The Avengers is making all the headlines in the Marvel movie universe right now, but not long after that movie opens in early May, production will begin on Iron Man 3, which will continue the adventures of the superhero who started it all (sorry, Hulk, but the profits on the first Iron Man is what brought us here today). iron Man 3 will be shooting largely in North Carolina, and a casting call for extras and stand-ins in the area, picked up by The Daily Blam, managed to confirm a little information about what we can expect from the film. Despite some rumors that she might meet her end in The Avengers, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow is apparently set to return in Iron Man 3, along with Tony Stark himself of course, along with Pepper Potts and Rhodey.
Before we leap to any conclusions, this casting call is clearly not written by the studio-- if it were, they probably wouldn't mention that Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as Rhodey. But it does seem safe to assume they wouldn't name drop ScarJo in the opening paragraph if she wasn't set to return, and it makes sense to have her back, as a way of nodding to the epic assembly of Avengers in this summer's film while also letting Hawkeye, Captain America, Hulk and Thor wander off and do their own things. The strangest thing here is that there's no mention of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, a key figure in Iron Man 2 and the guy who is behind all of the adventures Iron Man will experience in The Avengers-- adventures that presumably will at least affect what happens in his third standalone film.
I have to assume Jackson will be in the movie, since he signed a nine-picture deal with Marvel and all, but maybe this means he'll have a smaller role this time around. Then again, this is just a casting announcement written by an outside source, so it's unwise to take any of this as gospel. But when some set photo emerges of Johansson strolling around in North Carolina, just remember that you had the heads up.
Here's some of the casting announcement excerpted below.
Principal actor auditions and extras casting registration is underway for the Walt Disney Studios/Marvel Studios superhero feature film "Iron Man 3". Shooting will take place in the Wilmington, NC area and other locations in North Carolina from May 21, 2012 through September 7, 2012. The film's main stars are being cast out of Los Angeles, however many supporting and day player acting roles will be cast in North Carolina. All of the extras, photo-doubles and stand-ins for the films stars will be cast in North Carolina. The production will create 550 "high-quality, well-paying jobs" and 1,000 talent opportunities in N.C.Two-time Academy Award nominated Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his roles as as Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Scarlett Johansson will return from "Iron Man 2" playing Natasha Romanoff aka "The Black Widow", and Gwyneth Paltrow plays Stark's closest friend, love interest, and business partner Pepper Potts. Don Cheadle, who replaced Terrence Howard after the first "Iron Man", returns as Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes - Stark's personal pilot, chief aviation engineer for Stark International, and one of Stark's closest friends.Multi talented actor, screenwriter and film director Shane Black is taking over the directing duties from Jon Favreau, who directed the first two films in the "Iron Man" series. Black also is writing the screenplay for "iron Man 3" with Drew Pierce and Robert Downey Jr's creative input. He recently said not to expect "Iron Man 3" to feature any other heroes from Marvel's universe saying that after "The Avengers" the plan is to go back to self-contained single-character stories. Shane Black has directed Robert Downey Jr. before - in Black's last feature film directing job "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" in 2005.
