Favreau really put his heart and soul into the series and for me he took a "C" class Marvel character and thrust him to an "A". Now I actually care about Iron Man whereas before the movies I didn't even pay any attention to him. My impressions are that something soured Favreau and he pulled out. So that leaves a question - "Will Robert DOwney Jr. still want to come back for the 3rd and ultimately the Avengers movie?". Favreau was adamant that RDJ take on the title role and ultimately gave his career the boost he so desperately needed. There must be some bond between the 2.

Without Favreau, the series could lose alot of the care taken to make the character so awesome. I just hope they replace him with someone who understands who/what Iron Man is and they don't screw it up.

Totally agree...Iron Man wasn't that big of a character in my mind and now all of a sudden he's huge!

RDJ already has a contract for both Avengers and Iron Man 3 (Avengers is about to start shooting and IM3 is supposed to come out after that), so it's not a question of IF he'll be back. More it's a concern about whether or not his performance will be affected. Will he just phone it in with another director, or give it a try?

I'll agree that Iron Man went from C-list to A-list. However, I think I might have to disagree with that being a result of Favreau. If we put the credit on only one man, it would have to be Downey. More accurately though, the studios are probably to be given credit. The reason the character moved from C-list to A-list was because he was given an A-list role rather than being delegated to C-list stature. Simply the studios making him the lead character in a blockbuster movie was the cause for his rise in popularity.

Quite honestly, I don't think Favreau is that great of a director. They can do much better.