Marvel movies have quickly become among the hottest commodities in the entertainment industry. What makes Marvel movies so unique is the fact that they are all interconnected through a shared cinematic universe. While every movie can stand on it’s own merits, the fact that they are all related to one another serves to enhance the experience for moviegoers. The shared universe of Marvel movies allows for grander story telling, more compelling character development, and an overall experience that cannot be matched by any single movie.

The next Marvel movie scheduled to be released is “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” set to premier on May 1st, 2015. If the reaction from the first trailer released is any indication, this film is going to be a huge hit for Marvel Studios. The sequel to the massively successful Avengers, Age Of Ultron tells the tale of artificial intelligence gone wrong. Although details are still sketchy, it appears as if the story revolves around a failed attempt by Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, at creating a robotic peace keeping force. The trailer drops major hints as Captain America’s shield is shown broken, and there is a brief glimpse of Thor dropping his hammer, apparently in defeat. Although the details of the film may still be sketchy one thing is for sure, it’s going to be a record setting hit.

After the blockbuster follow up to the Avengers, the next Marvel movie to be released is “Ant-Man”. With a release date of July 17th, 2015, this is one of the few Marvel movies that doesn’t seem to be guaranteed to be a hit. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the film, Marvel’s hiring of Paul Rudd, and the legendary Michael Douglas shows that they are fully committed to making this film a success. Following the exploits of a superhero that can shrink to the size of an ant, the film promises to be visually stunning while also offering a compelling story. Even though there may be doubts surrounding this film, if we’ve learned anything about Marvel movies it’s that we should never doubt them.

While there may be some doubt about “Ant-Man”, the next Marvel movie, “Captain America: Civil War” promises to be the kind of summer blockbuster that Marvel has become known for. Scheduled for release on May 6th, 2016, the latest Captain America film made headlines when it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. would be joining the cast playing the role of Iron Man. Immediately upon the announcement that Iron Man would be a major part of the film speculation began that it would be a cinematic take on the immensely popular Civil War story line from Marvel comics. The speculation became fact once the full title of the film was released, and Marvel fans were immediately driven into a frenzy. In the comic story line the basic synopsis was that Iron Man backed a proposal that stated that all superhumans had to register with the government, and Captain America opposed him. If the movie is anything like the comic story, it promises to deliver great action, suspense, and excitement.

After these next 3 films there are a lot of other Marvel movies planned and announced in the next several years. In addition to a third Avengers film, a sequel to “Guardians of the Galaxy“, and a third Thor film, Marvel has also announced “Captain Marvel“, “Dr. Strange“, “Inhumans“, and “Black Panther” films. While the continuation of it’s proven movie properties is reason for excitement, the launching of new properties has created quite a buzz as well.

“Inhumans” promises to be a pivotal movie in the Marvel cinematic universe because it will expose moviegoers to the concept of Inhumans. Introduced on the television series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, Inhumans are the result of experiments performed by the alien Kree upon primitive humanity. Inhumans are an important part of the Marvel cinematic universe because it allows the movie studio to introduce a race of superhumans. This is important because Marvel is not allowed to use mutants in any of their films because they sold the rights to X-men to Fox. “Captain Marvel” will likely introduce a hero who has ties to the Kree as well. Since Ronan, the main villain from “Guardians of the Galaxy” was Kree, this serves to tie Marvel’s earthbound movies to it’s space based properties.

While “Inhumans” will introduce the public to a hidden race of superhumans, “Dr. Strange” will delve into the world of magic. While the Thor films featured so called gods, they were gods whose abilities appeared to be based upon highly advanced technology. Dr. Strange is known as the sorcerer supreme, and promises to reveal the mystical side of the Marvel cinematic universe. Rounding out the new properties is “Black Panther”, a film that will tell the story of T’Challa, king of the fictional nation of Wakanda.

Marvel movies have redefined what movies are capable of delivering in terms of entertainment. While there have been film properties in the past that have had multiple sequels, never before have so many films inhabited the same fictional universe. Marvel movies set a new standard for moviegoers expectations, and it is a standard that all other movie studios are struggling to catch up to.