Favreau NOT Directing Marvel's Avengers

MTV news caught up with Iron Man 2 director, Jon Favreau recently and, not content with trying to get a scoop on the comicbook sequel, they have also shattered many a fanboy’s dream too.

Okay so I’m being a little melodramatic again, but I’ve not long woken up and this has come as a complete surprise to even me so stay with me on this.

It has been widely speculated since Marvel studios unveiled their master plan earlier this year that the (very) popular Iron Man director, Favs, would be directing The Avengers. Further adding fuel to the fire was Favs himself when he shared his dream for the ensemble project last year. But today, putting a massive spanner in the works for nerds and fanboys the world over, the ever dependable MTV have heard different:

As far as his more direct involvement in “The Avengers” goes, Favreau flat-out denied rumors that he’d direct the superhero team-up extravaganza.

“They’ll have to [find a different director], because I’m not going to be available,” he explained. “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,” he continued. “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.”

Favreau’s reasoning of his “not being around” seems a little to diplomatic to me, particuarlly as he is around to executive produce as he’s said himself. I’m not a huge fan of wild speculation, but I would question whether Favs’ lack of involvement as director was his choice…or Marvel’s.

Bursting another bubble today, Favs also confirmed that despite rumours, Edward Norton would not be appearing as Bruce Banner (The Hulk) in Iron Man 2:

Along with confirming that “Incredible Hulk” star Edward Norton won’t be appearing in “Iron Man 2″ and that Favreau won’t be directing “The Avengers,” the filmmaker shared some thoughts on his approach to making the Marvel movies all tie together.

“We want to reinforce a lot of the stuff we started to tip off,” Favreau told MTV News. “‘The Avengers’ is a much larger concern for Marvel and Kevin Feige, who runs Marvel. They’re going to be doing ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America,’ and the way we might start to tease those things in this movie, some of it is stuff that we’ve discussed [and] some of the stuff you do last-minute as you figure out how that stuff is coming together.”

“It’s an evolving, amorphous thing,” he explained. “If we decide and commit too early, the secret always gets out.”

Still look on the upside, Thor is almost fully cast now, Iron Man 2 is well into post-production and we’ve got three years of Marvel movies to come – see? Always a silver lining.

Tags: avengers, interview, Iron Man 2, jon favreau