9. Martin McDonagh
Shane Black proved with Iron Man 3 that you can make an out-and-out comedy superhero film and that it can work like gangbusters. And now that Martin McDonagh's directing is finally catching up to his superior writing skills, this would be a great opportunity to let him step up and take a superhero franchise. Nothing too lofty, but if you want a deeply funny and deeply emotional superhero film, McDonagh is your man. He likes profanity a bit too much to helm something aimed more at children (although Iron Man has always killed a disturbing number of people to be considered real children's fare), but it would be great to see him handle a Punisher film. Or, honestly, how about Iron Man 4? I don't trust many people to find distance left for Tony Stark to travel, but I'm positive McDonagh could find some really interesting places for Iron Man to go, almost definitely involving missing limbs. Maybe McDonagh's intervention means his muse Colin Farrell would come along for the ride as well, getting the chance to play a villain in a decent superhero film for once.