Ever since a release date of May 3rd, 2013 was announced for Iron Man 3 a couple of months ago, there’s been speculation about how it’d fit into the entire world Marvel is creating. Would it stand to one side, just taking into account the previous Iron Man movies, or would it be a continuation of the interrealted Marvel universe we’ll see in Thor, Captain America and The Avengers?
Well it seems it’ll be the latter, at least according to Iron Man director Jon Favreau. MTV spoke to him recently, getting him to elicit that “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and The Avengers. This whole world… I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.”
It’s good news Favreau is still talking Iron Man, as there were reports he was unhappy with Marvel meddling with Iron Man 2, particularly how they handled shoving in the elements that were designed to lead into Thor and the other upcoming superhero movies. Many wondered whether he’d walk away from Marvel after that, and while the quote above does suggest he’s perhaps not as enarmoured with them as he once was (they’re hardly going to like being described as having no idea what they’re doing with this gargantuan project they’ve undertaken), it does appear he’s still onboard.
Favreau adds, “Honestly, right now Captain America and Thor are their big priorities, and you learn things by shooting and making movies. The script is one thing, but when you actually see what you land on at the editing room – especially with Marvel where they film, cut, film some more and shape the film – you really learn as you go.”
In some ways making Iron Man 3 a sequel to The Avengers makes sense, as Marvel has signed up many of the actors for huge amounts of movies, both for stand-alone Thor and Captain America pics, as well as Avengers pics and unspecified others, which means they should have the freedom to get, say, Chris Evans to turn up as Captain America in Iron Man 3 if they want to. It’s a massive project to create a coherent interrelated superhero universe on screen, and you’re got to hope Marvel has more of a masterplan than Favreau suggests.
With Iron Man 2 they were just laying the groundwork, which may be why it got tricky, but hopefully by the time they get tothe third film, everything will be a lot clearer.