By Jacques Louis David at Worth1000. (CubicleBot)

If you’ve been seeing a lot of news stories lately where Robert Downey, Jr. casually says something to the effect of “I’m not going to be playing Iron Man forever” or “yeah, I’d be interested in seeing who else could be Tony Stark,” it might be informative for you to remember that his contract actually is up to be renegotiated in this post Iron Man 3 era. These seemingly casual remarks are actually the first salvos in the epic game of moneyball that’s about to be played between Downey and Marvel Entertainment over what he’ll be paid to appear in The Avengers 2 and possibly The Avengers 3.

This means that some news outlets are pulling out all their unnamed sources to talk some straight insider talk about the contract negotiations between Downey, all of his Avengers co-stars, and Marvel. So you should take this with a grain of salt, but one of those news outlets is claiming that Marvel is mulling over script ideas for some pretty exciting secondary characters.

I almost left Robert Downey Jr.’s name out of the title because it’s possible he would do something like this for real. But this is a parody. A very well-executed parody. You may remember Wesley Freitas’ work from his Big Trouble in Little China/”Gangnam Style” or Dark Knight Rises/”Call Me Maybe” parodies. This time he’s pretending to be Iron Man and singing in the style of Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie.” Enjoy!

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“The world is getting weird,” declares faithful former bodyguard Happy (Jon Favreau) early in the first act of Iron Man 3. He’s not wrong. Everybody’s favorite genius billionare playboy philanthropist is back for a fourth round, facing a changing world, and a changing self. After the invasion of New York, and the start of the Avengers, there’s plenty on the table for Mr. Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to handle, from terrorists to his mercurial relationship to his own obsessions. Fortunately for us, though, IM3 doesn’t take too steep of a dive into Tony’s demons. It stays at a neat cruising altitude: charming, effusive, with requisite explosions aplenty. Much like the most used and battered of Tony Stark’s suits, Iron Man 3 has some loose pieces that rattle, but it holds together for a fun, familiar ride.

Material under the cut contains arc-reactor-powered SPOILERS. Read at your own discretion.

Followers of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will know that Agent Coulson will be popping up in the show—in fact, he’s one of the leads—and that Agent Maria Hill might put in an appearance as well. But what about other characters from the Marvelverse? People who’ve been in the comics but not the movies, say? Like new superheroes?

Entertainment Weekly asked Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige just that, and his answer was pretty intriguing.

Last night we posted a livestream of the Iron Man 3 premiere from the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Today, Disney has graciously shared some images from the red carpet and after party. I guess I was spoiled by Robert Downey Jr. in lederhosen but I’m a little let down he didn’t wear anything wacky. Take a look at the stars from the film and see who else popped up from the Marvel Universe.

The red carpet premiere of Iron Man 3 starts at 9:00 PM EST (6:00 PST), and we have a livestream for you, you lucky ducks! I’m not sure if anything’s going to go on besides people walking down a red carpet and occasionally being interviewed (is that all that happens at these things?), but even if there’s isn’t something super-cool like Robert Downey Jr. soaring into the theater wearing an Iron Man suit, the list of people who’ll be walking the red carpet (most of the stars of The Avengers in addition to the Iron Man 3 cast. Plus Stan Lee!) is pretty impressive.

Check back at nine and hit the jump to see if that rumor about Ben Kingsley showing up to all the premieres dressed as the Mandarin actually has something to it. In the meantime, you can always stare at Tony’s grumpy face.

I can’t imagine that many of our readers aren’t familiar with “Science Bros,” but just in case, let me recap: It’s the pairing, sometimes platonically but often decidedly not, of Bruce Banner and Tony Stark in The Avengers. It’s sunshine and rainbows and flowers and science.

And now Mark Ruffalo ships it.

Yup, John Hughes’ Weird Science is the next classic 80s film to get the remake treatment. 

My apologies, Britons: the United Kingdom red carpet premiere of Iron Man has been delayed from its original date of next Wednesday due to the funeral of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. But you’re going to see it before any of us Yanks, so I guess our little Revolution wasn’t all that great.