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After The Avengers grossed almost $1.5 billion worldwide, it should come as no surprise that Joss Whedon will be returning to write and direct the sequel. You can’t have the Monsters without Big-Head Todd, I always say. The second installment is currently set for Summer 2015. Assuming we have a summer then, and not some nuclear winter that lasts all year. A lot can happen between now and then, is all I’m saying.
Disney also confirmed Whedon will be involved in the development of the previously-mentioned “Avengers” television series on ABC. The connection to the theatrical franchise is expected to be light, but it was the show would carry over the “themes and feel” of the franchise and feature lesser-known Marvel characters.
The Avengers 2 will arrive after a long line of Marvel films add to the ongoing franchise of Avengers-related features already slated to hit theaters over the next few years.
The second wave of Avengers franchise films will begin with Iron Man 3 on May 3 with Shane Black directing. After thatThor: The Dark World is slated to hit theaters on November 8, 2013. Captain America: The Winter Soldier puts Chris Evans back in action with Joe and Anthony Russo directing for an April 14, 2014 release. On August 1, 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy, arrives.
Rumor has it Guardians of the Galaxy will feature the team fighting an evil race called the Badoom, and in the process they would supposedly travel back in time and cross paths with some of the Avengers team. Guardians of the Galaxy is expected to serve as a precursor to The Avengers 2. [RopeofSilicon]
When you make as much money as Joss Whedon did with The Avengers, the studio tends to make you offers you can’t refuse (and rightly so – can you imagine Brett Ratner taking over instead?). Hell, Chris Nolan made three Batman movies, and that’s Chris Nolan. He has to have artistic integrity, he’s English. If Whedon was even considering bailing, you better believe Marvel was showering him anything he wanted. Enormous hats made of the finest silks. Fine sports cars with custom roofs and doors. Free neck strengthening classes. They may have even dangled the ultimate carrot: an antidote to the nerve tonic he drank as a child. He searched for years, eventually coming to believe that it didn’t exist. But… could it really be?