Robert Downey, Jr. is cool with the news that Disney will release his next Iron Man movie. Disney is exercising their control of Marvel to release Iron Man 3 and The Avengers. At a press conference for his latest film, Due Date, Downey was enthusiastic about the Marvel developments.

“Love it!” Downey exclaimed. “What’s that mean?”
More after the jump…

Iron Man 2 has been in theaters for less than a week, but that didn't stop director Jon Favreau from speculating on the villain for Iron Man 3. And if Favreau has his way, Tony Stark will be taking on The Mandarin in the next installment of the popular franchise. "You've got to do The Mandarin", says the director, who has been teasing this in the films already with tiny references to the Ten Ring organization, "but the problem is, the way he's depicted in the comic books… you don't want to see that." The "problem" Favreau is referring to is the fact that the character, an evil descendant of Genghis Khan, has been criticized for being nothing more than a negative Asian stereotype. However, I have no doubt that Hollywood can work around this problem, changing the The Mandarin to a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant businessman hellbent on oppressing minorities and destroying the environment, while still maintaining the essence of the character. However, since Tony Stark is set to appear in the upcoming Avengers film, work on Iron Man 3 will have to wait until at least 2012. And if my sources inside the government are correct, by that time Hollywood will have already been destroyed in a limited nuclear exchange with the Chinese, making concern about The Mandarin a moot point. (Empire)