Although Captain America: The Winter Soldier won’t hit theaters until April 4, Marvel Studios seems to have enough faith in the film to both move ahead with a third, and bring back the 2014 film’s directors, according to a report from Variety. Marvel has yet to officially confirm a third Captain America film is in the works (and it likely won’t for a while), but The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo have reportedly been approached to return to the franchise to helm the next film in the series.
The studio and the directors won’t actually begin negotiations until Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters (and is presumably deemed a financial success). It does, however, show a remarkable amount of confidence, both in the Russo brothers and in the film itself.
The majority of the stars that appear in Captain America: The Winter Soldier are signed on for at least three films or more, so casting shouldn’t be an issue. Marvel hasn’t gotten to the point where it is looking to hire writers, but Marvel and the Russos are said to be discussing a general outline for the story of the third film. As with the other Captain America films, Kevin Feige will produce and Chris Evans will star.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier marks only the fourth feature film the Russos have directed since 1997. The brothers have directed several TV shows though, both as a team and individually. The film is based on the Eisner Award-winning writer Ed Brubaker’s run in the comics, which introduced the complicated character of the Winter Soldier. Explaining more about the character would be a spoiler, but the film will continue to build on what we’ve seen of Cap so far, both in his solo movie and The Avengers.
A date hasn’t been mentioned for the third Captain America film, but Marvel has already staked out May 6, 2016, and May 5, 2017 for two as-yet-unnamed films.
