Both New York Magazine and Cinema Blender have relayed the information that Jon Favreau officially won’t be directing IRON MAN 3. There are a lot rumors offering explanations as to why he’s done so. Maybe his rate got too high for the budget, maybe the cinematic world was getting too complex to jibe with his vision… maybe it’s just as simple as him wanting to do other projects now that he’s spent almost a half a decade on shellhead. I’ll leave the discussion up to all you in-the-know insiders in the Comic Vine community. He is still going to be working with Disney, though. His next project, MAGIC KINGDOM, will be a NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM-style romp wherein a family trapped in Disneyland after hours has to navigate through a park full of enlivened attractions who're running amuck.

It feels like an awfully-long time ago that we were getting ready to watch IRON MAN 2. I’m still honestly mystified as to why there was such a vocal backlash against the movie. I thought it was actually more entertaining than the first. It certainly had more credible villains. Jeff Bridges is great, don’t get me wrong, but he didn't pull off power-mad and megalomaniac as Iron Monger as well as lizardly cool and evil as just plain Obadiah Stane. 

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of  HYBRID BASTARDS!  &  UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon   here  &   here .  Follow him on Twitter:  @tompinchuk

I hope this isn't true. IM and IM2 were both very good movies.
 
And I also thought IM2 was more entertaining than the first one, for sure.

 iron man 3 will prob suck at least humorwise storywise it mite and and mite not

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
EASY ONE!

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

The Movie can be just one big explosion for two hours.

But will he stay as an actor with Happy Hogan ?

I am glad to hear I am not the only one who really liked Iron Man 2.  I thought it was good, first movie showed him become Iron Man and to me the second felt like we were returning to Tony's life to see how becoming Iron Man had changed it.  Sort of a glimpse into Tony Stark's life now the he is Iron Man.
Not sure why he left it, maybe because he figures that Avengers is the 3rd and final Iron Man movie.  But maybe not.
You can't really leave it the way he left it in Iron Man 2 though

and what about Happy Hogan?

awwww man that sucks

" 
EASY ONE!

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

The Movie can be just one big explosion for two hours.

"

I think this is applicable:
  

I guess he just doesn't want to have to wait around for ages to make it... Still, this is a total bummer... He'd better return as Happy!

Well if they remain serious about it all I could only imagine it getting better from here despite favreau leaving. Mandarin showing up would be nice, ten rings vs tech is something I'd rather see instead of the whole IRON MAN VS A BUNCH OF FUCKING ROBOTS OH AND A GUY IN ANOTHER SUIT.

I'm not surprised....apparently he hated directing Iron Man 2 because Marvel kept weaseling it's way in and tried to get him to throw in as many Avengers references they could. He said that he basically directed one big 2 hour long commercial.

Weird that he'd opt out of IM3 seeing as how he also acts in it. Be interesting to see if Happy Hogan will be back or if he'll be recast.

" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

This is terrible news :(

Hey, wanna know the basic plot to Iron Man 3?  

"Making of Iron Man 2"

In a way, I wouldn't blame him. I like both Iron Man movies, but what could you do with the third movie without messing it up? Adding the Mandarin would make sense, but how could you add him in that universe making it seem plausible? Remember the hype Spider man 3 had when Venom was going to be added? Venom didn't live up to my expectations. I still like the third movie, but the first two were way better IMO.
I do hope he returns to play Happy though.

" Hey, wanna know the basic plot to Iron Man 3?  

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Someone steals Tony Starks technology to make a "better" Iron Man and at first Tony doesn't care until he realises that he will be fucked if he doesn't do something about it. Then he beats his bad guy. Bam. Iron Man 3.

"

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Or maybe he would fight against the Mandarin... 

" But will he stay as an actor with Happy Hogan ? "

Sucks but these things happen, would be great if they got him at least to produce to keep the same vibe. Wonder who they would get though they have plenty of time to figure that out. Would hope that they hash it out and bring him on to direct if possible down the road.

 (takes deep breath) 

So upsetting. I was waiting to see his version of the Mandarin that he's been talking about since the first one.

People love to jump to the most dramatic possibilities and conspiracy theories.  I say we wait to see if he's still playing Happy Hogan.  If he is, then he probably was just too busy, tired of directing Iron Man, or just didn't have a creative vision he was happy with for the movie.  If he's not, then let the conspiracies commence.

awwwwwwwww that is kinda sad.

Hmmm...does not bode well for 3...

It stopped being about Iron Man a long time ago so I don't really blame him.

" This is terrible news! I think he did a fine job on both movies. I can't think of another director that would give the 3rd movie the same flavor as the first 2. Oh well, as long as they don't contact John Woo, Ryan Singer, or Michael Bay for the job I think things will be okay.  Can you imagine them collaborating? Tony Stark would end up finding out Pepper had given birth to his son and married someone else, so he'd jump out of a window in super slow motion while his house blew up in a mushroom cloud.   ... okay that actually sounds kind of cool.... "

i think ben affleck might be a good replacement for the the third one and god bless chris nolan for sticking around for three movies...directors need to be more like him...but still i hope jon favreau might come back one day. and the funny thing is that i finally saw iron man 2 the day before this news came out...hahahaha....

" Oh great it's the third movie syndrome. "

As long as mandarin is the villain I really don't care who directs it(as long as its not michel bay)

Do you guys really care if he comes back as Happy? I could give a flying f***.

uh oh

Elf 2.

I honestly cant believe people in the comments are saying that Iron Man 2 was a "great movie".

Iron Man 2 was just another trite, soulless superhero movie which the first film wasn't.  I bet Favreau was just getting sick of it all and got out while the going was good.