Actually, Iron Man 3 comes out May 3, 2013 (the marvel week).
I am saddened to see Favreau leave, but I am very happy and curious to see what Shane Black will bring to Iron Man 3. I am interested by him saying it will be more like a Tom Clancy triller. The idea of an Iron Man movie being like spy/international movie sounds cool. With Iron Man taking a more active part in batteling terroist that they hinted at in Iron Man (him fighting the Ten Rings and destroying weapons). In Iron Man 2, he really wasn't doing that and was more of celeberity (but he claimed he had destroyed all the weapons and had temporary world peace). So to see Iron Man 3 having Tony go back to his global fighting approach is cool.
Here is a excerpt from an interview with Shane Black.
The studio was not happy with the direction Iron Man 2 took. Iron Man 3 will not be another “two men in iron suits fighting each other” film. Instead, it will be more like a Tom Clancy-thriller, with Iron Man fighting real world villians.
I like the idea of the "real world" villains. And not another armored villain. I would like to see Iron Man battle the Ten Rings again, but I don't know about the Mandarin. He is a difficult character to do, because you would have to ground his powers. And to do the whole alien ring story might seem to similar to Green Lantern.
The world villians could mean an organization, like AIM (who could be supplying newer weapons to people that Tony would have to destroy). Or maybe a criminal organization like the Maggia, which could lead to Count Nefaria (maybe just a normal guy with a lot of money and power) and his daughter, Madame Masque (a new love intrest for Tony). Maybe spy threats like the Ghost or Spy Master.
I would like to see Iron Man 3 done very much like the Extermis comics, which is more science fiction and world related. Very dirty and realisitc, somewhat dark and like a spy triller. Keep the elements of fun and humor from the Iron Man films, but maybe make it a little more dark and realistic (world threats and terroist that Tony would have to fight that are now more well armed and the terror they will bring). Make it like the games Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops feel.
