SPOILERS - Joss Whedon Talks Robert Downey Jr. and THE AVENGERS 2

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Marvel: Phase Two hasn’t even started to hit theaters, but sometimes you just want to rush to desert.  While walking the red carpet at the Iron Man 3 premiere, writer-director Joss Whedonwas asked a couple questions regarding The Avengers 2.  First up, since it sounds like Robert Downey Jr. is considering retirement from the Marvel Universe, some may be wondering if we’ll see Iron Man flying around in Whedon’s film.  Whedon responded, “I am not the guy who has to worry about him being replaced. He is Iron Man at this point. When I heard that he was cast I knew that something had just changed, and I usually don’t know stuff like that.”  It sounds fairly certain that Downey is on board for The Avengers 2, but beyond that, Whedon doesn’t know if the actor will continue with the series.

Hit the jump for more including what Whedon had to say about Thanos’ presence in Phase Two.

DesdeHollywood is misleading in their headline about “The Avengers 3” because as you’ll see in their video, the interviewer never asks about The Avengers 3.  He says, “The Avengers are very, very powerful.  Why should they be concerned about someone like Thanos?”  Whedon responded:

“Well, Thanos is more powerful. He is so powerful, he is not someone you can just trot out and punch him. Like he did in the comics, you want him to be threading through the universe and to save the big finale for the big finale. He is definitely a part of what I’ve got going on. The thing about the Avengers is that they are very powerful, but they’re not very stable. So, there will definitely be some people that will shake them up in the next installment.”

This statement seems to put to rest any dispute on whether or not Thanos is the big villain ofGuardians of the Galaxy.  The main antagonist of that picture now looks to be The Collector, who will be played by Lee Pace.  I’m sure Thanos will still have a presence, and perhaps that presence is going to grow throughout Phase Two rather than simply dropping the character intoGuardians so that the audience will go, “Oh, hey.  It’s that purple dude again.”