Barely Released, and Sequels Abound

First of all we’ll look at Iron Man, but props go to Cinema Blend’s contact who is the source of all these goodies (including the Captain America rumor, check it out here).

It looks as though the Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nick Fury that rolled after the credits isn’t just a throw away scene, but a nice stepping stone to the second Iron Man movie. Apparently one of the storylines being pushed involves Nick Fury calling on Tony’s help as Iron Man to deal with a terrorist named The Mandarin.

Now I’ve mentioned in previous Iron Man posts that the Mandarin is Iron Man’s greatest and most popular villain. Instead of just another mirror imaged guy in a metal suit dealio, Iron Man has to fight a technological genius, who’s got 10 magic rings and a dragon. Now whether the Mandarin still has his magic rings is another question for another time, but it looks as though Fin Fang Foom, the Mandarin’s extraterrestrial dragon, may be in play.

Their scooper also picks up on the possibility of other Marvel heroes making a leap in to the Iron Man sequel. We’ve already pointed to the possibility that The Hulk might make an appearance, but the information floating around suggests that maybe Thor – who is getting his own movie soon – may be stepping in to help Iron Man.

Surprisingly, Jon Favreau hasn’t been signed as the director for the already announced movie yet. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Favreau announced that "We've been speaking informally about it, and in concept we would all love to work together again … There's no formal arrangement yet, but in theory we would all love to see it happen."

However Favreau did suggest something interesting, and that the third Iron Man movie would in fact be the Avengers movie, set for July 2011.

"It's very difficult to keep these franchises from running out of gas after two [movies]," he says. "The high point seems to be the second one, judging by history: If you just look at the consensus in the reviews, you see that X-Men 2 and Spider-Man 2 are sort of seen by the fans as the sort of high point of both franchises, though I don't necessarily agree with that. But to be able to fold it into an Avengers is something you just couldn't do in another studio, and I think what Marvel is about is stuff you can't do at a bigger studio."

Either way, after its worldwide box office opening of over $200 million, we can definitely expect to see more of Iron Man. Stay tuned for part 2 of Barely Released, and Sequels Abound.