After two huge hits with the first two Iron Man movies, Jon Favreau will be turning over the directorial reins for Iron Man 3 to Shane Black, a noted screenwriter (Lethal Weapon) and director (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), who will both co-write and direct the latest film about the Marvel Comics superhero. Wired spoke to Black as well as veteran actor Don Cheadle (James Rhodes/War Machine), about what to expect in the third installment of the series in May 2013.

“I owe sort of a debt to [Jon] Favreau I have to carry on what he started without violating it — at the same time bringing sort of my own enhancement if I can,” said Black. Since Iron Man is also part of the larger Marvel Comics cinematic universe, the scope of the events in the 2012 blockbuster superhero team-up The Avengers also influenced the way the new director approached the newest adventure of Tony Stark. “We had kind of a conundrum in that The Avengers opens up this huge skyhole full of inter-dimensional aliens, and you kind of look back and [think], ‘Well, what do you do after that?’ Except go back to a sort of more gritty, intense kind of techno-thriller root.”