BEHIND THE SCENES

Jon Favreau said it was his intent to create a film trilogy for Iron Man, with Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) becoming Iron Monger during the sequels. However, Stane became the main villain in Iron Man after a meeting between Favreau and various comic book writers, including Mark Millar. Millar argued the Mandarin, whom Favreau originally intended to be the main villain, was too fantastical. Favreau concurred, deciding "I look at Mandarin more like how in Star Wars you had the Emperor, but Darth Vader is the guy you want to see fight. Then you work your way to the time when lightning bolts are shooting out of the fingers and all that stuff could happen. But you can't have what happened in Return Of The Jedi happen in A New Hope. You just can't do it."

Justin Theroux signed to write the script in July 2008, which is based on a story written by Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. Theroux co-wrote Tropic Thunder, and Downey recommended him to Marvel. Genndy Tartakovsky storyboarded the film. Shane Black gave some advice on the script, and suggested to Favreau and Downey that they model Stark on J.Robert Oppenheimer, who became depressed with being "the destroyer of worlds" after working on the Manhattan Project. Adi Granov returned to supervise the designs for Iron Man's armor. Filming will primarily take place at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, California.

Principal photography began April 6, 2009, at the Pasadena Masonic Temple. The fake working title was Rasputin. And filming also took place at Edwards Air Force Base and at the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix. The film's principal photography concluded on July 20, 2009.