Marvel Scoops Up a May 2018 Release Date

Marvel Studios scooped up the May 4, 2018, release date vacated earlier Wednesday by Sony's move of The Amazing Spider-Man 3, adding a third 2018 date to its already busy schedule.

The May 4, 2018, release date now becomes the obvious date for The Avengers 3. With a three-year gap between The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2018 seemed like the likely date for the third Avengers movie, but Marvel only had July and November dates on its 2018 calendar.

So here's what Marvel's upcoming calendar looks like:

May 1, 2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron
July 17, 2015: Ant-Man
May 6, 2016: Captain America 3
July 8, 2016: Doctor Strange
May 5, 2017: TBA
July 28, 2017: TBA
Nov. 3, 2017: TBA
May 4, 2018: TBA (Avengers 3?)
July 6, 2018: TBA
Nov. 2, 2018: TBA
May 3, 2019: TBA

Besides The Avengers 3, possibilities for those seven unnamed movies include Thor 3, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Black Panther, Inhumans, Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, a Hulk sequel and a standalone Thanos movie. With Robert Downey Jr. talking about holding onto the role of Tony Stark, there's even a chance Iron Man 4 could be one of those dates.

With Marvel Studios set for its big Comic-Con presentation on Saturday night, we should get some clarity on a few of these dates shortly.