Comic Con News:  At the Marvel Studios panel at Comic-Con, Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige confirmed that a Guardians of the Galaxy film was indeed in development (see "'Guardians of the Galaxy' Movie”), and that it will be released on August 1st, 2014, confirming speculation that Marvel would release the Guardians film in 2014 leading up to the release of The Avengers 2 (see "'Guardians of the Galaxy' in 2014").  Speaking of The Avengers sequel, Joss Whedon is still undecided about helming it, though he seems a bit more positive in his Comic-Con interviews.

 

Marvel also announced the titles for its Captain America and Thor sequels.  The Captain America sequel will be entitled Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and will debut on April 4th, 2014.  The title is a clear indication that Marvel is using Ed Brubaker's award-winning Winter Soldier storyline as the basis for the film.  The Thor sequel, Thor: The Dark World, which is being directed by Alan Taylor, will unspool for the first time on November 15th, 2013. 

 

Shane Black, director of Iron Man 3 was at the panel along with Robert Downey, Jr., Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau.  Black showed footage from IM3 which provided the first glimpse of Ben Kingsley, who is as many have speculated, dressed as The Mandarin.  Kingsley’s Mandarin and Guy Pearce actually blew up Tony Stark’s Cliffside Malibu mansion in the footage shown at the panel.