'Captain America 3' to face off against 'Batman vs. Superman'

 

When Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige asserted that the studio wasn't abandoning the May 6, 2016 release spot to WB's Batman vs. Superman only yesterday, one wondered about what their film would challenge WB's behemoth, short of Avengers 3 or Iron Man 4.

THR now reports that pic will be Captain America 3, which had only just retained the Russo brothers and writers Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely to return to direct and write. Zack Snyder's film, in comparison is deep in pre-production and begin filming in a few weeks. While some die-hard fanboys like to cry, "But Marvel staked that date FIRST!", Marvel didn't state what their film was at the time. Had they announced it right off the bat, WB would've likely stayed away. The news also smacks of Marvel letting the news out to 'encourage' WB to move off "their" date.

Production-wise, Zack Snyder's film has the advantage. The casting news and the novelty of the concept is something no studio could buy -- free publicity. Captain America 3 won't be ready to go into production until late this year, at the earliest. Time will tell which studio will blink, but my money's on Marvel moving Captain America 3 to April 2016.