Comic book icon Stan Lee made an appearance at Wizard World Comic Con NYC over the weekend, where he confirmed that Marvel projects Black Panther and Doctor Strange are in active development. Here's what he had to say, when asked about Marvel Studios' upcoming slate of projects.

"I'm not involved in those decisions anymore, but the people at Marvel are spending hours trying to think 'What'll we do next?' And there's a damn good chance that they will think just what you mentioned because it would be a great idea, and little by little, everything you want to see will come along because they're just like you. They're fans of the stories and are trying to think 'What will the fans like to see next? What would we like to see next?' So they're working on Ant-Man, working on Doctor Strange; they're working on Guardians of the Galaxy; they're working on god knows what. Did I say the Black Panther also? They're the ones I know about, and they're working on others that I don't know about, and shame on them for not telling me."

Back in June 2012, we reported that Marvel was eyeing Black Panther as its next big franchise, but we haven't heard anything concrete about the project since then. However, Vin Diesel did tease last week that he was asked to take a meeting at Marvel Studios, and while the actor said he didn't know what role he was meeting for, some have speculated it could be for Black Panther. No director has been attached to the project at this time, although writer Mark Bailey signed on to write the script in January 2011.

It is believed that Marvel Studios will announce its upcoming Marvel Phase Three slate at Comic-Con 2013, and we'll have that news as soon as it becomes official.