MARVEL UPDATES: Jon Favreau Not Directing Iron Man 3 & Pepper Not In Avengers

Vulture has learned that Jon Favreau has passed on directing Iron Man 3 for Marvel Studios. The site claims that Jon was frustrated over the studios' insistence to cram more of their heroes into the next film. One of the biggest hindrance of Iron Man 2 was the fact audiences has to endure over saturation of Marvel Easter eggs. From the pointless Captain America shield scene to the one to many Nick Fury appearances. While I doubt Iron Man 2 will be his last Marvel property I do expect him never to do another Iron Man. Of course this has yet to be confirmed by either Marvel/Disney or the director himself.

Jon is now branching out his genre brush with Cowboys & Aliens mixing science fiction with the classic western.  I'd love to see Jon tackle some hybrid Marvel heroes like Iron Fist, Black Panther and even Dr. Strange in the future. Now that Iron Man 3 is without a director I'm curious if they'll still be aiming for the May 2013 release date.

As expected Gwyneth Paltrow has confirmed that her character Pepper Potts will not be appearing in The Avengers. It's been mentioned previously that neither Jim Rhodes (War Machine) or Pepper Potts would be included in the Avengers films. Making perfect sense as not to over crowd the budding new franchise and to leave the Iron Man films somewhat separate.