After launching a series of Marvel Studios films that would eventually culminate in the biggest opening weekend of all time with The Avengers, director Jon Favreau decided not to return to helm Iron Man 3.  Favreau deserves a lot of credit for Marvel’s success, as he launched Iron Man as a superhero film that could be both grounded and fun, and planted the seed for the serialization and cross-pollinating of the future Marvel movies to come.  In an inspired choice, Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) was pegged to take the helm of Iron Man 3, and production is gearing up to begin in a few weeks with Ben Kingsley onboard as the villain and newcomers Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall added to the cast alongside Robert Downey Jr. and co.Favreau recently spoke a bit about the success of The Avengers and the third Iron Man film, revealing that he’ll be producing Iron Man 3 and will actually have a very involved role in the production.  In addition, he teased what we can expect story and character-wise when Tony Stark graces our screens once again.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.THR caught up with Favreau at the upfronts to talk about his NBC pilot Revolution, and he started off by talking about the wild success of The Avengers:

“Look, it was something we always planned for, and hoped for, but anything could have gone wrong and it took a lot of things to go right. First and foremost, Joss [Whedon], to be able to pull together, four different characters based on four different sets of films, that shared a lot tonally and they shared some cast-wise, but he had to pull all those things together and make it work, it’s a very high degree of difficulty for him. But we had done a lot of setup in Iron Man 2 and even in Iron Man 1, we were hoping that it would come to this.”

It’s definitely nice to see him talking up Whedon, as he truly is responsible for making that film as great as it is.  Talk then moved to Iron Man 3, and the THR reporter asked, “So you’re producing Iron Man 3.  That’s filming soon?  What’s the status?” to which Favreau replied:

“Yeah, down in Wilmington, it’s starting to shoot in a couple weeks. I was just talking to Shane Black and Downey and look, I think it’s a really smart way to go. After Avengers, you want to start with something really bold and inspired, and if you’ve ever seen Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang you’ve seen that when Downey and Shane get together, interesting and unexpected things happen, and I’m happy to see that it’s taking a bit of a tonal shift from The Avengers and it’s going to be something completely different and exciting, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

I actually wasn’t aware that Favreau was producing Iron Man 3.  His name isn’t listed among the IMDb credits, but he did serve as executive producer on The Avengers and the first two Iron Man films, so it’s possible that he’ll be taking the same role.  It’s nice to know that the guy who started the franchise is still involved somewhat in continuing the story.

When asked if by "tonal shift" Favreau meant that Iron Man 3 would be dark, he clarified:

“No, just a little bit more offbeat, I’d say. Shane and Robert definitely have an original point of view and an original take on the character, and I think it delves deeper into what makes Tony Stark tick, and plays on the unexpected original unpredictable quality of the character that I think fans gravitate to.”

The director went on to say that he’ll be “very involved” in Iron Man 3, and it’s clear that he’s been keeping up with Black and Downey throughout pre-production.  I’m eager to see what they cook up, but I’m already encouraged by the fact that they’re focused on making IM3 very much its own story separate from The Avengers.  Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige elaborated on this point during his wide-ranging interview with Steve, which you can check out right here.  Iron Man 3 is set to open on May 3rd, 2013.