Update: Deadline confirms Favreau’s departure. Balls.

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Thar be reports pouring out that Jon Favreau isn’t going to direct Iron Man 3. This isn’t an enormous surprise. Both Favreau and Downey Jr. didn’t like the Iron Man 2 script, and felt it was rushed out. As well, Marvel has been developing a reputation for being cheap as fuck, and Favreau may have been/may be anticipating getting low balled. And now there are reports that he has informed Marvel that he shan’t be returning for the third movie.

But still, fucking shit. Favreau’s a talented son of a bitch, and he clearly gets Iron Man.

Over at Slashfilm, they point out that Favreau was even recently wavering on the topic:

Vulture first reported the news of Favreau’s apparently (sic) departure from the Iron Man franchise. He spoke about the third film at length just last week and you can read our report here. The video, from MTV, is below and in it, you’ll hear Favreau talking about his uncertainty concerning Iron Man 3.

Slash then links to a transcript of said conversation:

Kevin Feige, who’s been involved with superhero movies with Marvel movies since the X-Men films, is very aware of his path and how to weave [things together], so in theory, ‘Iron Man 3? is going to be a sequel or continuation of ‘Thor,’ ‘Hulk,’ ‘Captain America’ and ‘Avengers’… This whole world… I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.

Balls. I’m getting frustrated with Marvel’s insistence on lowballing directors and rushing bullshit out. When you have a winning director, let them do their own thing with the franchise. Trust me. Maybe Iron Man 2 would have been more than decent but forgettable if Favreau had been able to work at his own speed.

Ask DC about it? Clearly letting Nolan rock out for a bit and then return invigorated to a franchise has worked.