'The Avengers' To Re-Assemble In 2015

Oh, "The Avengers" shall once more assemble. Just remember that patience is a virtue.

With the franchise's next three character chapters scheduled, "Guardians of the Galaxy" slated to debut in the interim, and Joss Whedon once more secured to direct and write, Marvel and Disney have penciled in "The Avengers 2" - an unofficial title at this point, of course - to be unleashed upon the world May 1, 2015, Paste reports this morning.

It was never anything but apparent that Marvel would remain committed to the blueprint that helped "The Avengers" rise to third-highest grossing film of all time. Right this very moment, production is in full swing on "Iron Man 3," slated to debut May 3, 2013. Later that same year, "Thor: The Dark World" will hit theaters Nov. 15. Five months after the "Thor" follow-up, comes "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which is set to go into production some time after the filming of "The Dark World." Later that year, "Guardians of the Galaxy" debuts Aug. 1 in theaters everywhere.

Of course, in the meantime, there's also Edgar Wright's development of "Ant-Man" to come together in the interim at whatever pace it will.

"The Avengers 2" having a date raises some interesting implications for rival DC Universe aspirations. With Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" to arrive in 2013 to once more attempt a Superman renaissance and "Man of Steel" producer Christopher Nolan having now completed his Batman tour of duty with "The Dark Knight Rises," talk has turned increasingly to the strategy for developing a rival Justice League team-up to theoretically run neck-and-neck with "The Avengers."

Had there been a definitive road map yet in play, DC and Warner Bros. envoys would've probably made some show-stopping announcement at July's San Diego Comic-Con. The surest sign so far that there's definite intent to see through a big DC team-up has been this past week's stories that "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town" director - not to mention, "Good Will Hunting" screenplay Oscar co-winner - Ben Affleck has been in talks to direct.

OK, so Warner Bros. may or may not have an interested directing prospect.  Gee, that leaves naught but the following to accomplish in the next three years to crank out an epic-scale Justice League movie in time to compete in 2015 with "The Avengers" the way "The Dark Knight Rises" ran head-to-head-to-head this summer with "The Avengers" and "The Amazing Spider-Man":

• With Nolan's "The Dark Knight Legend" now closed, reboot the Batman franchise again.
• Guarantee that "Man of Steel" doesn't go the way of "Superman Returns" and become another pockmark on that property.
• Make up ground lost with how badly 'Green Lantern" was received.
• Finally, after years in Development Hell, see a Wonder Woman feature completely through.
• Bring The Flash successfully to the big screen.

Honestly? That's but a bare minimum. What makes it really tricky, is that "The Avengers" not only introduced so many individual characters through their own features, but did so with five undeniably successful releases.

Well, to that point, DC is starting behind the 8-ball based on the "Green Lantern" tanking alone.