Iron Man 4 seems like it's a given at some point, especially now post AHTK(that one shot is a promise to the fans), although I enjoyed IM3, villain and all for what it was, I can't say I'm not a little excited and looking forward to seeing where they go with that. It's interesting that it's listed on this survey, because I don't recall anyone seriously mentioning IM4 as being one of potential phase 3 films. Honestly I'd prefer they save IM4 till phase 4, maybe because of the whole "4" could be a brilliant marketing tie-in for both the return of the solo Iron man and that the over story arcs are in the fourth phase.
The one thing that kinda worries me about this survey is that it's clearly from Disney with the inclusion of Maleficent alongside Guardians. While I'm happy that I'd say perhaps, or hopefully all of the Marvel films listed are locked or in the pipeline of development, I can't help but wonder if this is Disney trying amass ammunition to dictate to the Marvel Producers which films are released and when or even an attempt to pressure the producers away from new properties like Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Inhumans to instead having them focus on churning out 4, 5, and 6 installments of all the "bankable" established series/characters/franchises.
I really hope TWS continues to perform well and foreshadow the unreleased original films GOTG/Ant Man. TWS has an outside chance of hitting $300 mill domestic with north of $250 mill likely since it's summer and for the most part the WOM is good. But still aside from Avengers right now only IM has what I would call a lock for $300 mill dom and if Disney thinks that they'll make more $$$ churning out IM and Avengers films then that's where we'll see the focus shift away from new original properties. I hope this doesn't mean that characters like Strange, Black Panther might get forced into AoS or TV/Netflix rather than get their own cinematic adaptions. While I know some might actually prefer TV series type storytelling format for some characters, I like/prefer my feature length movies and film series.
Perhaps my anxieties are completely unfounded and I'm reading way too much into a harmless survey. I guess this is a good way to voice my concerns. One good thing I think we'll probably be hearing a lot more about Phase 3 aside from Ant man/Cap 3 real soon. In fact I'd say the survey probably indicates that the powers that be are finalizing just exactly what we are going to get in phase 3. I'd honestly say I'd prefer Doctor Strange or Black Panther before getting IM4. But this is Disney and if they see IM4 as guarantee $300mill vs. DS or BP unproved and perhaps if their lucky might crack $200mill dom, it's obvious which films we'll see.
I hope my concerns are wrong and things like Strange and Panther do very well. Hopefully they can expand to three films a year at least. We got some good talent handling these franchises so I don't think quality will be an issue, at least with Avengers and Cap. The only thing holding them back from three films a year was getting the foundations of the MCU off the ground and establishing interconnecting series. Kinda like the comics. Now with Whedon/Avengers, The Russo Bros. and writers Markus and Freely with a good handle on Cap's course and GOTG with Gunn and Ant Man with Wright, I feel the future of the MCU is exciting indeed. The creative teams for the the different titles/characters are falling into place. I just hope Disney doesn't try to manipulate things too much. I have faith in what Marvel Studios is doing.