"Iron Man 2" Already Given A Release Date

LOS ANGELES — This weekend was just the beginning of Hollywood's Iron age.

Marvel Studios announced Monday it will release "Iron Man 2" on April 30, 2010, following the success of the first in the comic-book franchise, which pulled in $104.2 million domestically since opening last Thursday and $201 million worldwide.

Four other films based on Marvel superheroes also were announced: "Thor," due out June 4, 2010; "The First Avenger: Captain America," May 6, 2011; "The Avengers," July 2011; and "Ant-Man," which is in development but has no release date.

Marvel also has "The Incredible Hulk," starring Edward Norton, coming out this June 13 from Universal Studios.

Just as Downey's character, Tony Stark, makes an appearance in next month's "The Incredible Hulk," the Hulk could turn up in "Iron Man 2," Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel said during a conference call to discuss the company's earnings. And "The Avengers" consists of a rotating roster of Marvel heroes _ including original members Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man and Thor _ that could see the return of virtually any of the franchise's characters.

"In controlling our destiny, we can control where the characters are and we can have our movies connect and be in the same universe," Maisel said.

"Iron Man" was the first film financed by Marvel, which previously licensed its superheroes to Hollywood studios for such hits as the "Spider-Man," "X-men" and "Fantastic Four" flicks.

Seeking more creative control and a bigger cut of the receipts, Marvel plans to make future films itself and hire studios to distribute them for a fee.

Starring Robert Downey Jr. as a billionaire weapons designer who builds himself a high-tech metal suit to fight bad guys, "Iron Man" exceeded box-office expectations, coming in second only to the first "Spider-Man" for debuts among non-sequels.

Comments

[rini]

Remember "Less that Zero?"

Now, that was genius. I guess it was method acting to the nth degree.

[rini]

Ok,

I am going to explode.

What is the "geekasm" at the end. What the H happens?????

[ErinDanger]

Just ante up the $11 and see it- it's absolutely worth it. Great adaptation/updating of the comic, overall really fun movie.

The end teaser was handclappingly great.

[PrdAmerican]

Have to hand it marvel, Iron man was a pretty good flick. Downey was made for this role. I wasn't sure if he still had it in him, but yes...he is gifted.

The only thing I will point out...as a 40 something, i grew up in the cold war era...and I can remember when the bad guys all had russian accents...we were indoctrinated to hate/fear Russians. I find it interesting that our kids are now being indoctrinated to hate/fear Arabs....the new bad guys.

[westreal]

I thought Iron Man was going to suck the big one. A freshman action director, a druggie actor, a so-so actress and a company that never financed a movie. And the previews were just plain bad. I wasn't excited about this movie at all. But damn. This is the best comic book movie ever made! I only wish I had sat through the final credits to get that surprise ending.

Kudos to Marvel for not giving away all the story lines and action sequences in the commercials.

[BMW121]

I think Batman Begins and the very first Superman movie were two of the best superhero movies ever made. While Iron Man was fun, there were major plot holes and just an overwhelming sense of nonsense at times. Yes it was smart, funny, and the effects by ILM were top notch but to call it the best superhero movie ever made does Batman Begins and Superman I and even II for that matter a disservice.

[westreal]

Dude, I couldn't even sit through Batman Begins. And the true test is if you can watch these movies years later and still be entertained. By that standard all the Supermen movies just seem ridiculous. I can't believe I liked that series as a kid.

Other movies I liked as a kid but think WTF when I see them now are the Indiana Jones movies and E.T. I see them now and want to kick my TV in. LOL

[RumiSouth]

The movie would have been a disaster without Robert Downey. He's quite possibly the only actor in the world able to pull off Tony Stark. There were lines he delivered *just right* that would have been stinkbombs from any other man.

[MKJeeves]

I can't wait for . . .
Ant

Ma . .
Oh, who'm I kidding.

[anglefan]

Yes, He is energy and awesome! I love his shows very much. I was told that his personal blog was found at a celeb singles website called _MillMatch.com_ or something just like that. But I don't think he has enough time for writing a blog on the internet. Maybe it's done by his fans.

[ErinDanger]

Can't someone do something about this lousy shill?

[rini]

Why is this site full of these people? I am sick of SPAM.

[superlive]

In terms of Silver-Bronze Age Marvel obscura, "ULYSSES BLOODSTONE, MONSTER HUNTER" would probably be an interesting movie. For those not in the know, he was a caveman who accidentally got an extra-terrestrial power gem imbedded in his sternum during an abduction encounter. The semi-sentient gem made him immortal and he spent the next 25,000 years hunting treasure and monsters with the help of the Bloodstone Foundation. He was like a cross between Doc Savage, the Highlander, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

[clevelandtocali]

I liked the film, and the geek-gasm at the end of the credits was great. I gotta give Jeff Bridges some props, although he will always be "The Dude", no matter what.

[audiodramatist]

Though i am in no ways a geek, watching all the credits roll and listening to the music is one of the pleasures of going to the cinema i most enjoy. So whenever they do have a clip at the end i feel special. The Iron Man end clip made me feel estatic from the voice through the reveal. It was even better than the audio after the Star War I or the Constatine end clip. Just the right length.
Hum-m-m, maybe i am somewhat of a movie geek.

Speaking of end credits; it was most interesting to note how the folks from Michael Clayton kept people in the seat during their end credits.

[RumiSouth]

The Dude looks amazing with the shaved head and the beard... It's a great look for him.

