Back in July producer Don Murphy (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) and Cartoon Network announced they were developing a live-action Captain Planet movie. Funny or Die obviously heard about this, and they’ve decided their Captain Planet is Oscar nominated actor Don Cheadle.

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Don Cheadle said earlier this year that James Rhodes/War Machine would not be appearing in The Avengers, however the actor is set to reprise his role in Iron Man 3 and Cheadle recently revealed filming may begin in February 2012.

From Collider:

Q: Are there any future Marvel movies that you might be appearing in?

DC: Well the Iron Man 3 is coming back. We’ll probably do that again in February and there’s talk of a War Machine spinoff, which I guess, unless I get recast, I would probably do.

Q: Will you be in The Avengers?

DC: Not this one that they’re shooting right now. Thank god!

Q: Was that ever in the works?

DC: Me being in The Avengers? I have a contract to be in The Avengers but I’m glad they haven’t exercised that option yet. I need some down time.

Shane Black, who directed Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and was behind the scripts for Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout is directing the third film, and earlier this year he said Iron Man 3 will be more like a Tom Clancy-thriller, with Iron Man fighting real world villains, and will not feature any other heroes from the Marvel Universe.

Marvel and Disney have set a May 3, 2013 release date so shooting in February will give them a whole 16 months to make the film. Jon Favreau only had a year between the first day of filming and Iron Man 2‘s release, so Black has plenty of time to make a better film.

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When Don Cheadle was absent from the big Avengers reveal at Comic-Con it looked like James Rhodes/War Machine wouldn’t be appearing in the movie like previous reports suggested. Cheadle recently confirmed that we won’t be seeing him in Joss Whedon’s movie, but he did reveal that Marvel are in the early stages of a possible War Machine spin-off.

From MTV:

“I don’t think he shows up in ['Avengers'],” said Cheadle. “I think he’s kind of a lone wolf.”

“They’re developing it now, they’re working on that,” Cheadle told MTV News when asked about a “War Machine” movie. “I think they’ve hired a writer, so we’ll see how it goes. It would be a lot of fun.”

Hiring a writer is the first step, but whether War Machine is a big enough priority at Marvel to get the spin-off made remains to be seen. Robert Downey. Jr will eventually leave his Iron Man role which could pave the way for War Machine to step up, but that won’t be until after Iron Man 3 in 2013. Perhaps IM3 could be used to set War Machine‘s spin-off up.

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With filming set to begin next month it was expected that 20th Century Fox would be locking in other actors to join James Franco in the Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Apes. Well according to Bloody-Disgusting both Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2) and Frida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) have been offered roles in the film, although who they will play is unknown the moment.

Franco will be playing “a young, driven scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes”, so Cheadle and Pinto may be fellow scientists who get caught up in the ape revolution. Peter Jackson’s visual effects company WETA Digital will render photo-realistic apes rather than have people in costumes, although if the apes get talkative they may require an actor to deliver a performance.

Rise of the Apes, which will be directed by Rupert Wyatt, is an origins story set in present-day San Francisco. The film is a reality-based cautionary tale, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. Fox has set a June 24th 2011 release for the film so the have less than a year to create a new addition to the Planet of the Apes franchise. Hopefully it will be better than Tim Burton’s outing in 2001.

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Upon its release in 2008 Iron Man was greeted with $585 million at the worldwide box office and 93% positive reviews. This meant that in order for Iron Man 2 to surpass its predecessor it would need to make $600 million+ and have at least 94% positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. That’s if you judge success like that anyway.

From the trailers and buzz making a sufficient profit doesn’t seem to be a problem, although on the review side of things it seems Iron Man 2 may have been hit by the ‘sequel curse’.

As I type there are currently 12 reviews on RT, and 3 of them are negative. This might not seem that big of a deal, although the reasons they are less than positive might be a worry.

From The Hollywood Reporter‘s Review:

Everything fun and terrific about Iron Man, a mere two years ago, has vanished with its sequel. In its place, Iron Man 2 has substituted noise, confusion, multiple villains, irrelevant stunts and misguided story lines.

Variety:

All told, ‘Iron Man 2′ suffers the same fate as many a sequel. Where the first film felt buoyant and occasionally inspired in helpfully demonstrating that, done right, there’s considerable treasure to be culled even from second-tier occupants of the Marvel universe, the new pic feels more duty-bound and industrial.”

Empire gave the film a 3/5 rating, and had this to say:

Rourke and Rockwell make satisfying, complementary villains, while Downey Jr. delivers again. Shame this sequel feels inessential, over-busy and a little, well, mechanical.

