Even though most of the comic book community is anticipating 2012 and the releases of The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, and Superman: The Man of Steel, don’t forget that we can still expect one more Tony Stark/Iron Man adventure in 2013. So why should we care about the character and the franchise after Iron Man 2 took a step back in terms of character and story, and director Jon Favreau jumped ship for Magic Kingdom? Two words: Shane Black. Predator may have made mincemeat of Black in Predator, but that’s not why we like him. Just look at his resume. Lethal Weapon, The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, a film that made studios eye Robert Downey Jr. as leading man material once again.
Now Black’s and Downey’s paths cross again. Once the hiring of Shane Black to direct was made official, the speculation was that he would be writing the screenplay as well. But that isn’t the case. Deadline reports that Paramount Pictures is bringing in a writer to work with Shane Black. Drew Pearce was selected after writing the script for Runaways, a Marvel project based on the cult comic by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan about children of super villains who try to use their evil powers for heroic purposes.
Pearce will be writing the script from scratch, but will be working closely with Black in hammering out the dialogue.
So should we be worried that Paramount is entrusting the writing duties to someone like Pearce? Well, over in the UK he did write the comedy series No Heroics which follows a group of superheroes, the normal lives they lead outside of fighting crime, and the bar where they hang out. But there’s a catch: they can’t use their superpowers while drinking. (What kind of happy hour is this?) Considering that Tony Stark is a bit of a drinker, it will be interesting to see what happens with the collaboration. Pearce’s dry British wit and Black’s machoisms should be fun.
