Robert Downey Jr.

For a while, the party line on the possibility of an ‘Iron Man 4’ was that it was not going to happen. And, at least technically, that’s still true—because instead Robert Downey Jr. is co-starring ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ where his Tony Stark and Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers will get into an epic superhero tussle.

A new ‘Avengers 2’ trailer is coming in less than a week (airing on January 12 during the College Football National Championship on ESPN) and when it arrives we’ll start to know a little bit more about the very secretive plot. As a little tease before the new trailer, we have a new photo from the film that gives us some insight as to how the Avengers deal with Ultron’s nefarious plot.

As major movie productions keep on getting more secretive, even the best laid plans keep on getting foiled by one thing: merchandising. Yes, hide you costumes and characters and plot points all you want, because when the toys arrive, all bets are off! The latest casualty in this very silly war is Iron Man’s new armor (the Mark XLIII), which was supposedly going to make its debut at some point in ‘Avengers 2’ but can now be clearly seen, examined, and salivated over in toy form.

Those who tuned into the newest episode of Marvel's 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' tonight were rewarded with a little treat: brand new footage from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' to go with that pretty sweet trailer that dropped just last week.

Well that certainly escalated quickly: over the last couple of weeks Robert Downey Jr. has played rather coy about what's next for Tony Stark and Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now it looks like we know the answer, as he's just been recruited for 'Captain America 3,' in a storyline that's said to bring Marvel's Civil War arc to the big screen -- which is a rather huge development.

First, the good news: Robert Downey, Jr. has agreed to star in 'Iron Man 4' for Marvel! Considering everything he has been saying over the past year or so - essentially that he can't imagine an 'Iron Man 4' ever happening - that's a major step in the right direction and a huge win for Marvel Studios. But...Downey's agreement has come with one rather large condition. That his old friend, and current member of the Hollywood blacklist, Mel Gibson be allowed to direct.

How well do you think you know Marvel's 'The Avengers'? Did you catch the earlier appearance of that shawarma joint before the team had a celebratory chow down? Did you know the movie was initially three hours and 10 minutes? Well, we cover that and more in ScreenCrush's latest edition of 'You Think You Know Movies?'

As the unofficial mascot of the Marvel cinematic universe (he's pretty much Mickey Mouse to this corner of the Disney empire), Downey Jr.'s words and opinions feel like they carry a lot of weight. So when he chimes in with a comment that's essentially "Yeah, there really should be a female-led superhero movie, huh?", we can't help but feel slightly vindicated for wondering where the heck a 'Black Widow' or even a 'Captain Marvel' movie is.

Marvel Studios and the character of Tony Stark/Iron Man transformed Robert Downey Jr. from a has-been into one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, so it's not surprising that he'll sing their praises outside the context of the movies he stars in. However, he recently took it a big step further, declaring 'Guardians of the Galaxy' to be the best Marvel movie yet. Yep, even the ones that he's not in.

It's inevitable: one day there will be an 'Avengers' reboot. It's hard to think of now, as 'Avengers 2' hasn't even hit theaters and Phase 3 of Marvel's Cinematic Universe hasn't even begun yet. But, once Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner all play through their contracts, Marvel is going to have to start over. Now, we don't think Marvel would ever reboot 'The Avengers' as a 70s detective TV series, but if they did? It'd look a lot like this...

By now, everyone is familiar with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, where people heed the call to throw buckets of ice water on themselves to spread awareness of ALS and raise donations to support The ALS Association. Everyone, from your many Facebook friends to A-list celebs have been participating, but, for us, there's nothing like seeing the likes of Thor, Iron Man and Star-Lord step up to the plate.

Robert Downey Jr. may be relatively new to Twitter, but he's taken to it like a duck to water as he's made fans happy by tweeting a photo from the set of 'The Avengers 2.' Downey has a penchant for charming self promotion that would put even Tony Stark to shame.