Our source says Iron Man 2 wasn’t the movie Jon Favreau wanted to make. Marvel interfered heavily with his work on the movie and turned the project into an infomercial for The Avengers. Favreau felt the movie was rushed into production (and if you followed the development process you know it was) and they pushed him into making it without a fully realized script. Iron Man 2 wasn’t the movie he wanted to make and because of that, if there’s an Iron Man 3, there’s every reason to think he won’t be back. Marvel doesn’t want to pay him and Favreau may not want to deal with more Marvel interference.Iron Man 2 was a rough production for many reasons. It was rushed, Mickey Rourke was a nightmare to work with and Marvel Studios controls their films (for better and for worse) with an iron fist. And no one was truly happy with the final result, including Marvel.
One unavoidable problem with having all of the Marvel-produced films connected is that at some point the pieces for The Avengers must be moved into place. Fans of serialized television programs know that the episodes spent arranging the pieces are the toughest, but are necessary for a later payoff. Iron Man 2 suffered from serving as the medium to kick-start The Avengers.