Marvel Studios: 'Iron Man 3' Officially In Production

After the enormous success of Joss Whedon's The Avengers, stories about superhero movie sequels are popping up left and right. The latest Avengers-related flick to start production is Iron Man 3, starring Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Paul Bettany, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rebecca Hall, Ben Kingsley, Jon Favreau (who directed the previous Iron Man 2), and Don Cheadle.

On Monday, Marvel Studios officially announced the kickoff of Iron Man 3 production, which is starting in Wilmington, North Carolina, and will eventually spread to Raleigh-Durham, Miami, and China, according to USA Today.

"Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1963, Iron Man 3 returns Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Marvel's The Avengers) as the iconic Super Hero character Tony Stark / Iron Man," said the vague press release about the project, which did not offer many more details than that, except for the fact that the new Iron Man will be directed by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), who also wrote the screenplay, and be released on May 3, 2013 — less than eleven months from now.

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