The Avengers hasn't even opened and we're already hearing details on what's coming next. Iron Man 3 has already begun pre-production and according to Feature Film Casting, several of the key players from the previous film are making a return.

After what looks to be an action-packed story in The Avengers, the big question is what's next for Iron Man? There was mention that other Avengers members such as Captain America or Thor would not be appearing but Robert Downey Jr. won't have to worry about acting out scenes on his own.

The casting sheet mentions that Scarlett Johansson will return as Black Widow. It makes sense in some ways as the previous film is where the character made her cinematic debut but you have to wonder how she would fit into the possible story. Joining Johansson, Gwynth Paltrow is set to return as Pepper Potts as is Don Cheadle as Rhodey (aka War Machine).

No big surprises here except, again, we have to wonder what director Shane Black has planned for the franchise.

Should we bother to begin speculating what the story might contain? At least we know Black Widow survives the alien attack in The Avengers.

Update

Here's the promo for the Black Widow and the Avengers movie. Funny how she gets the main focus even though this is for The Avengers.

Awesome. Although Id like to see Cap in Iron Man 3, play up that relationship a bit

Interesting stuff

Not surprised to hear she will survive Avengers, but they should have waited for a few weeks to release this news...

imagine if they do the ultimate black widow thing, when she turn out to be a traitor

Agree on the news and it's timing...it was never likely BW was going to die but now we know she's not going to!

Personally I liked the idea of Namor being in it, maybe as a bag guy to start with only nto heklp out Stark later. The question that would raise is does that mean too many heroes? So a better guess would probably be no Namor.

Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Captain America 2 are all in pre-production right now. Out of all of them I would expect for Black Widow to appear in Cap 2 if Marvel is going to bring Bucky back from the dead and into the Winter Solider uniform.

I say we start the armor wars and bring in stingray as an ally, iron man made the mistake of going after him, because he thought that stingray stole his tech

Scarlett deserves her own Black Widow movie.

@jsphsmth said:

Scarlett deserves her own Black Widow movie.

Totally agreed. She's done enough to get her own. Maybe even throw in Hawkeye as a co-star too just so he doesnt feel left out

It's not like Iron Man has that big of a supporting cast.

Bah, i want Madame Masque instead :(

YES :D

imagine if they do the ultimate black widow thing, when she turn out to be a traitor

:) Yay!

@The Dark Huntress said:

YES :D

MANDARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNN

@The Dark Huntress said:

YES :D

Yes :DD

Terrence Howard is rolling over in his grave.

Bring forth a competent villain or two. Please, no Mandarin nor Fing Fang Foom. Please.

@ArturoCalaKayVee said:

@jsphsmth said:

Scarlett deserves her own Black Widow movie.

Totally agreed. She's done enough to get her own. Maybe even throw in Hawkeye as a co-star too just so he doesnt feel left out

Really? This is a little premature isn't it? We haven't even seen her in her role as BW- she could be terrible! Does Black Widow even have her own book title? She's a secondary character at the most, and I don't think popular enough to warrant her own movie. Elektra was bad enough.

I WANNA DAREDEVIL FILM!!!!! A good one!

shes reallllly hot on that pic!!!!!!

@Loki2u:

Actualy we did see her as black widow plenty in ironman 2

and she is curently a primary character in Winter Soldier and Secret Avengers and a background character in avengers and avengers assemble, and i beleive she will be getting another mini series titled somthing along the lines on Black Widow Stikes

I hope she gets a better story than in Iron Man 2.

has anyone mentioned whether or not any of the original films supporting cast members would be appearing in Avengers like War Machine or Jane Foster or Betty Ross...not big roles but just cameos?

I am excited to see her in Iron Man 3. I liked her character a lot in Iron Man 2. One thing I really hope to see in Iron Man 3 is Pepper become Rescue

Soooo is she Russian yet or what?

I wouldn't have minded a few cameos.

Hmmm...wouldn't expect her to survive the Avenger ordeal with those tiny pistols, but whatever.

i still dont appreciate Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, but hopefully that will change...Black Widow is one of my favorite females heroes...if she does come back for Iron Man 3 hopefully she'll have a bigger role...

my biggest disappointment is that War Machine isn't in Avengers, why is that again???

Brutal. The second worst part of Iron Man 2 was the whole overblown Black Widow fight scene at the end of it (the first being Jackson as himself as Nick Fury...GOD he is a terrible actor. If they were going to go ultimate Nick, it should have been Ving Rhames or Idris Elba). If they actually do a Black Widow movie, I'm sure it will be about the same as that abomination Elektra.

I still love the Namor rumor

Black Widow was the focus in the Russian Trailer because perhaps..she's..Russian. No? Represent.

iam happy i like scarlett shes a sexy woman and shes great as bw.

@Omega Ray Jay said:

Interesting stuff

awesome!

i still dont appreciate Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, but hopefully that will change...Black Widow is one of my favorite females heroes...if she does come back for Iron Man 3 hopefully she'll have a bigger role...

my biggest disappointment is that War Machine isn't in Avengers, why is that again???

@Rickbarry said:

Terrence Howard is rolling over in his grave.

hes dead?

i heard that the mandarin was going to be the main badguy in iron man 3

@umbrafeline said:

@Rickbarry said:

Terrence Howard is rolling over in his grave.

hes dead?

i heard that the mandarin was going to be the main badguy in iron man 3

Ha! No, it's just a joke I heard once upon a time. He's really gotta be steaming about the Ocean's 11 guy stealing his role!

Of course she is what the trailers focus on. Look at her!

Awesome news...great actress and SUPER hot! I'm super happy with all these Marvel Studio movies so far. A lot of fun!

Why? Her acting is consistently wooden. The way the second one went, and the way Avengers looks I'm really not that hopeful for Iron Man 3. It hangs on the villain. Ultimo, it should be.

What an horrible casting choice

It makes perfect sense:

- Until/If after Avengers is released and becomes the biggest thing, currently the Iron Man franchise stands as the largest draw right now, and one could even argue that his character is one of the biggest pushes in advertising for the Avengers movie itself. In this viral day in age, everything is advanced in the news, naturally their going to push IM3 now.

- Most talent hired for Marvel superhero movies, no matter the production company, are immediately given a minimum three movie contract. Naturally again the go to film is going to be the one the character initially sold well enough in, in her case the Iron Man series.

"Gwynth Paltrow is set to return asPepper Potts as is Don Cheadle as Rhodey (aka War Machine)."

Good.

"Gwynth Paltrow is set to return asPepper Potts as is Don Cheadle as Rhodey (aka War Machine)."

Oh no.

I still can't stand Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, but whatever.

Have to appreciate the irony of having the trailer be in Slavic (Russian it sounded), with Black Widow's appearances and her speaking the lingo. I've always preferred Natalia to be Russian instead of the watered down American she is in the Iron Man/Avengers flicks.

Mandarin PLEASE!!!

@ThePRez said:

imagine if they do the ultimate black widow thing, when she turn out to be a traitor

omg that would be AWESOME!

Yeah, because that's what I was REALLY looking forward to in Iron Man 3.