Considering the deeply dull numerical titles of the Iron Man movies, it was feared Marvel would be similarly dull in the titles for their next batch of sequels, but it seems with great success comes greater ambition and the studio are willing to get a little more bold with their titling methods.
First up, with a release in November 2013, is Thor 2 which has been renamed Thor: The Dark World. At a guess I would say this is a reference to Svartalfheim, one of the Nine Realms inhabited by a race of Dark Elves. This realm is ruled by Queen Alflyse, this would allow for a non-Enchantress female villain, if that's the direction they wish to head.
Next, and hitting cinemas April 2014, is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Now this is a lot easier to explain although spoilers are to follow. The story of the Winter Solider involves the return of Cap's old friend Bucky Barnes (played by Sebastian Stan), who apparently fell to his death in the last movie.
For the longest time there was a rule that the only comic characters who can never come back to life are Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy from Spider-Man and Bucky, but now it's down to the Spidey characters to carry the "Dead means dead" banner. Bucky never died, it turns out, but was found by the Russians and reconstructed (he lost an arm) and painstakingly brainwashed to be a Soviet super-assassin.
There's real drama in this confrontation, something really personal, beyond any adversary we have seen in Marvel's franchise before. In the comics, Bucky eventually became the new Captain America once Steve Rogers was assassinated but I doubt Marvel will be that ballsy.
So, let's celebrate the age of cool superhero sequel titles (not including Nolan's Bat films which are in a different league) and hope for more to come in the future; I'm looking at you, Amazing Spider-Man sequel!
To be continued...
Source: Coming Soon
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