Captain America: The Winter Soldier will steer the franchise away from straightforward action territory into the realm of "political thriller", at least according to Marvel chief, Kevin Feige.
When discussing the longevity of superhero movies, Feige suggested that the genre had scope for various sub-categories, and explained how Cap's next outing will fit into that structure.
"If it is a fad, it's one that lasts 30 to 40 years, as the Western did, because each [ film ] is so different," says Feige. "There's an opportunity to graft almost sub-genres onto them."
"Our first Captain America film was a World War II picture," explains Feige, warming to his theme, "and the next is a political thriller." Just how the plot will fit into that genre remains to be seen, but it sounds an interesting direction for the series.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and co-starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier will open in the UK on 4 April 2014.
