The second Iron Man movie but it doesn't hinder Paramount from planning a third Iron Man movie. No need to be a soothsayer to foresee that IM2 will a huge success and that the public will be craving for yet another Iron Man movie. So it does make sense to plan Iron Man 3. And it was actually confirmed by Director Jon Favreau himself:
"There’s an Iron Man 3. Here’s how I know. When they make the option deals, they include Iron Man 3. So I know they’re planning on 3. Whether that would be before or after Avengers, they’ve announced that Avengers is next but they pushed back The Avengers once, which I thought was encouraging."
Director Jon Favreau
IM2 can of weave its story around the demon in the bottle storyline, with Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, facing the aftermaths of his superhero coming out. So if our hero can overcome his personal problems and the villains from IM2, we can expect his real nemesis to show up in the following movie, namely the evil Mandarin, in Iron Man 3.
Actor Faran Tahir, who played Raza, the mysterious leader of the 10 Rings in the first Iron Man, gave some hints that the Mandarin could indeed be the next villain pitted against Iron Man:
"Jon Favreau and the producers are not stupid. They're also listening in on all of this and wanting to get the pulse of where the audience is. But at some point, they want to introduce Mandarin into the storyline and my character, like Mandarin, was the leader of the Ten Rings. We're leaving it open because, partly, it makes good business sense for us to leave a little bit of uncertainty for people to speculate on.
[...]
He has known for a long time where he wants to take it and I don't want to speak for him, but my feeling is that the second movie didn't want to just follow a singular storyline. They wanted to expand the characters to show that it's not a linear saga like Lord of the Rings. There's a linkage somewhere in there, but the big idea is to do at least one more Iron Man movie and then go into The Avengers."
[...]
He has known for a long time where he wants to take it and I don't want to speak for him, but my feeling is that the second movie didn't want to just follow a singular storyline. They wanted to expand the characters to show that it's not a linear saga like Lord of the Rings. There's a linkage somewhere in there, but the big idea is to do at least one more Iron Man movie and then go into The Avengers."
Actor Faran Tahir
Hulk could be an other option, I think he will rather show up as the villain in the Avengers. So I can see only the Mandarin as a credible villain in the movie Iron Man 3.
Now let's think about a possible release date for Iron Man 3. Thor will hit theaters in May 2011 and The Avengers movie is set for a release in Summer 2012. So unless they rush the development of Iron Man 3 to release it in between, the movie Iron Man 3 is more likely to be in 2013 or later.
But releasing Iron Man 3 after the Avengers would bring some complexity because of the new continuity. If they want to keep it simple it would be better to release Iron Man 3 between Thor and the Avengers....
Who would be the best villain for Iron Man 3 according to you? And Should the movie be released before of after the Avengers?
:)
