“Iron Man 2” director Jon Favreau planned Iron Man as a trilogy – even before the first hit movie theaters – and tried signing on all the original actors.
The day following the $200 million + worldwide opening weekend, Marvel Entertainment announced a release date of May 7, 2010, for “Iron Man 2.”
Jon Favreau feels depicting nemesis, the Mandarin, who was created as a metaphor for communism, will be challenging, as he finds the character dated. He also wants to streamline the effort it takes for Stark to put on his armor, considering the “assembly line” effort he makes in the first film. Terrence Howard (who on October 13, 2008, was replaced by Don Cheadle in “Iron Man 2”) said he would like to follow the slow arc of the comics with Rhodes temporarily becoming while Stark succumbs to alcohol, joking, “I don’t want to introduce War Machine too early for my own monetary benefit.”
In “Iron Man 2,” the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces.
