Shane Black is directing Iron Man 3, but he isn’t writing it

The cheers of fanboy elation were nearly deafening when it was announced that LETHAL WEAPON writer Shane Black was reuniting with his KISS KISS BANG BANG star Robert Downey Jr. for IRON MAN 3.

But while Black will be getting behind the camera for his first big blockbuster-style movie, he won’t be getting behind the keyboard. Marvel has brought in writer Drew Pearce, who penned the script for their now-delayed adaptation of the superpowered teen comic RUNAWAYS, by “Lost” and “Y: The Last Man” writer Brian K. Vaughan.

Pearce is also the creator of the British off-duty superhero sitcom “No Heroics”, so Marvel must feel pretty confident in his knowledge of the genre and their own universe in particular to hand him this assignment.

But don’t worry, Pearce won’t be running off to do the story alone — he’ll be working closely with Black through the process, so the finished product should have plenty of the twists and quips we came to appreciate in Black’s previous scripts.

Previous reports claimed IRON MAN 3 would be more of a Tom Clancy-like techno-thriller, and would be more self-contained than overloaded with secondary characters like the AVENGERS prequel that was IRON MAN 2, but things could take a different turn during the writing stage.