Black’s vision represents a clear departure from the Iron Man franchise that we were familiar with during Phase 1, and Downey had a very succinct way of describing what the Iron Man franchise has evolved into.
“Shane Black had this idea of a Capra-esque departure,” said Downey. “I mean a lot of the things in Iron Man 3 are, I think we all knew we were taking risks and we were kind of out of, already what would have been the familiar territory.”
He even gives an example of the type of thing that you wouldn’t expect to see in Iron Man 3, in the form of the young boy that happens across Tony in his shed. “[Black’s] idea of a superhero running into a little kid in the heartland of America I think wound up being a wise choice and a calculated risk,” said Downey.
Downey also wanted to give a quick shout out to the young actor that shares a good deal of scenes with the established super-hero during the events of Iron Man 3.
“Ty Simpkin is great, I taught him everything he knows,” said Downey. “I think we’ll be seeing a lot of him”
That wasn’t it either, Stark suffers a number of panic attacks during the film, most of them caused by the children around him. “I liked the idea of kids bringing their parents to the verge of an anxiety attack,” said Downey.
A young boy isn’t Downey’s only co-star though, Don Cheadle returns in Iron Man 3 to play Rhodey, and it’s refreshing to see him throwing punches and suiting up in two different suits throughout the film. Both Iron Patriot and War Machine look gorgeous in the film, but Cheadle can’t help but play favorites with his suits, since he has to worry about the weight.
“The Iron Patriot is about 3 kilos heavier, so I prefer War Machine,” said Cheadle.
As you’ve seen in the TV spots and trailers, by the end of the film it’s down to Tony Stark and Rhodey to save the day, and it starts to really feel like a Shane Black film.
“Shane almost coined and really put a stamp on buddy action movies,” said Cheadle.
Even though Iron Man 3 stands apart from other films in crossed-over Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the major themes running through Iron Man 3 is the idea that Tony needs other people.
“I wanted it to feel like Tony and Rhodey last time decided that he wasn’t an island and there was kind of this power of their partnership, and that expanded in The Avengers,” said Downey.
The A-word was inevitably going to come up, and even though Avengers 2 is still two years away, it’s only been a year since The Avengers and Iron Man 3 definitely discusses the events of the Battle of New York, and there are more than a few references to Tony’s associates throughout the course of the movie.
We knew from the beginning that we wouldn’t see any Avengers cameos in Iron Man 3, but Downey understands that since they’re connected, they need to acknowledge each other.
“It’s weird when one movie that’s connected to another doesn’t reference that movie at all,” said Downey.
Due to the constantly connected feeling that the films in Marvel Cinematic Universe give us, anyone can crossover at any time. take Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, who started in Iron Man 2, crossed over to The Avengers and will now be appearing in next year’s Captain America: the Winter Soldier.
The same applies to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts, who appeared in The Avengers last year, but never got the chance to suit up for the action. Paltrow points out that, in the comics, Pepper gets her own suit and becomes her own superhero named Rescue.
Immediately, Robert pointed out that Pepper also marries Happy Hogan in the comics, to which Paltrow responded with a hearty “AWWW YEAH.”
After the laughter died down, Cheadle spoke up about a possible appearance in The Avengers 2.
“I think you want to ask me if I’m gonna be in The Avengers“, said Cheadle, which brought the audience of press to a round of applause.
“There it is, public opinion,” responded Downey.
However, when Hypable asked Downey if they would be filming one last scene tonight (a throwback to the Avengers press conference when Downey spilled the beans on Whedon’s “secret” night-time shoot for the Shawarma scene at the tail end of the Avengers), Cheadle admitted that he didn’t know what we were talking about.
“Let me explain this to my associate,” said Downey, who turned to Cheadle and explained. “We shoot those Easter eggs, which is after the credits there’s that little piece that gets everyone excited.”
That’s when Cheadle let a guilty little bomb drop. “I never sat through to the end of the whole thing,” said Cheadle. “As soon as Loki’s off the screen I usually just walk out.”
Speaking of Avengers 2 and the future of the Iron Man franchise, fans couldn’t help but ask about the status of Downey’s participation in Avengers 2 since the actor is not technically obligated to appear in any more Marvel films.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss [Iron Man 4, 5, and 6],” said Downey. “The future, as usual, is uncertain and I think the great thing is that we never could’ve known what and who was gonna come together for the third Iron Man.”
“In all earnestness, things are very much in flux right now,” said Downey, “And Marvel has their plans, and we’re all living and growing, so we’ll see what happens.”
Downey mentioned that he just heard some fresh news about Thor:The Dark World (we wonder if he’s seen the new trailer yet), so it’s a little reassuring to know that the individual cast members are reading the news about movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man just like the rest of us.
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