3. Iron Man 3
Release Date: May 2013 While Iron Man 2 didn't have the freshness of its predecessor, with Shane Black - who wrote the screenplays for Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout, as well as writing and directing Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr - writing and directing this next installment, the Iron Man franchise may still have the potential to surprise and entertain. Plot details are under wraps but Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, has said the film will be inspired by the first half of the first Iron Man:
"Metaphorically, were not going back to the cave - theres nothing like that, but weve always said lets get Tony back to the cave, which is hes stripped of everything, hes backed up against a wall, and hes gotta use his intelligence to get out of it. He cant call Thor, he cant call Cap, he cant call Nick Fury, and he cant look for the Helicarrier in the sky."
After learning to be a team player in The Avengers, having Tony without anyone to rely on but himself seems an appropriate path to explore for the character in a film that will surely be classed as an event. The film has been described as "'a technological crisis thriller' set in the world of international war, arms & terror," which suggests this should be the largest scale Iron Man film yet. The cast also looks solid, with Rebecca Hall, who replaced Jessica Chastain, in the role of scientist Maya Hansen, and Sir Ben Kingsley playing the long awaited villain, the Mandarin. Guy Pearce will also play a small role and while he's no longer directing, Jon Favreau will return as Tony's driver Happy Hogan, and of course, Gwyneth Paltrow will also return as Pepper Potts.