Giantrobo

I'm lobbying for WIL SMITH to play Iron Man...

Mondo Kane

At first notice of the suggestion, I was puzzled. But then when I heard the old-school Jekyll/Hyde-type theme song, I figured we might have a winner here.

DrRingDing

Well, here are some rejected iron man concepts:






In each of those he looks kind of short, so that would make sense with RD,Jr's casting, assuming the final product is at all similar.

-ringding-

Eric D.

He looks constipated in the top rejected concept.

Brain Stew

There's always War Machine .

Eric D.

I think Terrence Howard is up for War Machine.

Doughboy

Iron Man will be played by Samus Aran?

Giantrobo

Halle Barry for War Machine.

Fincher Fan

I think those are actually just fan art.

MovieExchange

Yeah, AICN is and always will be a suspect site, but it's up on Marvel Comics website also.

http://www.marvel.com/news/moviestories.666

tdilia

It is also being reported on CNN.com

GuessWho

top one looks like a rejected power rangers villain

devilshalo

More like a rejected Gobby armored costume.

Jackskeleton

Why can't they use the Green Golbin outfit from Spiderman for this?

Peep

That bottom one looks pretty good to me.

gryffinmaster

The announcement of Favreau at the helm originally gripped me. Downey as Starks is icing on the cake. I really enjoyed what Favreau did with Zathura, and since this embodies some familiar elements, I'm thinking this has a lot of potential.

Ever since I saw Good Night, and Good Luck and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I've had a rejuvenated interest in Downey Jr. Here's hoping he's able to grip the right tone for Iron Man.

Kudama

Not to mention his stellar performance in A Scanner Darkly. If I find out that he's got a substantial role in a movie, I go see it.

This is great news. I truly hope it comes to pass. Who'd have thought that the suit would be playing second fiddle?

Dash

I hope the suit does play second fiddle in the movie. Im much more intrested in Tony Stark than I am in Ironman Here is hoping that they use the Black Sabith song.

riley_dude

They look like the cast of Captain Eeo.

Doctor Gonzo

Press release:



Robert Downey Jr. is ready to become one serious metalhead--the actor has signed on to play the title role in Iron Man, Paramount Pictures' feature film based on the famed Marvel superhero.

Downey will play Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and brilliant inventor, who, after a near-fatal accident, builds a high-tech, nearly impenetrable suit of armor that gives him superhuman strength and other powers, which he uses to fight the baddies.


Jon Favreau, a longtime comic buff (and costar of another Marvel adaption, Daredevil), will helm Iron Man. Marvel Entertainment is producing the $100 million action-adventure, the first time the company is fully financing a film based on one of its characters. Paramount will serve as distributor.


The idea for a screen version of Iron Man has been kicking around Hollywood for nearly a decade, but despite the interest of Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage to don the armor, the project never got off the drawing board until now.


Iron Man was created by Larry Lieber, Stan Lee, Don Lee and Jack Kirby and premiered in Marvel Comics' Tales of Suspense #39 in March 1963. Stark's red-and-gold-hued metallic alter ego originally battled Communists during the early years of the Vietnam War, often appearing alongside Captain America.


But Stark evolved into a more complicated comic book figure, whose fought crime and personal demons, including alcoholism--something to which Downey can no doubt relate.


The actor's well documented battles with booze and drug addiction landed him behind bars and nearly wrecked a career that includes a Best Actor Oscar nominee for 1992's Chaplin.


Downey reportedly lobbied hard for the role, working out and growing a goatee styled like the one Stark sports in the comic book. Iron Man will mark the actor's first big-budget action flick.


"In every casting announcement we've done, people in their mind's eye have their own view of it and let us know about it. We're used to it," Kevin Feige, Marvel's president of production, told the Hollywood Reporter. "The point is, we looked at everybody, and we found the best person for the role. It's as confident a casting move as we've ever done. The proof will be in the pudding, but he is Tony Stark."


According to trade reports, Iron Man's initial outing won't focus on Stark's drinking problem, but producers say those issues may be covered in sequels, should the franchise take off. Instead, Iron Man's plot is expected to contemporize the storyline and likely include the hero battling terrorists.


Downey most appeared in a quartet of 2005 releases: George Clooney's Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Shane Black's off-kilter indie thriller Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Disney's remake of The Shaggy Dog, and Richard Linklater's trippy sci-fi flick, A Scanner Darkly.


The actor's upcoming projects include the indie caper A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints; Lucky You, a drama which reunites him with Wonder Boys director Curtis Hanson; David Fincher's crime caper Zodiac, starring opposite Jake Gyllenhaal; and the Diane Arbus biopic Fur, starring Nicole Kidman and due out Nov. 10.


Downey also recently inked a deal with HarperCollins to publish a memoir.


Iron Man starts shooting in February and is scheduled to hit in theaters in May 2008.

rexinnih

Interesting choice. I'll still see it.

fumanstan

I'm a sucker for Marvel movies, so i'm in regardless. Good choice though.

devilshalo

Nothing new, just a confirmation...

'Iron' adds mettle
Howard a Rhodes scholar

By MICHAEL FLEMING, BEN FRITZ

Terrence Howard is set to join Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man."
The Jon Favreau-directed film is the first to be coined through a financing arrangement that Marvel Studios formed with Merrill Lynch. Paramount Pictures releases the film May 2, 2008.

Howard will play Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes, the confidante of Iron Man's alter ego, Tony Stark. Rhodes, a high ranking military officer and aviator, steers the team that develops the robotic suit that allows the sickly Stark to fly around and battle bad guys.

In the comic, Rhodes' character gets his own armored suit and evolves into an occasionally antagonistic character called War Machine. That development seems likely to be saved for the sequel, though, as Iron Man will battle villain the Mandarin when shooting begins in February in L.A.

"The suit is purely an innovative creation, so this is Marvel meets Tom Clancy technology," Marvel Studios production president Kevin Feige said. "Having the best actors for the key roles allows them to inhabit the hyperkinetic reality of this world."

"Iron Man" is produced by Avi Arad and Feige, with Michael Helfant, Ari Arad, Favreau, Louis D'Esposito and Peter Billingsley exec producing.

Howard recently completed "The Brave One" and is shooting "Spring Break in Bosnia." He's poised to play country music icon Charley Pride in a biopic for Paramount.

Howard's repped by WMA and managed by Shakim Compere and Victoria Frederick of Flavor Unit

JesseCuster

I'm excited by the director and Downey and Howard's attachment to the project. All three have awfully good taste in projects. Howard is a superior actor and Downey would be in the pantheon of exceptional big name actors with Penn, Norton, Pitt, Clooney, Cheadle etc if it weren't for his addictions, which he has successfully and I hope permanently conquered. By all accounts he's a good guy and immensely talented. And considering Tony Stark was a hardcore alcoholic in the source material, I can't think of many who would bring more of his life experience to the role.

The Bus

I think he means CGI as the thing to get you in the door. People went to see Jurassic Park for the CGI. People went to see Independence Day for the CGI. People went to see Twister for the CGI. And in the 90s there were a lot of movies that relied ONLY on the CGI as the way to get people into theatres.

Favreau is saying he doesn't want to make that kind of movie although I'd have to argue those types of movies aren't very common anymore.