Jon Favreau's a busy man. Shoulder-deep in editing and mixing his anxiously awaited Iron Man--the release of which is a mere two months away--he really didn't need to attend last weekend's Wondercon in San Francisco. After all, he paid his dues to superhero fandom by appearing at last summer's San Diego Comic-Con, along with most of the Iron Man cast--and by releasing a series of way-cool trailers for the film. So, trust me, no one would have harbored any ill will had Favreau chose to skip last week's convention.

But Favreau did appear, albeit visibly tired; but nevertheless pleased by the crowd's reaction to the new Iron Man footage he unveiled. He was even good enough to give me some time backstage after his presentation, and dutifully answered my nagging questions about the possibility of him directing a film based on the super-team comic book in which Iron Man is featured alongside such Marvel stalwarts as Captain America and Thor--The Avengers.

"There are no details really," he said, "yet I know they are talking to Kevin Feige and David Maisel. The idea is to launch a few of the franchises. You know, it's gonna be a big year for Marvel [Productions]. They've raised a lot of money; they've made now two films. And based on how well the films are recieved and how well they do, that's gonna dictate the future direction of the company. If all the franchises they launch are successful, what we'd like to do then is cross-pollinate them, and combine them into one big sequel, which would be The Avengers. So you gotta have a Thor movie, you gotta have a Captain America movie, you gotta have an Iron Man movie, you gotta have a Hulk movie, and an Ant-Man movie. And they're making good progress developing all those properties. But how do you keep it fresh after one or two of each? You pull them together."

Does Favreau have any favorite Avengers that could serve as additions to the film's roster of heroes?

"When I was young, I liked The Defenders, I liked Hulk, I liked... You know, I think you graviate towards different things as you get older--then I got into X-Men. When I was in high school, that was pretty hot. Then I sorta drifted away from it and I read the funnier stuff, like graphic novels, like Dark Knight, Ronin, Frank Miller stuff. But I would never call myself an Iron Man fan, [or say] that I loved him and that this was destiny. However, now that I'm older I did gravitate towards the title for a number of reasons. One--I could relate to Iron Man and Tony Stark, based on what I've experienced [in] my career, how old I am, and what I've seen. Where he's at in his life what he's faced. He's successful, he's somebody who's lived in the public eye, and he's someone who's dealing with the problems that an adult has; as opposed to a guy that can't get a girl to go to prom with him. I can't relate to the teen storylines that most comic books are geared towards, sort of an adolescent fantasy. This is a man who's going through a bit of a moral dilemma and at a certain point in his life. I also like the tone of him, I like his irreverence. I think the irreverance of Marvel really is exemplified in the irreverance of the Tony Stark character. And [he was created at] a time when Stan Lee and Marvel had found their swagger and initial success. It was taking risks. Then of course with Robert, I found my tone. As a director, really tone is the key. It was the key factor in making the movie with Robert. You have to get the right tone; and once you have a tone you can then become more of an organ grinder, and then just put out stories and put out product. But there's this discovery process in the beginning, where you have to find the voice of each character and those relationships--how they interact with the world and what the rules of the world are. I didn't know, going in, what the tone would be. So to protect yourself a little bit...once you find the tone, then, as a filmmaker, you've written the song, and you can play the song. I look forward to doing many chapters of this story."

To hear Favreau's comments on The Avengers, be sure to check out our video overview of movie news from Wondercon 2008.

And to hear Favreau's comments on Iron Man, check out our exclusive video interview with the man himself!

And if you want to read all about that Iron Man footage unveiled last weekend, don't forget to read our coverage of the Iron Man preview at Wondercon 2008!