seems as though it really is only hurting Amazon since most people, including me, preordered from different sites. Similar to what occurred with WB, Amazon made the preorders available for CATWS one week before release. So now you can preorder the title on Amazon but for many its to little to late. Still don’t understand the logic behind it because if a person wants the movie they will get the movie from another retailer. No agreement has been met between Amazon and Disney so expect future titles from Disney like Maleficent not to be available for preorder unless an agreement is made.

I did notice that Marvel.com has a special offer, if you want to call it that. If you preorder or purchase CATWS at Marvel.com you are entitled to order an exclusive plush figure. One for $34.99 or all three for $99.99. They actually look nice but they would be nicer if they were free. Wishful thinking.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be released on various home formats on September 9th, 2014.

That’s all for this week!

Marvel SDCC Roundtable Teases Roadmap for Future of Marvel Cinematic Universe

WDWNT Author on August 1, 2014

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige chaired an intimate roundtable discussion about the future of the cinematic branch of the Marvel universe mere hours before giving fans a peek at the first footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron at San Diego Comic Con this past weekend.

The studio head told lucky journalists present that films have been plotted out for some years to come yet, with Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 just some of the titles been worked upon.

When asked if the recent release dates (announced for currently unnamed properties) were mainly sequels, Feige clarified:

“We’ve only really, really announced through “Ant-Man,” But if you look at 2014 and 2015 — now, let’s hope that “Guardians” succeeds when it opens next week — but I do like the notion of the existing franchise with “The Winter Soldier” that we had this year, doing unexpected things with it. Taking it to new unexpected places, and then, the second movie of the year being an entirely new franchise, entirely new storyline. Next year, we’re doing the same thing with “Age of Ultron” and with “Ant-Man.” And I see that that could continue where it fits.”

Feige also confirmed, that whilst there are no current plans to cameo the characters starring in the co-productions with Netflix currently in pre-production, he admitted that they exist in the same world, so it isn’t an impossibility that they may show up in the coming slew of films from Marvel Studios.

The head of Marvel Studios also confirmed how they choose which of Marvel’s huge roster of characters to move into the cinematic universe. On this, he said:

“I would say it’s a combination, but it ultimately comes down to, what do we think would be cinematic? What do we think would be the kind of movie we want to make? So with “Guardians,” we very much wanted to — you’ve heard me say this before — go to the other side of the cosmic universe. [There is] an amazing amount of outer space-based storylines in our comics, and we only sort of just scratched the surface of that in the other movies. And it felt like time, with “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and our tenth Marvel Studios MCU movie, to do that. That we’d earned the right to say, “Let’s bring a bunch of characters no one’s ever heard of.” If it was just about public consciousness, I’m not sure we would have done half the characters that we’ve done up to this point, and certainly not Guardians. But it’s about what we think the public would be interested in, because it’s what we sort of are interested in as we want to spend two or three years working on a project.”

Mr. Feige also confirmed that as the film juggernaut keeps rolling that the output will increase, with some years having three films hitting cinema screens per year from Marvel Studios, and this, he says, gives them opportunities to highlight new characters.

Marvel Studio’s Guardians of the Galaxy releases Friday 1 August in the US and UK.

The poster to Marvel’s Ant-Man was also released at SDCC