[ChiGuy]

Paltrow said in an interview that she really wanted to get in on a super hero franchise deal. She signed an "Iron Man" trilogy contract.

[WriterGuy]

Don't judge on the basis of promos alone. The first promos for Iron Man, frankly, sucked.

And in giving out the kudos, don't forget director Jon Favreau. He figured out how to show a masked comic book character without losing the actor's facial performance (when you see the movie, or the trailer, you'll figure it out). IMHO, it makes all the difference in the world.

And don't discount The Hulk just yet. The first film was badly affected by director Ang Lee's decision to use HIMSELF as the motion-capture model for The Hulk's face, as opposed to actor Eric Bana. If they were smart, they'd let Ed Norton do all the mo-cap work himself. If you don't think it matters, think of Andy Serkis as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and as the title character of King Kong. That's not just animation -- that's real acting.

[protagonia]

Agreed on Mo-Cap. Let the actor do the role in the motion capture suit!

[Rockwell]

When I heard that Downey was doing Iron Man, I groaned. Another has-been actor staring in a lame action movie. Just saw the movie today. WOW! I take it all back. Downey brought some serious chops and humanity and humor to the role and made a great action movie into something even more.

Congratulations to Downey and to Marvel. Looking foward to Iron Man 2.

I'm hoping that Indiana Jones is good but I gotta say Ford is looking old and frail. Downey was able to let me suspend disbelief. Not so much Ford. But I'll wait for the movie and maybe I'll have to eat my words again.

[Maanu]

When you're a real comic book fan (not to denigrate the fake ones), you know all too well just how bad these companies (esp. Marvel) can screw up screen adaptations. In light of this, and independent of it as well, Iron Man is a good movie.

Someone earlier suggested a Longshot in Mojoverse movie. This is a great idea and opportunity for social commentary up the wazzou.

[RogerOThornhill]

We saw it Friday and Robert Downey Jr is brilliant !
it must great to have the kind of acting chops he has! I was just stunned that he could make a comic book super hero flick so compelling.
Excellent on a huge theater screen, too...I'll probably go see it again!

[43P04T34]

Looking forward to Batman, myself.

[wmbear]

I PROBABLY WON'T SEE "IRON MAN"...

"The Dark Knight" -- For Heath Ledger's perfomance as The Joker.

And, of course, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

That's probably it for me for 2008.

[rini]

You obviously do not love Robert Downey Jr half as much as I do.

[westreal]

Ok. Don't see it. But I think you'll miss out on the greatest comic book movie ever made. It was hilarious, action packed, had a great script, the CGI was great and I think Robert Downey Jr should get an Oscar nod for this. Because if it was anyone else the movie would have sucked. The first whole hour is him and no Iron Man and I didn't care. That says a lot.

Dark Knight won't come close to Iron Man and Steven Spielberg always make movies for the kiddie crowd so really expect a dumbed down script for Indy Jones.

[Delphine]

I saw it and it was fantastic. Very good film. Just well done all around. Very much worth seeing on the big screen. Laughs and sweetness as well as a lot of action, and whatever CGI there might have been isn't apparent like it is in some films.

I had a great time. And I'm an "old bag" of uh, well, let's just say "over 40".

[blytzd]

Movies Marvel should make instead of Ant-man (really Ant-man wtf???):

Wolverine in Japan fighting samurai and ninjas

X-Men vs Sentinels... forget the whole continuity from the first three films and lose all the overpaid actors except maybe Wolverine and Prof. X (of course)

if you aren't burnt out on mutants X-Factor v. X-men could even work that into the Sentinel movie, the whole govt. controlling mutant deal

Longshot in Mojoverse, this would be a comedy/action movie akin to Austin Powers but the hero is grounded in "reality" while the bad guy is off his rocker

Groo... nuff said

if Hulk bombs try She-Hulk, maybe the breasts will help keep it out of the tank.

please add your fantasy Marvel movies...

[Snoman]

Ant-Man could be fun if it were done in the vein of the recent "Irredemable Ant-Man"

Other movies:

Power Man & Iron Fist

Hawkeye

Black Panther

Ka Zar

Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD

Not a Marvel Series but published under a Marvel Imprint: Brian Michael Bendis' Powers

[wmbear]

I WANT TO SEE...

The Alfred E. Newman bio

[countbeckula]

Doctor Strange (if only David Lynch would direct that one...)

Infinity Gauntlet/W­ar/Crusade­/Abyss

Power Pack

Darkhawk

(Yep, I'm a dork.)

And when the studios have made every conceivable comic book-based film, perhaps then they can finally move on to some better H.P. Lovecraft adaptations.

[superlive]

In that case, they should add Hawkeye to the cast of a future Iron Man film since he started out in the comics as one of Iron Man's villains.

[westreal]

Alpha Flight

Submariner

Take the horribly bad Fantastic Four series away from Tim Story and give it to James Cameron and base the story around the Skrull Wars. PLUS, replace all the actors except for the Torch and Thing. The only thing is that Tim mished and mashed a host of FF story lines together just to get the disaster that was the first two films. They need to start fresh.

The Silver Surfer should get his own series. The villain could be Nova or Captain Marvel

Doctor Strange

The Secret Wars series

Howard the Duck. Oops. Already done. Badly

[RumiSouth]

As a kid, my favorite comic was "Judge Dredd." It's not a Marvel title, but I'd kill to see it redone with an actor capable of pronouncing his catchphrase: "I am the law" should not resemble "uhuhmduhluh"