IRON MAN 3 (Robert Downey Speaks)

• IRON MAN 3

With The Avengers near-completion, Robert Downey Jr. is already gearing up for his fifth big screen appearance as Tony Stark (counting a cameo in The Incredible Hulk) in Iron Man 3. The actor spoke with The LA Times about the 2013 film and what it's going to mean transitioning from director Jon Favreau to Shane Black.

"The thing about Shane is that it will be anything but one of those moments," Downey says of the Marvel project potentially matching the sardonic humor of their previous team-up, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, "unless we come up with something that is so cheeky and character-driven and perfect that it has to be in the movie."

Downey also admits that, despite the box office success of Iron Man 2, there are elements of the final film that he's not entirely satisfied with. The aim for the third go-round is to "leave it all on the field" and fall back on the natural rapport between Black and himself.

"We're not talking much about [the script] right now," he says, "because Shane is off writing and we talked before that and when we are talking again, the talking is going to be over pretty quick... It's kind of like we're fighting on the same side and at the same time we're circling each other, so it's all great. It should be great.