Iron Man Team in New Poster

The poster for Iron Man 3 shows a team of armored flyers rising as Tony Stark’s house is falling into the sea.  The Mandarin was the reveal in the last poster, released last week.  The film will release May 3rd, 2013.

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"Iron Man 3" Concept Art

New concept art released by Marvel Studios for Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 appears to confirm the widespread speculation that Warren Ellis’ 'Iron Man Extremis' storyline will form the basis for the film’s storyline. The illustration by Marvel Studio’s mainstay Ryan Meinerding appears to show Tony Stark under attack employing his armor without his wristband sensors. This sort of action would be possible for an "Extremis-enabled" Stark, since in the "Extremis" storyline Stark’s armor actually becomes part of his physiology thanks to nanotechnology.

The concept art was first published by Entertainment Weekly  , which notes that the "Extremis" storyline is perhaps the most logical explanation for what is happening in the concept art. But nobody including EW can definitively explain the black-ops types who are attacking Stark, though they could be members of the domestic terror cell that is featured in the “Extremis” storyline.

But it is important to note that so far Marvel Studios’ movie storylines have rarely been confined to one comic book story arc. While this can make selling graphic novel tie-ins more difficult for retailers, it provides lots of narrative flexibility for Marvel Studios, which can mine the entire Marvel universe compatible characters and events. Last month Variety noted that James Badge Dale was joining the cast of IM3 as the cyborg character Coldblood. While the character of Coldblood, who was originally Army officer Eric Savin before he stepped on a landmine and was then transformed into a cyborg, makes sense in an Iron Man movie, Coldblood has yet to appear in an Iron Man comic.

Don Cheadle Replaces Terrence Howard in 'Iron Man 2'

According to The Hollywood Reporter it will be Don Cheadle, not Terrence Howard, who will play Jim Rhodes (aka War Machine) in Iron Man 2. James Rupert Rhodes, who is one of Tony Stark’s closest confidants in the Iron Man comic series and who actually took over the mantle of Iron Man when Tony Stark lapsed into alcoholism, will likely play a larger role in Iron Man 2, something that was alluded to directly in the first film when Rhodes, played by Terrence Howard, looked longingly at the Iron Man suit and said, “Next time.”

Unfortunately, it won’t be Howard who gets to enjoy the expanded role. According to The Reporter “sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons.” Cheadle, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Hotel Rwanda and played memorable roles in Traffic, Out of Sight, and Crash, is one of the most highly regarded actors in Hollywood and certainly represents a continuation of the use of “A-list” actors in Marvel Studios’ films, something that was especially apparent in Iron Man (see “Heavy Metal Rules the DVD Charts”).

Robert Downey Jr. is expected to reprise his role as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2 and Gwyneth Paltrow will also be back as Pepper Potts. Director Jon Favreau is already signed for the sequel, which Justin Theroux is writing. The problem with sequels to extremely successful movies is that the folks involved on both sides of the camera quite naturally want a bigger share of the pie, which drives up production costs and makes the sort of financial success enjoyed by the original film a very difficult feat to duplicate.