Marvel started out with a film a year at first, then went up to two, and now they’re set to increase to three.

Marvel announced more release dates for 2017, 2018, and 2019 so here is how that shakes out including all the films we know about from today forward (new dates in bold):

* 1 August 2014 – Guardians of the Galaxy
* 1 May 2015 – Avengers: Age of Ultron
* 17 July 2015 – Ant-Man
* 6 May 2016 – Captain America 3
* 8 July 2016 – Untitled
* 5 May 2017 – Untitled
* **27 July 2017** – Untitled
* **3 November 2017** – Untitled
* **6 July 2018** – Untitled
* **2 November 2018** – Untitled
* **3 May 2019** – Untitled

That’s a lot of movies, but what are they all gonna be? Well 5 May 2017 is almost certainly going to be _Dr. Strange_. That film already has a director attached and there’s all kinds of casting rumours heading into ComicCon next week.

The big question is when will _Avengers 3_ be? If they hold to the current pattern it would land in 2018 which means it would most likely be the 6th July spot. That’s kinda weird though as Avengers and Avengers 2 are both spring releases (and they’re proving to have some other big hits in the spring also). If it’s in July 2018 then they need to fit in a _Thor_ threequel, and a _Guardians of the Galaxy_ sequel and one other thing.

I, for one, am hoping that it’s Ms. Marvel. She’s the strongest of the female superheroes in the Marvel repertoire (both in a _strong character_ and _super strength_ way) and a long time Avenger and since Marvel seems to view all their movies as one big Avengers franchise she makes the most sense. It also makes sense to introduce more characters into the mix as it’s entirely likely that the likes of Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, and Chris Hemsworth may all want to hang up their costumes at some point and Avengers 3 may be the best time to do so (I’m pretty sure their contracts are all up then too).

They could of course push Avenger 3 back to May 2019 and use those extra dates to do just that, too. Then we might get the Black Panther movie we’ve all been waiting for, maybe a Hulk sequel (although there are other rumours about that), or even Ant-Man 2 before Avengers 3 comes out.

Man, it’s an exciting time to be a nerd.

(source: [Marvel](http://marvel.com/news/movies/2014/7/18/22917/the_marvel_cinematic_universe_expands_through_2019))