Cinematical

Over on MySpace, writer-director Jon Favreau (aka the newest Marvel superhero) has been answering a bunch of Iron Man-related questions from fans ... though I may want to slip in there and ask about a Swingers sequel and throw everything off balance. One thing Favreau has been very vocal about are the scheduled release dates for Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. He's already stressed that it would be near impossible for him to direct both since they're only a year apart, but now he's going on record complaining about the 2010 release date for Iron Man 2.

He says, "I am concerned, however, about the announced release date of April 2010. Neither Robert nor I were consulted about this and we are both concerned about how realistic the date is in light of the fact that we have no script, story or even writers hired yet. This genre of movie is best when it is done thoughtfully and with plenty of preparation. It might be better to follow the BB/DK, X/X2 three year release pattern than to scramble for a date. It is difficult because there are no Marvel 09 releases and they need product, but I also think we owe it to the fans to have a great version of IM2 and, at this point, we would have less time to make it than the first one."

So what does Marvel do now? Will they push back the sequel's release date and make it so they only have one film (Thor) arriving in theaters in all of 2009 and 2010? That'd be a tough call for them to make, but you also want to follow up one of the best comic-related films in years with a sequel as good or better. And if Favs and Downey say more time is needed, perhaps we should wait and let them do their thing? Whaddya think?

During the conversation with fans, Favreau also says there are no plans as of yet for a Hulk cameo in Iron Man 2 (like he'd give that up now), and they're still brainstorming potential storylines and villains. Join the discussion over on MySpace.