Marvel.com has announced some timeline updates regarding their upcoming Iron Man 2 and Thor projects.

Iron Man 2 is now set to begin shooting in April, which gives it just over a year to complete before its scheduled May 7, 2010 release. Pretty tight schedule, and you can bet Favreau and Co. will be trying to push out some footage by July’s Comic-Con.

Meanwhile, Thor now has a release date as well – July 16, 2010 . This is possibly an even more ambitious schedule for director Kenneth Branagh, considering he hasn’t even cast his lead yet (or has he? If Marvel’s set a release date, maybe that means Branagh’s pretty close to finalizing his decision).

Anyway, we’ll keep you posted on the developments, as these schedules suggest we should be hearing several more casting updates very soon, at the very least.

Tags: Iron Man 2, Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh, Marvel, Thor