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Thursday
21Aug2008

Favreau Confirms He's Working on 'Iron Man 2,' But Who's the Bad Guy?

The Los Angeles Times caught up with Jon Favreau recently, ostensibly to talk about his new political charge, but the subject naturally turned to Iron Man.

On the political front, the director and Arnold Schwarzenegger are spearheading a move to create tax breaks for film and TV production to keep more of that money in California. According to the article, there are 40% fewer days of production in Los Angeles since 1997, and a lot of people point to tax incentives in New Mexico, Arizona, and even New York for some of the exodus.

Regarding Iron Man, Geoff Boucher got Favreau to provide a brief update. "We're working on [Iron Man 2] now," said Favreau, "which hasn't been officially announced. It will be released in 2010."

Oh, we know when it will be released, all right. I would imagine that a lot of this work was already taken care of ahead of time. Marvel clearly had a plan for Iron Man all along, and it wasn't a one-and-done scenario. Hopefully in round two, we can explore some more of Tony Stark's dark passage into alcoholism - it's really one of the great storylines for any comic book character - which should allow for an even better performance by Robert Downey Jr.

Deciding on the villain is the major thing at this point, and you've got to think Marvel wants to use Mandarin or Crimson Dynamo, right? I think Mandarin is the most often seen villain in the comic, and about 18 months ago, there were reports that Favreau wanted to use him for the first movie.

Each villain offers a stereotypically good foundation: Mandarin is obviously Chinese, so that could be pretty wicked in a Marvel movie, and Crimson Dynamo is Russian, and movies just wouldn't be movies without the occasional Russian bad guy.

I'll make the same plea I always do for comic book movies: One villain per hero per film, please. It's much easier on everyone that way.

Reader Comments (4)

"One villain per hero per film" is not a bad idea at all. But, for those familiar with the comic book series, it was strongly hinted at that Jim Rhodes's War Machine would eventually make an appearance, so that makes two heroes. Thus, two villains?

Anyways, Mandarin would be the cool, obvious choice. Given the fact that comic book movie part 2s are traditionally the best of the series, I am very enthusiastic for a revisit, especially with both Downey Jr. and Favreau returning. The tease at the end of Hulk was also intriguing. I wonder if Marvel can tie all this together without it sucking.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMRPigg

no, no two heroes, sidekick-back-up-small fanfavor roll yes, not two stories not two villans. lets not over due it.
Why oh why does Hollywood keep thinking more villains works. What movie is better with two villains? what movie even pulls it off? batman:returns is the closest thing to a decent movie with two villains.
Hell I can just watch drunk iron man with alcoholism as the villain.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterOrinn

After two failed movies, I'd say Hulk is.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterGlue Boy

Angry.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterHulk

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