IRON MAN 2 (2010) - PREVIEW 

With a U.S. opening weekend of $98.6 million and an estimated global box office take of $200 million within less than a week, it should come as no surprise that Marvel has announced that it has green-lit Iron Man 2 for a summer 2010 release.

After all, director Jon Favreau has admitted in interviews that he had the whole Iron Man thing planned out as a trilogy. Word has it that the villain in the next movie will be the evil Mandarin mastermind.

But now that Marvel Comics has cut out the middle man by producing their own movies (which makes the $150 million budgeted Iron man one of the most expensive independently-made movies ever!), it seems that they have gone overboard!

Also announced are movie adaptations of other comic book titles such as Thor (also summer 2010) and The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers for summer 2011. Personally we believe that Marvel may be riding on a wave of over-optimism here. After all, Thor is probably one of the most ridiculous superheroes ever invented and is prime material for high camp. But hey – we didn’t have the second biggest opening for a nonsequel since the original Spider-man, so what do we know?

Next month also sees the release of the Incredible Hulk sequel/remake. Rumor has it that “cross-over” is the key word when it comes to these movies. Word has it that Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man will make a cameo appearance in Incredible Hulk.

If you bother sitting through the end credits for Iron Man this much is hinted at in a bonus scene.

As Mike Krumboltz of Yahoo reports: “After the credits roll and audiences learn who the ‘best boy’ was, viewers are treated to an even bigger surprise. Avert your gaze if you don't want to know. Still here? OK, so after the credits, Colonel Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) asks our iron hero if he thinks he's the only superhero (a rhetorical question, we assume). Fury then says he needs to talk to Iron Man about ‘the Avenger Initiative.’”

Yup, that’s what happens when you get a bunch of comic book dudes to write movies. Personally we want Howard the Duck to make a guest appearance in the next Fantastic Four flick, but hey, that’s just us . . .