LINK: What's Next for Marvel Movies?

Avi Arad, Marvel's chairman and CEO, spoke with MTV.com about where several of the companies nearly 5,000 characters stand with regards to movie prospects, ranging from X-men 3 to Captain America to Cloak & Dagger.

• X-Men 3: Regarding Jean Grey's possible evolution at the end of the last movie, however, Arad says, "Dark Phoenix should not be the centerpiece of the movie."
  
• Wolverine: "2007/2008" film with Wolverine ("Totally different, just Wolverine's journey").
  
• Ghost Rider: Scheduled for August 2006, Arad refers to it as a "morality tale," and that it will have a PG-13 rating and a "Southern rock" soundtrack and ethos.
  
• Spider-Man 3: Due in theaters in May 2007, Arad confirmed that Dylan Baker will return as Dr. Curt Connors.
  
• The Punisher: Jigsaw will be the villain and it will be rated R. "[In the first movie,] blood and intestines should have been blown out on the wall, because that's the Punisher."
  
• The Hulk: "It's no secret, we took a lot of sh-- for Ang Lee's 'Hulk,' for all the wrong reasons... We couldn't get into the curiosity thing. Hulk having a butterfly land on his hand? He would never [smash it]. The Hulk would be curious. He is like a baby, in a way."
  
• Elektra: "I think Elektra is on ice now... If we could do her à la the 'Sin City' idea -- whoa."
  
• Captain America: "Captain America is the most famous character out there, by name. The biggest opportunity with him is as a man 'out of time,' coming back today -- looking at our world through the eyes of someone who thought the perfect world was small-town America. Sixty years go by, and who are we today? Are we better? I have a writer, and I have someone in mind to be the star, and I definitely have someone in mind to be the director."
  
• Iron Man: "It's been a war with [co-producers] New Line Cinema. I had a four-hour meeting with Nick Cassavetes in my house. If everything is cool, in the next few weeks there'll be an announcement about Nick writing it."
  
• Black Widow: "It's going to be ['X-Men' writer] David Hayter's directorial debut. David is very imaginative. Actually, his firstborn is named Natasha, so we think he is committed to the project."
  
• Silver Surfer: "Silver Surfer, from a spectacle standpoint, is second to none. It's 'Independence Day' meets Marvel, times 10... Galactus is a force of nature, not a being. That's all I'm saying."
  
• Ant-Man: "The Ant-Man is...a 'Honey I Shrunk the Superhero' kind of story."

Arad also discusses Daredevil, Black Panther, Cage, Cloak & Dagger, Nick Fury, Thor, Deathlok, and Namor. Check out the complete article at MTV.com.