Despite the third installment to Marvel's
Iron Man franchise now in the hands of Shane Black, previous director Jon Favreau recently shared with
MTV News vaguely what he had planned for the threequel, which unsurprisingly included the Mandarin. Also dishing on next summer's
The Avengers film, watch the interview below.
"Mandarin was in drafts right up until the [first] movie got green lit," Favreau revealed of his plans to include the infamous Asian warlord in his films. "It was in the first film and then Mandarin, who's a famous villain, we had references to in the second film. When I first came to Comic-Con with 'Iron Man,' before we had started filming or cast Robert [Downey Jr.], I had mentioned that 'The Avengers' would be the only logical third film," he said. "I think that's the opportunity here. Now they're doing it, it's exciting, I haven't seen the footage yet but that footage is out there in the trailer, [it's exciting] just to see all of them together on screen."
"['The Avengers'] changes the whole identity of [Marvel films]," he said. "It's going to have to evolve anyway, you can't keep the stories personal and small if you want to have the whole Marvel Universe, and we'll see if what works in the comic books translates to a film, and if the audiences who aren't fans of the comic books could accept that or if it makes their brains hurt."