Jessica Chastain Sweetens the IRON MAN 3 Pot

Iron Man 2 sits on my Netflix Instant queue. Just sitting there. It will probably sit there until it expires. At the time I said I became sick of superhero movies halfway through the film. The samey-ness of the Marvel Movieverse was starting to creep in, and I didn't see good things on the horizon as I watched Iron Man 2. I keep wanting to give it another whirl, but bleh. I just remember it being dreary and overlong and orange and blue and pissing away the crazy cocktail of Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke. It came to life for a few minutes at a time, but the movie is probably a real good reason why a third pass at The Hulk is what I'm most looking forward to in The Avengers.

But Iron Man 3 is working hard to win me back. I don't worship at the altar of Shane Black as some do, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an all-timer, so I'm excited to see him and Robert Downey Jr. working together again. And then this cast they're lining up: Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, and now Jessica Chastain? I hope she's not nudging out Gwyneth Paltrow (Stark likes them redheads), but Chastain's a new favorite; I even liked her in The Help and was pleased when the universe didn't implode upon itself like in Timecop when she and Bryce Dallas Howard shared screen space.

There are also rumors that Hong Kong action star Andy Lau is in talks for a role, but I can't find anything confirming that yet. Don't let that stop you from going all Mandarin-happy in the comments section.

So far, so good, Marvel, but the other day someone I know was talking about Iron Man 4 and 5, Avengers 2 and 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2 and 3, and I had a terrifying vision of a future in which Hollywood does nothing but reboot and sequelize superhero movies from now until my death. Mercy.