Corona | Coming Attractions

While attending a media scrum to discuss the upcoming DVD release of the first Iron Man movie, director Jon Favreau answered questions about the progress on developing the sequel and how the storyline was being created. While Favreau didn't want to be pinned down and offer any direct answers on Iron Man 2's premise, he did confirm that, at this point, introducing the character of War Machine is in the early planning stages. "I want to do it, we're drawing War Machine, we're figuring it out. We're talking with Terrence [Howard], we're seeing if he can take some time out from his new life as a musician to be War Machine," Favreau told the online press and was reported on Collider, Coming Soon and CHUD.

The director also is worried about how best to adapt The Mandarin, one of the main adversaries in the Iron Man comic and who is alluded to with the terrorists' "Ten Rings" organization, into a film series that he sees as being more Tom Clancy-ish and grounded in high tech than mysticism or magic (which is where the powers of Marvel Comics' Mandarin come from.) "The Mandarin is such a tricky character for us because everywhere you turn it's a minefield. So we get into the mystical Asian dark arts and inter-dimensional travel and all the rings that do the different things and psychic abilities and stuff and it's like, 'That could be cool. Maybe it's cool. Maybe if we make it really authentic.' Then you see the trailer for The Mummy [3] movie and it's like they've got the Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom in there! And they shot in China and it's like as authentic as you're ever going to get. It's like, 'Ooh, I don't know if that fits our film.' It was great for The Mummy, though. So where do you go with it? What are your rules and how do you stay consistent with them? What happens is that people get desperate as they're looking for inspiration to up the ante and so you start breaking your own rules, and that's when the movies start to lose their identity." To that end it may work out that saving the reveal of The Mandarin until a third film could be the best option to take right now.

Favreau also said that he is being inspired by the current Iron Man comic book stories written by Matt Fraction and wants to meet with him to get his take on possibilities ("The Fraction series is informed by current events and what's going on in the world. I'm very impressed by what he's written,"); that he wants to have a bigger end battle for the second film; that some of Iron Man 2 may be filmed in in 3D or IMAX; and that he, Robert Downey Jr. and screenwriter Justin Theroux are working on setting the foundation for Iron Man 2 by thinking of directions to take Tony Stark's growth rather than plot out all of the details and who the villain will be ("We're breaking story and pages are coming out, but it's really more of a conversation than actual writing now.")