In an interview with MTV, Jon Favreau made it pretty clear what his intentions are in regards to directing the upcoming Avengers film: Zip zero zilch nada nought nothing. No chance.
"They’ll have to [find a different director], because I’m not going to be available. It’s something I’m being the executive producer on, so I’ll definitely have input and a say. It’s going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with ‘Avengers’ you’re going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor. How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it’s going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we’ve created.”
Rumors had persisted that Favreau might helm the film for Marvel Studios, which includes all of the heavy hitters from the Marvel Universe, including the character Favreau has been directing the last couple of years, Iron Man. Furthermore, Favreau indicated that Ed Norton, who played The Hulk in last year's film, will not be showing up in Iron Man 2. Boo hiss. That doesn't mean The Hulk won't show up in some way in order to help set up The Avengers film, though.
To me this is bad news. Favreau has proven himself to be a more than capable handler of this corner of the Marvel Universe. I don't buy his notion that combining the tech based world of Iron Man and the mythological side with Thor is going to be an issue. I think people understand the comic book world enough that there's room for many different takes on it. For instance, The Hulk exists very much in a world where Iron Man exists, and yet he is as much a god-like character as Thor ever could be.
My concern now is that Marvel will jump hard in the other direction and get some hack action director(*cough*Brett Ratner*cough*) to take on the project. I hope that's not the case. I'd hate to see another X3 scenario take shape!
