After Jon Favreau's announcement that he wouldn't be returning to the director's chair for Iron Man 3, many people have wondered who Marvel would look to to fill those big shoes. Until today, Marvel has been playing their cards very close to their vests, but according to The Hollywood Reporter director Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) has met with Marvel execs about taking up the shellhead's franchise.
Although Black (seen to your right in a picture with Val Kilmer & Robert Downey Jr.) only has one directing credit under his belt, Black's screenwriting work in the 80s and 90s puts him over the top with credits like Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout. He even acted for a time, most notably in the role of Hawkins in the first Predator flick. Black's name has already been attached to an american adaptation of Deathnote as well as a Doc Savage film. But given that Black directed Iron Man's Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and even consulted with Favreau on the second film, these connection might work to the director's favor when it comes time for Marvel to make their decision.
But although Black is the only director named so far as a possibility, Brendan Connelly at BleedingCool.com says Marvel is meeting with several contendors for the director's job on Iron Man 3 – but no word who.
Who would you like to see chart the future of the Iron Man franchise? Here's a couple names we've singled out based on pure speculation as possible contenders.
Quentin Tarantino: Although it might seem like an odd mix, Marvel talked to Tarantino back in the late 90s about writing and directing a then-potential Iron Man film. Twelve years later and alot has changed, but the idea of Tarantino, Downey Jr. and a superhero film budget sounds interesting — if not scary.
DJ Caruso: Although he's got the upcoming I Am Number Four movie coming out later this year, Caruso has yet to make a real mark in the minds of the casual movie-goer — but he's already won over the likes of Steven Speilberg, who asked the director to helm 2007's Disturbia. But that's what Marvel likes — talented directors who haven't yet found their money-maker, and therefore haven't raised their pricetag too much. Before Iron Man, Favreau's best known credits were managing the sci-fi film Zathura and a string of comedies.
Genndy Tartakovsky: Animation vet Genndy Tartakovsky would be a real dark horse candidate, but it could also be the greatest thing to happen to comic-book filicks since Edgar Wright got his hands on Scott Pilgrim. Tartakovsky has no live-action directing credit, but with his animation background and Iron Man extreme CG effects he's almost there. And he's got a personal connection to the franchise already — Favreau picked him to do storyboards for the second film.
Duncan Jones: Jones' last few years have been full of win after his feature film debut Moon came out in 2009. And with his next effort, the sfx-ridden Source Code on its way, Jones could be a hot commodity if things go right.
So what do you think — Shane Black in charge of Iron Man 3 or perhaps someone else? Tell us!
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Shane Black would be great. If not, Doug Liman and Garth Jennings would be my first and second choices
I’d love to see Shane Black take this over. It’d be like a linear move from Favs, as opposed to Singer to Rattner. The idea of a Tarantino IM3 makes me want to retch. I’d actually like an interesting film instead of a boring film with two or three interesting scenes.
Black would be cool. Duncan Jones would be awesome. No thanks to Caruso.
Y’know I saw this on another site and ignored it, thinking “It’s not an OFFICIAL rumour until iFanboy reports on it.” Kudos.
Shane Black would be awesome. Please let him write it too!
Genndy Tartakovsky. The Samurai Jack man himself. Hell yeah.
Marvel brought Justin Theroux on board “IM2” to write the script based on Downey’s recommendation, after they worked together on “Tropic Thunder.” I get the feeling that Kevin Feige will do his best to accommodate his cash-cow lead actor again.
Yeah, Shane Black could be great. It would be interesting to see how he does action on this level.
Nothing says a cool comic film like hiring an outdated, 80s action writer.
@TheNextChampion Kiss Kiss Bang Bang came out in 2005.
@conor: I was also referring to his writing career….which is also false because most of his work was from the 90s. My mistake.
Also, not a fan of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. But it would make sense if he’s the top contender since RBJ is in it.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is effing great.
@PaulMontgomery Agreed.
I’m down for this.
@PaulMontgomery YES!
Ah, but who’s going to write it?
@NaveenM It’s been rumored that Black would be involved with scripting as well.
@PaulMontgomery I dunno, it actually might be even better than ‘effing great’
So damn funny
Tarantino would be great. Plus the Sam Jackson (that’s what his friends call him) cameo wouldn’t feel forced. No idea how we could sneak Harvey Kitel in there.
As much as I love Tarantino and his work, I can’t possibly see him making a comic film work. Nothing about Iron Man, at least I can see, that could work well with his style. Plus it would probably be a completely different viewing experience then the action packed stuff we’ve seen for two movies now.
Jesus, Val Kilmer got even fatter than in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He went from playing Batman and some kick ass bank robber in Heat to like Z-list
@TheNextChampion How was Kill Bill Vol 1 so different from a ‘comic book movie’?
@Jordan0061 The word is that Kilmer is difficult to work with. This is from the Hollywood rumor mill, so take that with a grain of salt.
@MisterJ: People get hung over by the over the top violence but if you watch that film, and it’s sequel, you’ll see how little action there is in the film.
I just don’t see his writing style mesh well with RBJ’s method of acting. Faverau seemed to know the exact beats of how RBJ does his thing and he probably let him roll with it to ad-lib scenes. I don’t see Tarantino letting that happen because he’s usually a stickler to his scripts.