25-year-old Wang Kung shows up to work in his $450, homemade Mark I Iron Man suit in Shanghai.  Gee, I wonder if anyone took pictures. (I’ll let you guys make the obvious racial slur joke here). |DailyMail| Video after the jump.

MORNING LINKS

• The Many Faces Of Many Faces [Uproxx]
• Would You Pay $2.99 To Watch Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday?’ [Uproxx]
• Ben and Jerry’s loves Schweddy balls [WarmingGlow]
• This Week In F—k You: Footnotes [KSK]
• This Week in Posters [Filmdrunk]
• The Best and Worst of WWE All-Star Raw 6/13 [WithLeather]
• Neil Gaiman writing American Gods sequel. |GammaSquad|
• Zoo Baby loves lioness that wants to eat him. |TheDailyWhat|
• The Goanimate XBox 360 with Kinect Giveaway! |Unreality|
• Natalie Portman gave birff. |TheSuperficial|
• Hooters now has a competitor called “Canz.” Classy. |NYCStool|
• Christian Bale: A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Gross [Pajiba]
• Video Game Sequels That Were Actually Better Than The Original [UGO]
• The Kate Upton Guide To Becoming An Internet Sensation By Your 19th Birthday [NextRound]
• Best choice to record an audiobook version of “Go the F*ck to Sleep”? Samuel L. Jackson, of course [Fark]
• Ranking David Lynch movies. |Nerve|
• Kelsey Grammer’s new show looks great. |Videogum|
• How Facebook lost six million subscribers. |HolyTaco|
• James Cameron and Sam Worthington want to produce Myth. |ScreenJunkies|

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"Going on another crab cake run, you guys want anything?"

When Marvel hired Shane Black to direct Iron Man 3, most people assumed it was more for his skill writing wise-cracking, buddy-flick dialog than for his visionary directing style (since he’s only directed one film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which he also wrote).  As the director, his touch on the screenplay may still come through in the finished product, but as of today, he’s not writing the script.

Drew Pearce has been chosen by Marvel Studios to write Iron Man 3. Pearce got the job 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 [so... like regular superheros, then? -Ed.]. Pearce is the British writer who created the irreverent UK TV series No Heroics, about a bar hangout for superheroes, who aren’t allowed to use their superpowers while drinking.

Pearce is in talks to jump on one of Marvel’s biggest hits, and I’m told the plan is for him to start from scratch and work closely with Black. Iron Man 3 will be released May 3, 2013 through Disney. [Deadline]

So… excited?  Angry?  Bueller?  Honestly, at this point I kind of have superhero fatigue.  This Pearce guy might be brilliant for all I know, but I have a feeling some jackass at Marvel had cold feet about hiring Shane Black and felt safer having someone with “comic-book experience” write it.  Which is stupid, because Iron Man is basically The Last Boy Scout with a metal suit. When it comes to comic book writers, less is more, I would think.

"I left that pie to cool right here and now it's gone. Anyone seen Kilmer?"

That 80s buddy cop flick genius Shane Black was one of the candidates being looked at as a replacement for Jon Favreau just seemed like one of those stories movie nerds get super excited over and then never hear about again.  But it sounds like it’s actually happening.  I’m so excited I didn’t even bother to suck the Cheetos crumbs off my fingers before I typed this.

The ever secretive Marvel Studios is in final negotiations with Shane Black to direct Iron Man 3 set to be released on May 3, 2013. As you know , IM1 and IM2 director Jon Favreau begged off to helm Magic Kingdom at Disney [puke] so his relationship with the franchise ran its course. Shane is first and foremost a writer but it’s not clear whether he’ll be penning the IM3 script as well. “That’s not figured out,” our source says. Of course, everyone in and around Marvel is keeping mum. [Deadline]

I can’t blame anyone for being excited about this.  I still remember one of my favorite Shane Black exchanges, from Long Kiss Goodnight:

Geena Davis: Same principle as deflowering virgins.  I read it in this Harold Robbins book.  A guy bites her on the ear, distracts from the pain.  You ever try that?

Samuel L. Jackson:  No.  I usually sock ‘em in the jaw and yell ‘Pop goes the weasel.’

But as much as I love Shane Black, I can’t be too excited.  Marvel is still the company rushes movies into production and is rumored to push hard to cross-promote their other movies, two things that seem like they’d clash hard with a guy who’s particular about his scripts.  At this point in the franchise, Shane Black directing an Iron Man movie is kind of like watching Clive Owen bang an aging cocktail waitress.  I’d explain that further, but I think the analogy speaks for itself.

"Hey, I'm gonna go grab a plate of sliders, you guys want anything?"

Apologies in advance, because this is one of those yeah-and-if-your-aunt-had-big-hairy-balls-she’d-be-your-uncle type stories (an average movie blog story, in other words)… but the LATEST optimistic speculation is that Lethal Weapon/Last Boy Scout/Kiss Kiss Bang Bang writer Shane Black *COULD* direct the next Iron Man for Marvel. That would make a lot of movie dorks get even beardier with excitement, and in my rush to report it I can hardly contain my dandruff.

The writer/director has powwowed with Marvel execs [I prefer to read this literally -Ed] about his take on the third installment in the blockbuster franchise. As of now he is being considered for the directing job, but the assumption is that if he gets the gig, he would also write a draft.

Insiders said that Black’s involvement is far from a sure thing, and that other filmmakers were being looked at.

Iron Man 3 would reteam Black and Downey, who worked together on the well-regarded Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which Black directed and co-wrote. [THR]

It’s tempting to get excited about this one, but the Iron Man franchise is kind of like the aging Playmate whose best years are probably behind her at this point.  And they really missed an opportunity by not bringing Shane Black on for the last one, which was essentially an interracial buddy cop flick anyway.  Only problem?  Not nearly enough wisecracking.  Someone should’ve gotten ahold of Don Cheadle and been like, “Yo, Hotel Rwanda, why don’t you loosen up and make with the sass talk.”

Pointless Aside: The only Shane Black/Iron Man joke I can think of involves Robert Downey Jr. “shooting Gwyneth Paltrow’s fish tank.”  Oh would you look at that, I just invented my new favorite euphemism.

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Uh oh, Mickey's moistening his thumb. We should leave.

When I reported on Jon Favreau not coming back for Iron Man 3 yesterday, I wasn’t that sad about it.  I was actually happy to see him leave a sequel that’ll probably be a clusterfart, and maybe do something cool for a studio not owned by Disney.  Ah, but this is Hollywood.  Things have a way of working out in the lamest way possible.

Favreau will join Guillermo del Toro and David Fincher as part of a next wave of filmmakers making live-action feature films rooted in the imagery of Disney theme parks and classic characters.

Favreau is set to direct “Magic Kingdom,” which the 44-year-old filmmaker described as a family fantasy adventure that will tap into the vintage Disney creations that “loomed so large in the imagination” of his generation.

Favreau spoke in reverent terms of the legacy of Walt Disney and made it clear that his departure from Marvel is no snap decision or the result of fractured relations. The main impulse was to “find something that lights a fire” inside of him as a filmmaker and gives him a chance to “blow people away, which is easier to do with a project that isn’t loaded with built-in expectations.” [LATimes]

Yes, it must be refreshing to get away from all those built-in expectations by taking on the imagery of classic Disney characters.  That just makes good sense.

If only Disney made “new idea” dolls.  I’d totally see a movie that was trying to sell those.