Q: How has Marvel's plan to integrate their universe in films changed your plan, going from a franchise to a mega-franchise?
Favreau: It's tough because it first starts off like, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun if we stuck a Captain America shield in the background? Wouldn't it be fun if we have Sam Jackson play Nick Fury like in "The Ultimate Avengers"?' It's like, "Let's prove ourselves to our fans." So you do that. Now, between the Captain America shield and Nick Fury and then the after-the-credit scene that in the eleventh hour became the final scene of "The [Incredible] Hulk," that one was a big one for me. I was like, "Wow, we're forming a team. We're going to that guy and you're forming a team." That's clearly not the day after "Iron Man" ended. Where does it fit in the time continuum? I don't want to just ignore it or do what the comic books have done. I guess you could do what Marvel has said: "It's an alternate universe." They've gotten away with that one for a couple of decades, but how do you make all that work within that world? Because I think it is fun and I think that "Hulk" was successful in keeping a tone that did not seem inconsistent with our film, and certainly with Robert being in there. But we definitely now have a lot of things [to consider]. Look, I come out of improv, and in improv you say, "Okay, give me a suggestion of a place, a line of dialogue –" and here it's like, "Okay. Give me three scenes that I have to incorporate into my next movie." So it's a challenge. What's refreshing is that I don't go back and it's not like you have a studio executive who could care less, like, "I don't give a *****. Just make whatever, whatever tests best." In this case you have Kevin Feige who's like, "How are we going to solve this puzzle?" It's like a Rubik's Cube to them as well. Just all that brainpower addressing something makes you come up with interesting solutions. So we have a pretty good game plan. Then there are conversations that I've been having with them about "The Avengers" too. Remember, with "Avengers" you're not just dealing with tech. You're dealing with inter-dimensional portals and all the ***** that makes you jump the shark if you don't handle it right. So we were very restrained in how we used our superhero-ism in our movie and we did that by keeping it all tech based. Then "Hulk" went a little the same way. It's still kind of tech-based. You get to Cap and you say, "Okay, he was frozen in that thing –" and it's like, "Okay, I could maybe buy that, with the super-soldier thing." Then you get into Thor and it's like, "Okay, well now..." and so how do you make that all feel like it's in the same world as our movie is? That's going to be the challenge moving forward.