On the flip side the majority of sites have given Iron Man 2 more positive reviews.

From AICN:

We may not have a lot of Comic Book awesome coming this summer, but frankly – this is all I need. I’ll be seeing this a bunch – and I can not wait to see this movie destroy my nephew’s brain tomorrow night. Seriously – his 9 year old noggin just will not be able to process how great this is.

ComingSoon:

High expectations from the first movie may leave some wanting, but there’s enough brilliance on display to leave you wanting more as well.

IGN:

Like Tony Stark himself, Iron Man 2 is a sleek and cheeky number that almost certainly trumps the fun-factor of Jon Favreau’s 2008′s surprise hit

I suppose we’ll just have to see Iron Man 2 for ourselves to judge. This is still early days yet and those negative reviews may be the only few that get published. Even if it drops to 70-80% on Rotten Tomatoes it won’t be a disaster. As along as people have a fun time and it doesn’t derail The Avengers we’re good.

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Marvel decided the Kids Choice Awards would be a good place to debut a new TV spot for Iron Man 2, and I’m glad they did. It contains quite a lot of new footage; include new shots of Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Don Cheadle as War Machine. We also see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury requesting Tony Stark to exit the doughnut he is sitting comfortably in. I’m sure kids are demanding their parents buy them tickets after seeing that.

Iron Man 2 also stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. There’s just over a month to go before it is released on May 7th in the US and April 30th in the UK.

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A new international poster for Iron Man 2 has made its way online. Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, and Scarlett Johansson all feature, which is cool, even if they are all floaty and photoshopped.

There’s just over a month to go before Iron Man 2 hits the big screen (April 30th in the UK, May 7th in the US). Below is the latest trailer:

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Mickey Rourke sat down for in interview with Total Film (via ComicBookMovie) for their May edition and spoke about his role of Whiplash in Iron Man 2. Rourke said that he isn’t really a fan of big franchise movies, however he was a fan of what director Jon Favreau did with Iron Man, and liked that Robert Downey Jr. was ‘quirky’ as Tony Stark and wasn’t a stereotypical superhero “like Spider-Man, like Batman and all that shit.” (-10 fanboy points for Rourke there).

Anyhow, Rourke went on to talk about his training regime for the role….and then he kind of lets slip what happens to Whiplash at the end of the film…

Tell us about Whiplash’s costume…

The first time I had it on I had it on for four minutes and I was like, “Take it off!” The whole vest weighed about 40lbs and I could walk 25 steps and be exhausted. So what I did with my trainer was put on a 40lb weight vest and put the treadmill on uphill and we just worked out for two months. Whiplash uses electrodes as whips so I used wrist weights and my stunt co-ordinator Garrett Warren would come over and we would do a boxing workout with whips.

SPOILER TIME

Will Whiplash be popping up in any of the other Marvel films?
Well, the only thing I can tell you is that they had decided to kill me and we did film it with Gwyneth Paltrow. And then they came to New Mexico and re-shot it and now it’s left up in the air…

We’ll have to wait until May to see which version they go for. It would be cool if Whiplash appeared in The Avengers, and I guess they could be leaving the door open for Iron Man 3 too.

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As expected a new trailer for Iron Man 2 was revealed by Robert Downey Jr. on Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Academy Awards yesterday and it also made its way online soon after. In this trailer we see a lot more of Scarlett Johansson and Gwyneth Paltrow, along with more footage of Whiplash attacking Tony Stark at the Monaco Grand Prix. We also get a glimpse of a new portable Iron Man suit.

With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, must forge new alliances — and confront powerful enemies.

Iron Man 2 will be released on April 30th in the UK and May 7th in the US.

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It’s about time we got a new one! According to Futon Critic Robert Downey Jr. will be appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Academy Awards on Sunday, and he’ll be introducing the second trailer for Iron Man 2.

Host Jimmy Kimmel welcomes two-time Academy Award(R)-nominated Robert Downey Jr. and a musical performance by Grammy Award(R) winner Keith Urban to the fifth consecutive “Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Academy Awards”, SUNDAY, MARCH 7, immediately following the late local news (12:05-1:05 a.m., ET, approx). Downey will introduce the world premiere of the new “Iron Man 2? trailer only moments before Urban performs his new hit single, “Til Summer Comes Around,” from his 2009 album, “Defying Gravity.”

The trailer will no doubt make its way online at some point over the weekend, so keep your eyes peeled!

You can watch the first Iron Man 2 trailer below:

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