While Marvel Studios' Phase 2 plans have been described as "cosmic," President Kevin Feige insists that label tells only part of the story.

“The Thor film and the Guardians of the Galaxy film certainly are cosmic," he tells SFX. "Guardians and Thor will take the brunt of the cosmic side of the universe, particularly Guardians, which is 95 percent in space. I think Iron Man 3 shows the other side of Phase 2, which is delving deeper into the characters. Throwing them on a much more personal journey. And Captain America will showcase … What’s exciting to me about Cap – sort of about Iron Man 3 too if you look at it – is it’s tonally almost like a different genre. Shane Black’s described Iron Man 3 as a Tom Clancy sort of political thriller, which I like a lot. We hired our directors on Cap because they loved our explanation that we really want to make a ’70s political thriller masquerading as a big superhero movie. Just like with the first film – we got Joe Johnston because we said, ‘We want to do a ’40s World War II movie masquerading as a big superhero movie.’ I love that we’re doing a sequel to a film that’s a completely different genre than the first film. I think that’s fun. And the comics do it all the time.”

Feige also said that while Guardians of the Galaxy is set in the same universe as The Avengers 2, "it's much more of a standalone film" that won't be integral to the Joss Whedon-directed sequel.

Marvel's Phase 2 begins in May with Iron Man 3. Guardians of the Galaxy opens Aug. 1, 2014.