Movie Morsels 64: Bad News for Iron Man

The first Iron Man I liked, very much. The second one? Eh. Not my favorite. Not even close. So, the news that Jon Favreau has left the third film distresses me a bit. Sure, he helmed the second movie and I didn't like it but it's pretty well known on the gossip circuit that he was creatively castrated by Marvel and the studio. In that sense, then, I guess it doesn't really matter that Jon's not directing the third one - he probably wouldn't have the same thing happen all over again. But on the flip side, someone with less vested interest in the series than Jon might just make things 10 times worse. It's hard to know. Annoying! Why do studios always have to muck up the works? Ugh.

via The Superficial:

Great. Now who’s going to needlessly insert themselves into the movie?

While Iron Man 2 was less a movie and more a painful clusterfuck advertising Marvel’s upcoming films, the blame for that rested squarely on Marvel who, instead of letting director Jon Favreau continue to build a successful franchise after taking a genius gamble on Robert Downey Jr., thought it’d be best to make him essentially act like a toy-hawking George Lucas, which miraculously didn’t end in suicide. However, it has brought us to today where Vulture reports Favreau has walked from the third film:

It’s unclear whether the impasse was financial or creative or both. One informed source hears that he was frustrated with Marvel’s urge to stuff more of their in-house heroes into the next film in the wake of The Avengers. In a recent interview with MTV News, Favreau explained that based on his conversations with Marvel Studios executives, he had no clarity as to what a third Iron Man film would even be about. “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers,” said Favreau at the time, “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.”
… Regardless of why, we’re told that Marvel quietly began the process of finding a director to replace Favreau last night. But Marvel’s task is complicated by the fact that Downey Jr. has both contractually negotiated director approval and is currently the hottest leading man in Hollywood with first pick of dozens of “go” movies around town.

Wait. Everybody just saw that, right? Robert Downey Jr. has director approval. HELL. YES. Finally, my dream of seeing Mel Gibson direct an Iron Man movie has come to pass.

ROBERT: Hey, Mel, got a sec? Was looking over the script and apparently 80% of the scenes are nothing but Iron Man being nailed to a cross by a Russian supervillain named “Record-o-Bitch.” Am I reading this right?
MEL: It’s actually more like 90, but listen, be honest: Do ya think Gwyneth will blow me?
ROBERT: …. God, I made the right choice here. ACTION, PEOPLE!