The Chicago Sun-Times recently spoke with the Iron Man star and managed to pry some details about the sequel to the hit film out of him; Movie Hole also asked Downey about Iron Man 2 and got more than they bargained for when the actor went on a tirade, slamming DC Comics and the runaway success of The Dark Knight.

“You want some plot secrets? Okay, here we go,” Downey said in an interview [with The Chicago Sun-Times] this weekend. “If he said he's Iron Man in the first film, it's one thing to say it and another thing to evolve to a point where you can live in a heroic fashion.”

Downey added, “Our goal is also more of the same in 'Iron Man 2.' We want to do what worked for us last time. I'm talking about telling more of the story of a guy put in extraordinary circumstances who has a family now and he's dealing with these forces. In 'Iron Man 2,' you will be able to understand various points of view about him that are far-reaching while this guy is still grounded in reality.”

Ok, so basically they're taking the Christopher Nolan approach: using the continuity established in the first film to logically expand on the plot threads left hanging at the conclusion of the origin story. Not too original, but hey, if the wheel works so well why re-invent it, right?

Robert Downey Jr and Jon Favrau on the set of Iron Man

Downey pretty much echoed his sentiments about IM2 in an interview with Movie Hole, adding that

It's pretty great and I think it's going to be cool... [Iron Man has] a very rich feel, because it was a very simple movie, if you ask me. It was an origin story."

And that's about when the daggers started flying:

"My whole thing is that that I saw 'The Dark Knight'. I feel like I'm dumb because I feel like I don't get how many things that are so smart...and I'm like, 'That's not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.' I...still can't tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I'm like, 'I get it. This is so high brow and so f--king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.' You know what? F--k DC comics. That's all I have to say and that's where I'm really coming from."

Wow, tell us how you really feel Rob. (It may be time to start urine-testing this guy again.)

Seriously though, I don't see why Downey is hating on TDK. Iron Man tore it up at the box office ($569 million worldwide as of today,) and basically put Downey back on Hollywood's radar. What, did that stupid MTV movie award go to his head? Or maybe Marvel has a clause in their contracts which states that their stars have to bad-mouth DC whenever and wherever possible. Hell, maybe Downey is just doing his job

So what do YOU think about Robert Downey Jr.'s kind words for Iron Man 2? About his hateful words for The Dark Knight? You have my permission to sound off.

Source: The Chicago Sun-Times & Movie Hole