Doctor Strange and Black Panther films are currently in development, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed Monday.
Feige told Movies.com that the studio is trying to figure out when to release Doctor Strange .
“ Doc Strange , as I’ve been saying for years, is a movie I believe we should make — we’re just figuring out how to make it a great movie. It is in active development right now,” Feige said.
“Whether that’s one of the movies we announce for 2016 or 2017, we have to see. I think it’ll be the middle of next year before we announce officially what the post- Ant-Man films will be,” he added.
In a separate interview with BlackTree TV , Feige said, “In terms of Black Panther , it’s absolutely in development. And when you have something as rich as Wakanda and his back story… and clearly vibranium has been introduced in the universe already.”
Feige added, “I don’t know when it will be exactly, but it’s certainly… we have plans to bring it to life someday.”
Both Doctor Strange and Black Panther would be part of Marvel’s Phase Three films, which kicks off with Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man on July 31, 2015. In July, it was rumored that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was being eyed for the lead role in Doctor Strange . JGL had previously been rumored for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy , the last of Marvel’s Phase Two films, but that role went to Chris Pratt.
In April, Morris Chestnut dropped a hint suggesting that Black Panther could show up in The Avengers: Age of Ultron before he gets his own movie.
In addition to Doctor Strange and Black Panther , Kevin Feige said there was a possibility that a female superhero movie could be on its way. He pointed to Thor ‘s Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and Iron Man 3 ‘s Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as examples of strong female heroes within existing films. He also said Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) will have her biggest role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier .
“In terms of a solo stand-alone female hero, I’m not sure when that will be,” Feige said. “We make two movies a year, we’ve planned through 2015 and we have some ideas of what we’re doing in 2016 and 2017, so we’ll see what happens.”