Kevin Feige Says Don't Expect More Phase Three Announcements 'Til 2014

Part of the reason Marvel's done so fantastically well with their Cinematic Universe is that they've been very good about planning ahead. Remember, the first seeds for 2012's The Avengers were sown all the way back in 2008's Iron Man. But there's a limit to how far even they want to think ahead, or at least what they're willing to talk about.

We know exactly what's coming in Phase Two, which will culminate in 2015 with Avengers: Age of Ultron. For Phase Three, on the other hand, only Ant-Man has been confirmed so far. And studio head Kevin Feige says it'll stay that way for at least another year. Hit the jump to read his comments.

"Well, it's only 2013 now," he said. "But I think it would probably be, at the earliest, a year from now." The focus is primarily on Phase Two for right now, as evidenced by the fact that there was no Phase Three stuff revealed at last week's San Diego Comic-Con. Not even Ant-Man made an appearance this year.

Still, combining rumor and common sense, we can make a few educated guesses about what those films might be. Doctor Strange is likely to be one of them, along with possible sequels to Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. A Mark Ruffalo Hulk also seems like a possibility.

Don't hold your breath for an Iron Man 4 any time soon, though, or at least not one with Robert Downey Jr.

I've said it before and it wasn't negotiating tactics. I believe Tony Stark is as strong a character as Batman. We're about to head into our fifth or sixth Batman – however, you wanna look at it – James Bond, etc. So, there will absolutely be future Tony Starks and future Iron Mans. Who makes those movies, and when those movies are made, who knows? I don't know. But, the notion with Robert's contract in The Avengers 2 & 3, is to allow new characters. Part of what we love about The Avengers is the shifting roster. That's what's fun about the comic book movies. You shift them up. So, certainly that was a lot of the thought process that went into it.

So sorry, Marvel fans, it'll be some time before you can get your 2016 and 2017 movie-watching schedule figured out. Fortunately, there'll be plenty of other stuff to keep us busy between now and them, including this year's Thor: The Dark World, next year's Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, and 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron.