Why Jon Favreau Swore Off Directing MCU Movies After Iron Man 2
Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" and Louis Leterrier's "The Incredible Hulk" (both 2008) in many important ways weren't yet part of the then-nascent Marvel Cinematic Universe when they were first made. Favreau put in a post-credits stinger with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury more as a wink to fans than as an announcement that larger film projects were afoot. Additionally, Downey's cameo in "Incredible" was treated equally casually, with the actors reportedly improvising their dialogue. It would only be until after Disney purchased the Marvel library in 2009 that plans for an MCU would be put into place in earnest. In many ways, then, it would be Favreau's "Iron Man 2" in 2010 that launched the MCU properly and put plans for an "Avengers" feature film into motion.
Of course, constructing a Marvel Cinematic Universe from the ground up required a new kind of filmmaking. Individual features now had to be more careful about setting up future events and characters, and they needed to be released on a very stringent schedule. "Iron Man 2" was to precede "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger," both set for release in 2011, before "The Avengers" could hit screens in 2012. There was, it seems, no time for delays, for creative changes, or for massive re-writes. Everything needed to be done just as quickly as it did with the expected amount of Marvel blockbuster largesse. It was, as Favreau himself reported, incredibly exhausting.
The production of "Iron Man 2" was detailed in the new book "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios" by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards. In the book, Favreau recalled how tired he was, and how the exhaustion pretty much discouraged him from continuing within the same film series.
Iron Man 2: So Very Tired
Favreau admitted that it was merely a rushed release schedule that did him in. He noted:
"A lot of things have to come together for this movie to work out. [...] We're up against it, schedule-wise. We've given ourselves less time on this film than we did last time, and it's a much more ambitious project. This is part of the fear that I had when we started so late; less than two years to do this, to come up with this story. Set it up, prep it, film it, cut it, and do all the finishing touches. It's no excuse — we're going to have to do a great film — but it does put everybody under a tremendous amount of stress."
He noted that he — along with the editors, composers, and everyone else — was going to have to work long, long, long days to get everything done. "It was ambitious to begin with," he said, "and now we have to knock it into overdrive. There's going to be a lot of people not sleeping. Hundreds of people not sleeping."
Despite the rush, Favreau completed "Iron Man 2" on time. The film ultimately cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million, compared to the $140 million of the first "Iron Man." Perhaps exasperating, the second film wasn't a much larger hit than the first ("Iron Man" made $585 million worldwide, while "Iron Man 2" made $623 million). Additionally, reviews were mixed. Many can say now that "Iron Man 2" was far more concerned with the new machinations of the upcoming MCU than it was with telling an interesting story unto itself; the script was sloppy.
"Iron Man 3" was announced as early as 2010, and Favreau had no interest in returning.
'This whole world — I have no idea what it is'
Favreau announced in a 2010 interview with MTV that he was out. Because the MCU film franchise was still getting off the ground in 2010, however, he remained diplomatic, tactfully refusing to badmouth the company or speak ill of his "Iron Man 2" experience. He also said that he would rather work on another large-scale studio film, "The Magic Kingdom," which he would also make for Disney. That film was delayed for a while and Favreau made a remake of "The Jungle Book" for Disney instead. In 2011, Favreau made a Western/sci-fi mashup called "Cowboys & Aliens," and it was very poorly received. One might say that the bad reviews for "Cowboys" drove the director back to a small-scale, indie-style film like "Chef," a picture more in line with the writer/director's earlier films like "Made" and "Swingers" (which he wrote).
In the MTV interview, Favreau said that he needed to "find something that lights a fire." Something that can "blow people away, which is easier to do with a project that isn't loaded with built-in expectations." According to "MCU," Favreau was too tired to devote himself to making further "Avengers" films. Marvel was still improvising how to make such a grand project function, and Favreau was simply not the man for the job. He knew that any future projects were going to be afflicted by similar time crunches and last-minute panic, saying:
"In theory, 'Iron Man 3' is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers. [...] This whole world — I have no idea what it is. I don't think they do either, from conversations I've had with those guys."
The MCU coalesced without Favreau, and he seems to have been happy being Happy.