Massive Marvel Movie Update – Thanos Cast, BluRay Release Dates and ‘Antman’ Directors!

Today was a huge day for Marvel fans, not only did we get confirmation of who will be playing the Mad Titan, Thanos, but we also got firm release dates for both ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and season 1 of ‘Agents of SHIELD’. On top of all of that goodness we have some new names popping up to replace Edgar Wright as the director of the phase 3 kickstarter, ‘Antman’. 

We’ll start with the biggest news. First rumoured by the red hot El Mayimbe of Latino Review and later confirmed by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, the big, smiling purple dude at the end of ‘The Avengers’ (Thanos) has finally been cast. It will be none other than Josh Brolin who will be voicing the iconic villain in August’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. In addition to the confirmation we also received word that Thanos will show up in ‘Age of Ultron’ in an even larger capacity than GotG. How Joss Whedon will balance an abundance of new heroes and two titanic villains remains to be seen and will certainly be a challenge, but one I am sure Whedon will handle with utmost grace.

Secondly, we have some new names in relation to the upcoming release of ‘Antman’. With Edgar Wright departing the project over creative differences Marvel has been on the look out for able replacements. So far, 4 names have come up to fill that position; Louis D’Esposito (executive producer at Marvel and director of the ‘Agent Carter’ & ‘Item 47’ one-shots), Rawson Thurber (DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, We’re the Millers and Easy A), Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers) and Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less & Gangster Squad). My personal preference out of the above list would be Fleischer, he has a proven track record with action and can balance humour with intelligence. Louis D’Esposito could possibly do a good job, being heavily involved in all aspects of the MCU but stepping up to a full fledged feature is quite a leap from two short films. The other two are strictly comedic directors and while their movies are hilarious I don’t want Antman to become a joke. Out of all of these directors one thing is clear, Marvel is aiming for a more humorous take with ‘Antman’ no matter who they end up going with.

Finally, we finally received concrete details on when ‘The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Agents of SHIELD’ will be hitting retail shelves, September 9th! That is quite a ways away but I’m glad we got legit information on when they will be coming. We were also told, unfortunately, that there will be NO accompanying One-Shot with TWS. I was looking forward to seeing something extra from ‘Thor: The Dark World’ but I guess they considered all of the Asgard centric episodes of SHIELD satisfactory compensation. 

What’s your take on all of this news? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in the moments below and don’t forget to check back in to OTL News for all things Marvel!