The first Marvel Studios movie to follow The Avengers is now shooting, as Iron Man 3 has begun production in Wilmington, North Carolina.  With the start of principal photography this week comes some new casting information on the film, one for a new character who will presumably be fighting Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark and one who will once again drive Tony around and provide a bit of comedic relief.

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.

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.

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.

Fittingly, since he was the first hero that Marvel Studios introduced in its overlapping-mega-franchise-machine, Iron Man will be the first hero returning to independent adventures after this summer's The Avengers.  That film, towards which Marvel has been building since 2008's Iron Man, hits theaters this May, and Iron Man 3 will arrive almost exactly one year later, in the summer of 2013.  While we're all abuzz about The Avengers, though, a rumor has arisen online that may reveal the central story point in Iron Man 3.  Obviously, the whole post from here on out is basically a spoiler, so proceed with caution.

We're now deep enough it awards season to say that it looks unlikely 20th Century Fox's campaign to get an Oscar for Andy Serkis won't pan out.  That's too bad, since he and Weta Digital created something pretty incredible with Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Still, as motion capture technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, eventually the technique will garner more widespread prestige.  These days, even casual film fans are familiar with behind-the-scenes footage of grown men running around in spandex with dots all over it. 

A new video entitled "The Future of CGI" argues that the next step in motion-capture implementation is in using it to create inanimate objects.  Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer, two very funny guys you'll recognize from the MTV sketch series Human Giant, lay themselves, the foremost motion-capture actors who bring random props to life with no movement.  The very funny video also includes appearances from directors Jon Favreau and Michael Bay, as well as adulation from fellow thespian Ray Liotta, who says, "A lot of actors have too much ego to play a pole or a mop, but these guys, they take pride in it."

So The Avengers is in the middle of post-production, meaning you can no longer rely on set photos and the like to provide your fix of Marvel crossover smack.  Today, though, we have an info nugget that will not only give a little dose of The Avengers news, but will also delight fans of Iron Man and Iron Man 2.  Specifically, fans of Tony Stark's snarky artificial intelligence program J.A.R.V.I.S.  Apparently the auditory sidekick and convenient deliverer of exposition will not only have a part in Marvel's big ensemble, but Paul Bettany confirms that he will again be voicing the character.

Iron Man remains the most bankable property in Marvel Studios' stable of superheroes, and as such, the next two summers will contain no shortage of hot armored action.  Robert Downey Jr. next dons the armor as part of the ensemble in The Avengers, and the summer after that will see his next solo adventure, with Iron Man 3 dropping on May 3, 2013.  Production on the second sequel will take place in Wilmington, North Carolina, and if any inhabitants of that fair city and state want to be their face to part of a crowd in the cinematic Marvel Universe, then their time has finally arrived.