Iron Man 4: 10 Things That Must Happen

Wedding bells, new suits, and a demon in a bottle, namely...

Last week we got the news we'd all been dreading: Iron Man 4 is not happening. At least, not according to Robert Downey Jr, who you could probably count as a credible source. When asked about a possible further entry in the incredibly successful superhero franchise, RDJ rather bluntly replied "there isn't one in the pipe. No, there€™s no plan for a fourth Iron Man." Well, that's it. The dream is over. The man who made Marvel Studios what it is doesn't have much interest in carrying on his own series (he is still signed on for the next couple of Avengers movies). For the time being, anyway. That might be the current party line - and it's unlikely, what with non-disclosure agreements up the woo-wah, Downey Jr was speaking out of turn - but, well, money talks. Iron Man 3 made a record-breaking $1.2 billion, which is obviously the sort of success that Marvel would want to replicate. $1.2 billion is a lot of money. If we had a sure-fire way of making that much money, we'd definitely do it. And we've not seen a safer bet than a forth Iron Man film, especially considering the surprising quality of the last film. As blunt and definitive as the horse's mouth was, there's still a chance that Iron Man 4 could happen in the future. In which case, we have a least of demands. Or expectations. That sounds a little less like we're holding Marvel to ransom. The first three films set the template for the modern superhero movie, and have been the high water mark for that genre so far. To keep up that level of quality, to please the hardcore fans and casual audience alike, these are ten things that must happen in a hypothetical Iron Man 4.
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Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/