'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Will Be A Standalone Film Set "95% In Space"; Phase Two Will Explore Different Genres

Despite the presence of characters like Thor and Loki, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has mostly been grounded in an Earthbound reality. But Phase Two seems to be taking a more otherworldly bent, with Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy on the table.

We've already seen how Marvel Studios does Asgard thanks to the first Thor, but Guardians promises to take us into a whole new corner of the MCU. According to studio head Kevin Feige, Guardians will be set "95% in space." And yes, that means we won't see much of the Avengers out there. Hit the jump to read his comments.

I wouldn't say that in a broad sense. The Thor film and the Guardians Of The Galaxy film certainly are cosmic. Guardians and Thor will take the brunt of the cosmic side of the universe, particularly Guardians, which is 95% in space.

Moving the action away from Earth could prove tricky — just see John Carter or Green Lantern for examples of what happens when outer space movie travel goes awry. But Marvel's track record is a good reason to be optimistic.

Whereas all five films of Phase One came together in The Avengers, Feige added that Guardians wouldn't be as integral to The Avengers 2.

It's much more of a standalone film. It takes place in the same universe. And when we've been on the other side of that universe in other movies, you might see those characteristics in Guardians, but the Avengers are not involved with what's happening out there at this time.

But outer space isn't all Phase Two will be about. Feige's also excited about the more personal focus of the other Phase Two films, and the opportunity they offer to experiment with the typical comic book movie mold.

I think Iron Man 3 shows the other side of Phase 2, which is delving deeper into the characters. Throwing them on a much more personal journey. And Captain America will showcase... What's exciting to me about Cap – sort of about Iron Man 3 too if you look at it – is it's tonally almost like a different genre. Shane Black's described Iron Man 3 as a Tom Clancy sort of political thriller, which I like a lot. We hired our directors on Cap because they loved our explanation that we really want to make a '70s political thriller masquerading as a big superhero movie. Just like with the first film – we got Joe Johnston because we said, 'We want to do a '40s World War Two movie masquerading as a big superhero movie.' I love that we're doing a sequel to a film that's a completely different genre than the first film. I think that's fun. And the comics do it all the time.

Setting up a single, cohesive Marvel Cinematic Universe was a wildly ambitious idea to begin with, and now that the gamble has paid off it's great to see they're not just resting on their laurels. Marvel's drive to keep trying new things and exploring new worlds is what keeps fans excited, even after half a dozen films.