Marvel Studios kicks off Phase II of its movie slate this summer with Iron Man 3, followed by Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and closing out with The Avengers 2 in 2015. The studio is not wasting any time with the next phase of their development slate, with producer Kevin Feige confirming that Ant-Man will be the first movie in Phase III.

"Ant-Man is definitely part of Phase Three. Like Iron Man 3, it's certainly set in the Marvel Universe, but it's also through the lens of Edgar Wright - which is the only reason we're making the movie. I've known Edgar since our first lunch together at Comic-Con in 2004. He asked me what Marvel was doing with Ant-Man - we weren't even a studio then; what a difference eight years makes! It's very much an Ant-Man origin movie from the perspective of Edgar Wright and his co-writer Joe Cornish. It will of course be firmly planted in the MCU, but a different corner than we've seen before."

We reported in October that Ant-Man was given a November 6, 2015 release date. Kevin Feige also teased how the beloved Phase I characters will be evolving in new and intriguing ways throughout Phase II.

"So much of the stories we're telling [right now] is about the core 'Avengers' characters we've now met, and they'll be evolving in big, surprising ways, in Cap's next movie and Thor's next movie and of course in Iron Man 3, as we get them all into the next Avengers film. Beyond that, Ant-Man is the only one officially announced, but you probably don't have to look too far to guess at the next list of characters we're toying with and beginning to develop."

When pressed what other characters are being developed for Phase III, Kevin Feige confirmed that Doctor Strange is one of them.

"Doctor Strange, which I've been talking about for years, is definitely one of them. He's a great, original character, and he checks the box off this criteria that I have: he's totally different from anything else we have, just like Guardians of the Galaxy. He's totally different from anything we've done before, as is Ant-Man, which keeps us excited."