--- description: The studio's president said that Marvel is already looking ahead to 2028 title: Captain America 2 The Winter Soldier and Marvel Movies Long-Term Plan image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fc88c1c3c83eda2/698688f0adae4432a954259c/140404-capt.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Marvel's Revolutionary, Superhero-Sized Long-Term Plan  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 4, 2014 4:23 PM CUT  This image released by Marvel shows Chris Evans, left, and Scarlett Johansson in a scene from "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." (AP Photo/Marvel-Disney) This image released by Marvel shows Chris Evans, left, and Scarlett Johansson in a scene from "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." (AP Photo/Marvel-Disney)Marvel/AP  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 4, 2014 4:23 PM CUT _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ is still just the tip of the iceberg. In [_Bloomberg BusinessWeek_‘s new in-depth profile of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige](http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/192619-kevin-feige-marvels-superhero-at-running-movie-franchises "undefined"), the studio exec tells writer Devin Leonard that one secret to the already-extensive list of Marvel movies — like _The Avengers_ and _Thor_ and _Iron Man_ — is the way they’re interconnected; each success can introduce potential fans to a lesser-known character, who can then receive his or her own movie. That means there are a _lot_ of movies left to be made: Feige says that the most recent planning map for future Marvel films already stretches a full 14 years into the future, to a date nearly two decades after Disney’s 2009 purchase of Marvel. Some of those films are already on the docket (_Guardians of the Galaxy_ and _Ant-Man_ and _Avengers: Age of Ultron_, to name a few), but Marvel Studios and Disney have been turning out films at a rate of about five every three years. If that pace continues, the coming years could see about 25 more films. Feige tosses off that factoid as a side example of the studio’s planning strategy, and the _BusinessWeek_ piece ends up focusing more on his career and Marvel’s relationship to Disney — plus, obviously, having a plan doesn’t mean those movies will _actually_ all make it to theaters. Still, taking Feige’s timeline at face value, Marvel _will_ be doing something kind of revolutionary. Though individual characters may have a modest two or three sequels each, Feige’s perspective makes it clear that the Marvel Studios universe is really one huge franchise, unified by a specific timeline and inter-character relationships that are meant to hold true from one picture to the next, even when a different hero gets top billing. That’s how the studio manages to make bank on superheroes who have relatively tiny comics-based fandoms. That massive reach means, for one thing, the _Avengers_\-et-al set is likely to surpass James Bond and become the [largest continuous franchise in Hollywood history](http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchises/sort/No "undefined"). Beyond that, Marvel is a different beast than Bond. It’s closer to _Star Wars_ or _Star Trek_, but on a much grander scale. For 007, as for other franchise superstars like Superman or Jason Voorhees, each movie is a moment on a linear timeline centered on one person or group. For Marvel, a franchise is a web rather than a line. There’s still linear continuity and a strict canon, but they’re working with a universe rather than a plot-line. Having this kind of plan, one that reaches that far into the future, isn’t necessarily a good thing — maybe we’ll all be bored of superheroes in a few years, and Marvel will be up a creek. But, new as this structure may be, it’s also somewhat beyond their control. This specific character universe is the whole reason the studio exists — which also means that, if the mega-franchise concept continues to work as well as it has recently, even 2028 is unlikely to be its end. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/49703/captain-america-marvel-plan-2028/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/49703/captain-america-marvel-plan-2028/"},"headline":"Marvel's Revolutionary, Superhero-Sized Long-Term Plan","datePublished":"2014-04-04T16:23:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:08:29.889Z","description":"The studio's president said that Marvel is already looking ahead to 2028","url":"https://time.com/49703/captain-america-marvel-plan-2028/","keywords":["movies","Hollywood","Marvel","Disney","Captain America","comic books","Superheroes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fc88c1c3c83eda2/698688f0adae4432a954259c/140404-capt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fc88c1c3c83eda2/698688f0adae4432a954259c/140404-capt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Captain America The Winter Soldier","caption":"Captain America The Winter Soldier","creditText":"Marvel/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/49703/captain-america-marvel-plan-2028/","name":"Marvel's Revolutionary, Superhero-Sized Long-Term Plan"}}]}] ```