...but suggests that 'magic' might enter the superhero blockbusters of the next five years.

With Iron Man 2 cleaning up at the box office in spite of a more mixed critical reception than its predecessor, franchise director Jon Favreau has revealed in an interview with MTV which villain he wants Tony Stark to face in the next instalment:

"You've got to do the Mandarin," Favreau declared, referring to the martial-arts based villain from the Iron Man comics.

The Mandarin's bloodline takes in that of Ghenghis Khan and English nobility; he has the power to slash Iron Man's armour to pieces and a history of turning Tony Stark's military-industrial weapons against both Iron Man and other nations.

But Favreau doesn't favour a too-literal translation as seen in the comics:

"The problem with the Mandarin is that the way it's depicted in the comic books, you don't want to see that...He has 10 magical rings...that just doesn't feel right for our [franchise]...So it's either tech-based, or the rings are not really rings. But maybe with Thor and all those others, you'll introduce magic to that world and it won't seem so out of place."

Ye Gods, not magic. Must these two consistent themes of blockbusters of the last ten years finally combine...? We'll give Doctor Strange a break in this regard, but it's the science of Iron Man/Batman-style superheroes that bridges the credibility gap for me, even if it is mad science.

MTV

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