While it’s a little early to expect any sort of substantial news about Iron Man 3 (the second film; which is reviewed here; has only just hit cinemas in the States, and is currently dominating the World’s Box Offices, director Jon Favreau (who also doubles as Iron Man’s on-screen bodyguard; Happy Hogan) has recently spoken out about where he plans for the franchise to go in the next few years.
In some ways, some of the things that Jon will have to tackle in the next movie aren’t entirely up to him; as Tony Stark, and his famous Iron Man suit (which are helmed on screen by Robert Downey Jr.), will next be appearing in Marvel’s team-up/crossover movie The Avengers, meaning that Jon won’t know exactly where Tony will have ended up until much closer to The Avengers 2012 release date; but he is adamant that he will still want to keep Iron Man’s solo adventures rolling out.
And as far as the solo plans go, Jon has one major name on his lips; The Mandarin; “You’ve got to do The Mandarin… but the problem is, the way he’s depicted in the comic books… you don’t want to see that”; and that’s because The Mandarin in the comics is a thoroughly evil scientific genius, who’s descended from Genghis Khan, so proficient in martial arts that he can take on Iron Man bare-handed, and actually draws his power from ten magical rings (which is where the mention of The Ten Rings terrorist group in the first Iron Man movie came from); all things which don’t really gel with Favreau’s highly technology based world.
Which is why Jon has said that the magical rings “just don’t feel right for our thing”, and that they will be “either tech-based, or not really rings”, still being a little unsure himself; not knowing how the current backlog of comic-book films (including the Spiderman reboot, and Captain America movies) will affect his world; but conceding that with the introduction of Thor (who’s film is due out next year) and his supernatural abilities, “maybe magic won’t seem so out of place.”
