The film blogosphere was in joyous celebrations last week when it was announced that action genre favourite Shane Black had been hired to write and direct the third Iron Man film. Since then, Ain’t It Cool News caught up with the Lethal Weapon scribe, where he chatted briefly about some of the potential routes the third feature could take.
The most revealing of these was that apparently, the studio weren’t particularly happy with Iron Man 2, and the plan for next time around is to pit Tony Starke against more grounded, real world villains, instead of iron suits bashing the hell out of each other.
This would certainly take the franchise elsewhere (“Tom Clancy-thriller” is being banded around as an influence on the new direction) although will a Nolan-esque approach (which previous director Jon Favreau took a partial cue from anyway) really work here?
Although there isn’t currently any plans to feature the heroes from The Avengers line-up, as this film will take place chronologically after that Marvel ensemble, could the idea of trying to do a grittier, back-to-basics Iron Man create a tonally confusing experience, given the more fantastical characters (don’t forget – there’s a Norse god in there!) he’ll meet in next summer’s mash-up?
It’s early days yet of course, and Black’s involvement is a huge plus whatever the outcome, but there needs to be some real thought as to how this direction will work. The director is scheduled to meet with Robert Downey Jr. this week, so hopefully they will be attempting to iron out (ho ho) any issues like this.
