Superhero origin stories are old hat. By now, we've all seen enough super hero franchise startups that we can tell the story in our sleep. Something tragic happens to our soon-to-be hero, he goes through a catharsis that leads to his masked alter-ego. There's probably a lot of computer-generated (CG) effects in between and maybe a love interest that never seems to develop. And yet, Iron Man's first outing was still a hell of a lot of fun.

With the origin story out of the way, it's not hard to get excited about a Robert Downey Jr. turned loose without the shackles of the origin story. For those keeping a calendar countdown, it looks like shooting for Iron Man 2 will begin in March 2009, according to a story on Military.com.

That puts it in pretty good position for its April 2010 release. Jon Favreau, Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow are all slated to return for the second film.

There was also related news that Downey Jr. will show up in The Incredible Hulk when it's released on Friday. Between that and the near promise of a Capt. America cameo, it sounds like the Hulk won't be as successful as Iron Man's summer outing.