Rumors were flying fast and furious yesterday and IT’S TRUE. Oscar® Nominee and recovering lawbreaker Robert Downey Jr. has signed to play IRON MAN.

Jon Favreau is directing the movie, which will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Downey will portray Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Using his intelligence and ingenuity, Stark instead builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. Upon his return to the U.S., he uncovers a plot with global implications and must don his armor and protect the world.

[snip] The movie version, written by Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby, will be set in today’s geopolitical climate.

Okay, we can’t help but make the joke about Downey, whose battles with substance abuse have become the stuff of legend, playing billionaire playboy industrialist Tony Stark, the superhero with the drinking problem. However, according to
Varietythe celluloid Iron Man won’t be turning into a lush until the “sequel”:

In the comics, Stark was an alcoholic, a trait that will undoubtedly draw public comparisons with Downey’s own struggles with substance abuse. However, Feige said the first pic won’t deal with Stark’s alcohol problems, though it would likely come up in potential sequels.

This will be the first movie that Marvel is producing all on its own, so signing up an solid director and A-list (although not box office) star is a good step for Marvel. Variety notes that this will be Downey’s first action role.

PS: while we were looking for images we stumbled upon this cool little website of drawings of Iron Man. Check it out.

This entry was posted on 09/29/06 at 8:10 am and is filed under Marvel, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.