'Iron Man 3' Could Be 'The Best Of The Three,' Says Robert Downey Jr.

by Jeremy Gordon

It’s hard to believe, but Robert Downey Jr.’s take on Tony Stark is getting kind of old. By the time "Iron Man 3" comes out, it’ll have been five years since the launch of the franchise -- enough for three feature films, one supporting role, and a handful of cameos. It wouldn’t be surprising to see RDJ hang up his suit to move on to bigger and better things, but for now, he’s got to make sure the series continues on a good note.

At the Brazilian premiere of "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," he told Omelete about his high hopes for "IM3."

"I think that we have an opportunity with the third Iron Man to make the best of the three, and maybe one of the better superhero movies that’s ever been made," he said. "But I think we have to remember what made the first one good. It was very character-driven. It was very odd. It was kind of outrageous. And so I think we have to have the courage to trust that the audience is really kind of cool, and smart."

"Iron Man 2" was indeed a bit of a departure from the first film -- less personal and more explosion-y, to put it simple. It was hampered a bit by the stunt casting of Mickey Rourke, because even though Rourke’s a fantastic actor, it was clear he wasn’t told to do much outside of "act like a drunk, Russian Mickey Rourke." "IM3" just needs to tighten things up and go from there, because three movies seems to be the max for a superhero franchise these days. They’ll want to end it on good terms before relaunching the whole series with Teen Tony Stark. Oh, if we could be so lucky.

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