Marvel's 'Avengers' Threatens Cameron at Top of Blockbuster Charts, 'Iron Man 3' Starts Production

Favreau believed strongly in hanging on to a real-world grounding, mixing CG with practical effects, and telling his story from the point-of-view of his protagonists. "You have to use CGI to augment reality," he said, "and not drift to fantasyland...the minute it becomes spectacle it's no longer a subjective experience." Favreau liked starting off the movie with Stark in deep trouble, because it built good will for the character.

When Favreau stuck the Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nick Fury on the end of "Iron Man," it was a last-minute Easter Egg joke thought up by an ILM artist. Director Edgar Wright, who was the first person to see "Iron Man" advised Favreau to place the tag scene after the endless closing credits. But it had long-term consequences.

There was no down time at all between the first and the second "Iron Man," which had to follow all the crazy stuff they invented in first one. It was harder to ground the second film in reality, said Favreau: "When it's not real, you're juggling chainsaws." They could no longer do whatever they wanted on "Iron Man 2," including two irreverent openings, one written but rejected and one filmed, because "now we had something to protect," for Marvel and the studio, and had to fit in superhuman "The Hulk" and SHIELD elements to advance "The Avengers."

"It will be difficult for whoever does Iron Man 3" said Favreau, who gets to play a juicy supporting role this time.

Executive producers on "Iron Man 3" include Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Charles Newirth, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard and Dan Mintz. The production team includes director of photography John Toll, ASC (“Braveheart,” “Legends of the Fall”), production designer Bill Brzeski (“The Hangover,” “Due Date”), editors Jeffrey Ford, A.C.E. (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) and Peter S. Elliot (“Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer”), and costume designer Louise Frogley (“Quantum of Solace,” “Contagion”).