Eleven years, twenty-two movies, and more than $20 billion ago, the Marvel Cinematic Universe began under the direction of the guy from Swingers. Jon Favreau kicked things off back in 2008 with Iron Man and followed that up two years later with Iron Man 2, and he hasn’t directed an MCU-related project since. But it sounds like that might, maybe, possibly change at some point down the road, and during our interview with him on the set of Spider-Man: Far From Home, he addressed the chances of coming back and even his humorous idea for a potential Iron Man 4.



Just to be clear, you shouldn’t get your hopes up for Iron Man 4: that project has been rumored and un-rumored more times than we can count at this point, and Favreau says there are “no plans as of yet” for it to happen – although his idea for a story does sound pretty amusing. Here’s what he said on the Far From Home set:

“[Robert Downey Jr. and I] haven’t talked about 4. I’ve talked to Kevin about it to see what they’re up to, but we definitely love working together and we love these characters. So we talk about what it would be, and we always joke about the Freak storyline, which is a Happy Hogan storyline where he turns into a Hulk-like character. So we joke about that, but no plans as of yet.”

Avengers: Endgame gave Tony Stark a definitive ending, so I can’t imagine Favreau seriously getting back into the Iron Man franchise behind the camera, since his working relationship with Downey seems like a big part of the reason he enjoyed making the first two movies. Taking Downey out of the equation means the Iron Man franchise will likely be passed on to someone else, and Favreau understands the power of new blood in the MCU. Back in 2016, he referred to himself as “more of an elder statesman” and talked about how the Marvel movies are “in good hands with new filmmakers with fresh voices.”

As for whether he would ever return to direct something else for the MCU, he seemed open to the idea while shooting Far From Home:

“Nowadays, who knows? With all of the different platforms and the streaming service. I’m part of the new Disney streaming service and all of these new platforms are emerging and all sorts of really cool – it’s not like network television or not like blockbuster films where everything has to be made for all audiences. Now you can make specific material and content for specific groups. As long as you’re doing a good job and you’re loyal to it and they like what you’re doing, there’s room in this new eco-system. So it’s going to be very interesting to see what not just Lucasfilm does, but Marvel and Disney, to do things that don’t have to compete on a blockbuster weekend in the summer or the holidays. It takes a while for this to ripple through to the audiences, but you’re starting to see out there with the different ways of delivering content, you’re seeing a lot of material coming out. It allows for fresh voices and fresh takes, and certainly something like Marvel has a lot of opportunities because there are so many characters that might not warrant a huge movie but weave together. And you get a lot of chapters. So it’s exciting to see what’s coming.”

I wouldn’t be remotely surprised to see him eventually direct an episode or two of any of Marvel’s Disney+ shows, especially since he’ll be one of the first filmmakers to make a mark on that streaming service with The Mandalorian.