Other than the revelation that the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are joining Marvel’s The Avengers 2: On The Move, we’ve been a little light in the super awesome comic book movie rumors and news in the past week or so. That’s why it was good that Entertainment Weekly asked the question – is this the end of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man?

RDJ has completed his contract as the billionaire playboy Tony Stark, and he’s not actually under contract to play Iron Man again in the Avengers sequel. Add to that the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow recently told Kevin McCarthy that she doesn’t believe there will be an Iron Man 4 – “I think we’re done with Iron Man” – and there’s not currently a fourth film on the extensive Marvel docket. So what does that mean for Avengers 2?

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Last week, Joss Whedon offered fans at the Glasgow Film Festival some insight into the second phase of Marvel’s The Avengers when he said that we can expect to see “death, death and more death”. Hopefully that didn’t bum you out too much, but if it did I might be able to talk you off the ledge with some new information from Marvel’s President of Production, Kevin Feige, regarding the mysterious Guardians of the Galaxy film.

So far we know that Chris Pratt will play Star-Lord in this story of a cosmic team – featuring a giant tree and a talking raccoon – that keeps the galaxy safe from evildoers like Thanos. Hence, Guardians of the Galaxy. Jesus, you’re slow. Thanks to Feige, we also now know that we’re in for a good, old-fashioned Sci-Fi experience.

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The Marvel Studios Universe is already expected to be quite busy in 2013 and 2014, with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World set for release in May and November (respectively), and Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy set for April and August of 2014. In between those major sequels and Avengers connector films, Marvel is also expected to roll out features for Ant-Man and The Inhumans. There are also still some sketchy rumors that Adam Warlock will be shoehorned somewhere, whether in his own film or as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Of the films that already have release dates, though, Guardians is still the only one with a ton of questions around it, including “Who the hell is going to be in it?” Well, according to Latino Review, Wes Bentley, Chris Lowell and… *sigh* Cam Gigandet were the most recent to read for the centerpiece role of Peter Quill.

But that’s not the news that should concern Marvel fans. Not when Adam Sandler might be involved.

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Now that Marvel has kicked us in the nuts by announcing that we’ll have to wait until 2015 for the Avengers sequel, we have no choice but to hunker down and get by on the excitement of the sequels to the individual character films like Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Thor: Dark World, as well as whatever is happening with The Incredible Hulk. Of course we also have the mysterious Guardians of the Galaxy film now, which lost a little more mystery over the weekend with the announcement that James Gunn will direct.

Gunn, who is not the really annoying fashion guy as I first thought, previously wrote and directed Super, which starred Rainn Wilson as the Crimson Bolt, and because of his “geeky sensibilities” Marvel is convinced he can tell this story well.

Guardians of the Galaxy will be Marvel’s greatest challenge, though, at least throughout these first two phases. It’s primarily a space-set adventure featuring various creatures, including a badass gun-toting racoon. The latest plot synopsis claims the film will be “about a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.” It’s a tough sell, but Gunn is an inspired choice and one we applaud. (Via Movies.com)

As we’ve previously discussed, this is a really ballsy film in general. With this latest news, it just got about 100-times ballsier. I like the story idea – a lost Earth pilot ends up in the middle of a galactic battle – a lot, because it vaguely reminds me of The Last Starfighter, which in turn reminds me of Star Crunch, which is the greatest snack cake ever made.

However, as has been our concern since this film was announced – and despite how people choose to read this – we’re still talking about a movie about a team of alien vigilantes, including a tree man and a talking raccoon. I don’t have a prediction as to how Gunn will do, but no matter how anyone spins this idea to me, I still can’t stop thinking about this…

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I vowed after I wrote a post about how I didn’t know there was a version of Batman with a female Robin – that outraged people because they completely misread it to hilarious results – that I wasn’t going to write another post about comic books being turned into movies again. The lone exception, I swore to myself, would be anything involving Marvel’s The Avengers sequel rumors, because, as I have squealed with nerdish delight over already, I would stab a kitten for an Infinity Gauntlet movie.

Well, someone sharpen my knives, because we’re heading in the right direction. According to /Film…

Marvel Studios was caught purchasing domain names for all kinds of merchandise related to Guardians of the Galaxy, a property that everyone from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige all the way down has admitted was in the works. They’ve even admitted the credits scene of The Avengers was a tease towards that film but nothing had been made official. That will, likely, be the company line until San Diego Comic-Con but Latino Review is exclusively reporting that Guardians of the Galaxy will, in fact, be Marvel’s second 2014 movie.

And it is believed that Guardians of the Galaxy will be its own film in 2014, before the Avengers sequel hits theaters. Obviously, though, with what we learned in the after credits of Avengers, Guardians will be a set-up film for the sequel, as they’ll definitely be involved.

Now, before you start waving your nit-pickity gauntlets in the air, I know that the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Infinity Gauntlet don’t exactly go hand-in-hand. But I want them to so badly that I’m going to just start speculating wildly about what this could mean.

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