Now that Tony Stark has saved Manhattan and made probably the biggest superhero endorsement in shawarma's history as part of The Avengers, he's going back to the solo adventures that so suit his outsized personality.  Iron Man 3 is starting principal photography any minute now, so Marvel Studios and Disney are locking down the supporting cast, including the latest addition, James Badge Dale.

The world has caught The Avengers fever, but Marvel Studios and Disney are busy prepping the next superhero adventure.  Iron Man 3 is going into production this month, and the film needs an appropriately beautiful and intelligent actress to portray a "sexy scientist" who is on Tony Stark's level.  After a recent false start, it looks like Rebecca Hall might just be that actress.

Okay, The Avengers is out now and broke the all-time opening weekend record, earning over $200 million in its domestic debut.  So now let's look to Iron Man 3, Marvel and Disney's first post-The Avengers release, which will find Tony Stark once again sliding on his supersuit and pew-pew-pewing with aplomb.  The film is currently casting up, and despite earlier reports to the contrary, Jessica Chastain won't be playing a role in the sequel.

Opening in theaters on May 4th is the highly anticipated and soon-to-be summer blockbuster The Avengers, which was produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film marks the culmination of a promise that began in 2008 with Iron Man and continued in the years to follow with Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, introducing new Marvel characters that all exist in one unifying cinematic Marvel universe. Marvel Studios has succeeded in the impossible, bridging together several different film franchises to create one world where all of Marvel Studio's on-screen characters can coexist and form the popular superhero-team The Avengers, based on the classic comic book co-created by the legendary Stan "The Man" Lee.

The Avengers was written and directed by fanboy favorite Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Cabin in the Woods) and truly stars an all-star cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2) as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger) as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island) as Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as Thor, Scarlett Johansson (Iron Man 2) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Jeremy Renner (Thor) as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Samuel L. Jackson (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger) as Nick Fury, Tom Hiddleston (Thor) as Loki, Cobie Smulders (TV's How I Met Your Mother) as Maria Hill, Clark Gregg (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor) as Phil Coulson, Stellan Skarsgard (Thor) as Erik Slevig, and Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man, Iron Man 2) as Pepper Potts. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with actor Clark Gregg to discuss his work on The Avengers. The actor talked about the new film, being a central part of the Marvel on-screen universe, having doubts early on that The Avengers would even get made, the emotional depth of the film, watching the original character her created become part of the Marvel comic book world and the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, his character's fear, working with writer/director Joss Whedon; his terrific script, and whether or not we will see Agent Phil Coulson in future Marvel Studio films. 

In the impending The Avengers, the sole lady on that superteam should get ample opportunity to kick all manner of alien ass, but it might be a while before we get to see Natasha Romanoff throwing down in her leather Black Widow gear.  Last month, we had a headline reading, "Will the Black Widow Return in Iron Man 3?"  At the time, it seemed likely, but according to Scarlett Johansson, the answer is an unequivocal nope.

It would appear that both Pepper Potts and Natasha Romanoff will soon have some competition in the department of beautiful women who can put up with Tony Stark's egocentric nonsense.  Iron Man 3 is rapidly assembling an eclectic cast before production begins next month in North Carolina, and luminous redhead Jessica Chastain is reportedly in talks to play the sequel's new female lead.

As Disney and Marvel Studios prepare to unleash The Avengers on the world shortly, we're hearing a lot more about Iron Man 3, the first post-Avengers Marvel-Disney joint.  Earlier this week, we learned that the film will be co-financed by Chinese company DMG, and will be partially filmed in China, where it'll also see a wide release.  Before that, word was that Ben Kinglsey was in negotiations to play a mysterious role.  Now, there's more casting news, as the always-outstanding Guy Pearce is hopping aboard Iron Man 3.

A week ago, we heard the news that Ben Kinglsey is currently in talks to play a villain in Iron Man 3, the sequel that's set to begin production next month, shortly after The Avengers hits theaters Stateside.  While the reports of Kingsley's involvement specified that his character would not be Tony Stark's biggest comic book villain The Mandarin, a new announcement from Marvel Studios, Disney, and DMG Entertainment indicate that we might just see Iron Man's arch-nemesis in Iron Man 3.

Right now, all eyes are on The Avengers, but while the public waits for the first cinematic superhero team-up of its kind, Marvel Studios is busily assembling its roster of solo sequels.  First among those is Iron Man 3, continuing the adventures of billionaire-genius-philantropist-superhero Tony Stark.  With production set to begin early next month, it seems Marvel has found an actor to play Stark's new nemesis, as Ben Kingsley is in final negotiations for the role.

The lone member of the titular superteam in The Avengers carrying two X-chromosomes is Natasha Romanoff, known within SHIELD by the rather ominous codename Black Widow.  It's been unclear whether or not the character, played by Scarlett Johansson, would be back for the first Marvel Studios release after this summer's team-up, but now it appears Black Widow might just be appearing in Iron Man 3.