Jon Favreau has left hints that he'd be directing the upcoming Avengers movie for some time now, saying his involvement was "yet to be determined." It looks like fanboys let their hopes get away from them, though, as Favreau has now told MTV that his status is 100% determined ... and the decision is "no."
They'll have to [find a different director], because I'm not going to be available. It's something I'm being the executive producer on, so I'll definitely have input and a say.
It's going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with Avengers you're going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor. How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it's going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we've created.
Favreau also confirmed that Edward Norton will not be appearing as The Hulk in Iron Man 2, though Favreau says there will still be connections between Iron Man 2 and the other Avengers movies.
We want to reinforce a lot of the stuff we started to tip off ... The Avengers is a much larger concern for Marvel and Kevin Feige, who runs Marvel. They're going to be doing Thor and Captain America, and the way we might start to tease those things in this movie, some of it is stuff that we've discussed [and] some of the stuff you do last-minute as you figure out how that stuff is coming together. It's an evolving, amorphous thing. If we decide and commit too early, the secret always gets out. As soon as we shot the Nick Fury thing [in Iron Man] — we had a closed set and nobody was supposed to know about it — a week later somehow it was all over the internet.
While fans have to be disappointed with the news that Favreau's not directing The Avengers, Favreau certainly isn't. He thinks Avengers is in good hands with Feige.
That's why it's good that you have the guys from Marvel like Kevin Feige, who knows the books well and has been involved with the making of all the movies, and he'll be very involved with Thor and Cap. You need somebody who has the perspective of all the different franchises to bring them together. I have the myopic vision of just knowing and loving Iron Man.