Walt Disney Studios announced on Thursday that the sequel to the Avengers (which is now the third highest grossing movie of all time, both domestically and internationally), will open in theatres May 1st, 2015. Even better, Marvel has also announced that Joss Whedon, the director of the Avengers, will return to both write and direct the sequel as part of an exclusive 3 year deal with Marvel where he will help them develop both their television and film world. 
This is great news for Marvel, Avengers, and film fans everywhere. Whedon did an extraordinary job balancing so many larger than life characters in one movie, making it fun, visually stunning, and most importantly, coherent to the regular movie-goer. Marvel has now trusted him to be hands-on with all their film characters (thus, making him directly involved in the sequels to Thor, Captain America, the stand-alone Hulk and Black Widow movies) as well as to help them develop their rumored SHIELD television show.
According to EW, this announcement from Marvel "rounds out the next five films in Marvel’s “Phase Two” slate: Iron Man 3 is set for May 3, 2013; Thor: The Dark World for Nov. 8, 2013; Captain America: The Winter Soldier for April 4, 2014; and Guardians of the Galaxy for Aug. 1, 2014."
