Today we bring you a round-up of the behemoth that is Marvel Studios, so prepare yourselves for loads of coverage, images, trailers, rumors, spoilers, and news on projects such as the AVENGERS DVD, IRON MAN 3, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, THOR: DARK WORLD, CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER, ANT-MAN, and beyond! There’s even a Dr. Strange sighting!!

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

If you’ve been following the news regarding WINTER SOLDIER, you’re probably as excited as I am. Bucky is going to return as an evil Soviet spy based on a story by Ed Brubaker that kept me in comics for a few years. It sounds like a good portion of the film will take place in WWII years, meaning we may have a chance to see Peggy Carter (above) once again, who was played by Hayley Atwell. She was, of course, a love interest for Chris Evans’ Cap, although he would go on to disappoint her by ditching their planned rendezvous for a date with an ice block.

In the comics, Cap begins a relationship with her daughter, Sharon Carter, in present times (eww or awesome? you decide). Rumors have arisen that perhaps Hayley Atwell will play Sharon, but in an interview with Bleeding Cool, she had this enigma of a sentence to say: “I can’t say yet because it hasn’t been officially released, and Marvel is very protective of their franchise.” I would give a patented Dandy Andy guarantee that we have not seen the last of Atwell in the franchise, and aside from AVENGERS 2, this is probably the movie I’m most excited for in Phase 2 of Marvel’s plan to take over the universe (are we sure Skrulls haven’t assumed control?).

CAP 2 comes out April 4th, 2014 and is directed by the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe. Look for Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson (AKA the FALCON!!!), Sebastian Stan reprising his role as Bucky Barnes, Chris Evans as Captain America, and perhaps Atwell.

THE WOLVERINE

Okay, so Wolverine is coming from FOX and not Marvel Studios, but he’s a Marvel character, so sue me (please don’t). We have the first image of Rila Fukushima as Yukio [Comic Book Movie], an assassin hired to kill Logan who ends up falling for him and loving his killing side. It’s not much unless you dig red hair (check!).

Judo fans, unite! 7-time World Judo Champion and Olympic Silver Medalist Naoya Ogawa has been spotted on the set of the Wolvy sequel, leading to speculation that he plays a member of The Hand, an evil ninja syndicate deep in the depths of organized crime.

THE WOLVERINE snikt’s his way on screen July 26th, 2013, with Hugh Jackman, Brian Tee, Will Yun Lee, and bundles of Japanese actors.

ANT-MAN

Hey kids! More (non) news on ANT-MAN, the little Marvel movie that could/should/maybe-won’t/maybe-will/we-don’t-know has an update. With the announcement that CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER begins filming in March (following IRON MAN 3 this past June and THOR: DARK WORLD), it leaves a gap in the Marvel Studios production schedule for, possibly, ANT-MAN. ScreenRant has the goods, and the rumor has circulated because it meshes well with director Edgar Wright’s schedule, who posited that he could begin shooting when THOR ended production and after his work on THE WORLD’S END. It’d be nice if Marvel actually played it straight with us on Ant-Man, but they probably love watching us squirm. If this is indeed the case, that they plan to squeeze the little guy in between Cap 2 and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, we’d need to see some serious casting work fast.

Aside from a screenplay by Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright on task to helm the picture, we’ve got nothing else at this point. Hopefully more to come soon!

IRON MAN 3

For the next Marvel movie, and the only one without a fun (Winter Soldier) or not so fun (Dark World) subtitle, we have some possibly big spoilers. For huge fans of the franchise, the innumerable sets of armor have been increasingly difficult to track. According to Latino Review, it’ll get a lot tougher in IRON MAN 3.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD….

The last Iron Man armor that we saw is the Mark VII that helped take down the Chitauri in AVENGERS. We already know that Tony Stark will be unveiling the Extremis enhancements in the 3rd film (and the Iron Patriot will be the War Machine update) that will enable him to control the armor. Now, it seems that the armor (above) we all saw at Comic-Con (or saw pictures of, sniffle), is actually the Mark XLVII (47!). Here is the explanation:

The Extremis-enhanced bad guys under direction of Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin villain are going to be too much for Tony to handle on his own, so he thinks ahead, thinks big and has a plan. Tony’s about to go out and fight some bad guys when he mentions the Mark XLVII to Pepper Potts. Pepper asks what happened to the other forty and Tony just smiles.

From the cockpit of Mark XLVII Tony is able to control multiple armors in battle. We over here at LR have been vaguely aware of an action scene where Tony was going to control multiple Iron Man suits (presumably they look similar to distract his enemies as to the location of kill-able Iron Man Prime), but the number 40 seems…awesome. 40 Iron Men.

Um, wow. I really wish I hadn’t read that. But it sounds so freakin’ awesome. The Shane Black film comes out May 3rd, 2013, with Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, James Badge Dale, Ben Kingsley, Wang Xueqi, Guy Pearce, William Sadler, Ashley Hamilton, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, and Dale Dickey along for the ride. Whew. Maybe I can’t choose what Marvel movie I’m waiting for the most.