Robert Downey Jr. made a Tony Stark-like entrance on Saturday into the San Diego Convention Centre’s largest exhibition hall, dancing up through the aisles among more than 6,000 fans.
The Iron Man star joined Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige at Comic-Con to show footage from the film, due next summer, and announce the studio’s upcoming superhero film slate. He appeared while wearing the right hand of his Iron Man costume with a suit and tie.
The Iron Man 3 clip showed Stark’s latest incarnation of his super suit, pieces of which fly across his workshop and attach themselves to his body. It showed his cliffside compound crumbling into the sea and his cache of Iron Man suits being blasted to bits.
The footage also offered a look at Sir Ben Kingsley as the villain Mandarin and franchise newcomers Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, along with the return of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes and Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan.
Favreau, who directed the first two Iron Man films, served as an executive producer on the third instalment.
“I feel like a proud grandfather who doesn’t have to change the diapers but gets to play with the baby,” Favreau said, appearing on the Marvel panel with Cheadle and Iron Man 3 director Shane Black.
Black said the film explores the roots of Stark’s mythology and feels like a culmination to the trilogy.
As to whether there could be more Iron Man movies after this one, Downey said: “The future is uncertain.
“I’m super happy and this has been just an amazing journey,” he said.
Feige also announced other upcoming Marvel movies, including Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant Man.
Director Edgar Wright made a surprise appearance at the panel and showed his test shots for the big-screen adaptation.
“I can reveal that Ant Man has been here the whole day,” Wright said of the diminutive superhero. “In fact, he was here to spy on the Pacific Rim panel,” where Guillermo del Toro gave a look at his giant-robot-versus-massive-monsters flick earlier on Saturday.
