Good News For Iron Man Fans

In an interview with iFMagazine, Jon Favreau (finally, the actual director for the long-in-limbo Iron Man movie) made some statements that will make longtime fans of the character very happy. A few select quotes:

“Of course you want to keep all of the complexities of the character; to me it’s a very appealing character. Later on the books even dealt with alcoholism, but I think certainly the complexity of the character is about a guy whose life is always hanging in the balance due to an injury. There are the relationships that he has with women, with the government, and with supporting characters.”

Sounds like he may be downplaying, or even leaving out the “Tony Stark as alcoholic” angle. I’m actually really fine with that as that’s a plot point that could conceivable define/dominate the character, and that’s not what should define Tony Stark.

In reference to whether he will base the movie on the recent “Ultimate” version of Iron Man:

“I think we’re going to stick closer to the original IRON MAN. The ULTIMATE IRON MAN has a certain appeal to it and the writing is very strong, but I think there are so many ways to go with Iron Man that you have to decide what to stick with. I don’t think we want to emulate the innocence of the early books, but I do think you want to deal with a character that comes to be Iron Man in that way.”

More great news as far as I’m concerned. In regards to what he’s doing for background research on the character:

“I’m reading all of the old TALES OF SUSPENSE stuff is really interesting. There are a million threads to go down. It’s been around so long and been reinvented so many times, it’s almost like they are mutually exclusive elements. I just want to look at Silver Age books, involving the old gray suit and the gold suit. Then the stuff I read when I was younger… You don’t have to adapt to the letter, but if you aren’t aware of the history of the character when you make decisions as a director I think it’s shortsighted. There is a base of fans that is incredibly invested in what the character has to offer, and to not take that into consideration would be irresponsible for me. [emphasis added]“

Duuuuude… I am SO happy with that statement.

And finally, one last thing that makes me believe that they are NOT going to mess around but make this an awesome movie:

“This is Marvel’s first movie that they are showing their fans how they would do it if they could.”

I am officially monstrously looking forward to this. Sure, it’s early, but man, Favreau is making ALL the right noises. I really find it odd though that after all bouncing around and shelving that Iron Man has gone through as far as becoming a film, that Marvel chose that to be the very first movie that they’re producing themselves. I felt sure that it would be a Thor, Captain America, or even Silver Surfer before it would be ol’ Shellhead… but believe me, I am NOT complaining!