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April 24, 2008


With Iron Man less than a week away from release, director Jon Favreau has been doing the publicity rounds, and let some interesting titbits of information slip regarding the fuuture of the franchise this afternoon.

Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes, Favreau said: "I've got another two movies in my head and I'm ready to go and I know the cast feels the same way. Now it's out of the hands of us, of the filmmakers, and it's even out the hands of your readers. I know all the people who have been following this for two years are going to go and see the movie, and maybe they'll see it twice and I'm very grateful for that. If everybody comes out to see the movie and it's successful, then I'm sure Marvel's going to want to do another."

As for the cross-pollination of the Marvel franchises, like Iron Man's forthcoming cameo in The Incredible Hulk, Favreau said the producers are definitely keen. "They're not sharing control with a studio like Sony or Fox which is the arrangement they'd had in the past," he explained. "As certain characters revert back to them they're self-financing these projects which gives them the ability to combine characters if you want to."

IGN also spoke to Terrence Howard, who had his own cryptic comments regarding the future of his character – Jim Rhodes. In the film (BIG SPOILERS AHEAD), he looks at Tony Stark's spare Iron Man suite and says to himself "next time baby".

We assumed this meant he would don the War Machine suit in the next outing, but here's what the actor had to say about the line: "The beautiful thing about Marvel is that they've always stuck with the tradition of staying truthful to the comics and loyal to the fans.

"If you've read the comics you'll know that that is the next phase, but there is another intermediate phase in there where he would have to put on his best friend's suit for a period of time."

Fans of the comics will know that, due to Tony Stark's alcoholism, Rhodes is eventually forced to don the armour and become Iron Man in place of Stark, though he soon begins to get headaches, his behaviour becomes more erratic, and he eventually goes on the rampage.

Stark is then forced to build himself another suit to stop his friend. Possible plot for Iron Man 2?