Hey folks, Harry here... IESB.net broke a story about how they're hearing that the reason Jon Favreau isn't secured to direct IRON MAN 2 is that Marvel Studios Head Honcho - David Maisel is skimping and being cheap regards to making Jon Favreau's deal.

I wish I could come on here and say I know otherwise, but sadly I know otherwise. There is a very very strong chance that unless David Maisel pulls his head out of his ass and work on this deal - you'll see Jon Favreau directing anything but an IRON MAN 2 or an AVENGERS movie.

While the details of Favreau's deal on the first IRON MAN are not public knowledge - he was paid an upfront fee - with real backend participation. Given the success that is clearly happening with IRON MAN - this deal is going to reward MARVEL STUDIOS greatly.

That said - MARVEL should look back at their own Comic History - their history of fucking over the talent and artists that created much of their library often resulted in those artist leaving the company... creating incredibly profitable characters for other companies and for themselves - resulting in lost revenue for MARVEL that had they treated their artists fairly and justly - rewarding those that brought in the rewards for the company... well, maybe Marvel's comic branch wouldn't have been through such a grotesque roller coaster ride.

Jon Favreau wants to do more IRON MAN movies. He would love to play in the Marvel Universe. Sadly... David Maisel is penny pinching his own company into a malignant purplenurple.

MARVEL STUDIOS has - officially two movies under their belt. IRON MAN & THE INCREDIBLE HULK. Both of which are outstanding films that do a better job of exploiting their characters than anything the Studio system has done so far. However - MARVEL INVESTORS - watch carefully what happens here. If you see MARVEL unwilling to do what is necessary to keep the talent in play - then forget about MARVEL STUDIOS becoming the Pixar of Superhero films.

PIXAR is the model of how to do this. They not only developed internal talent, but hired great talent from other companies - and they're doing everything in their power to keep those incredibly talented and creative people happily working in house.

Running a studio and creating franchises is all about Talent management - and if MARVEL doesn't step up and do the right thing - then all our dreams about a great MARVEL UNIVERSE will begin to wash away.

When I brought this up with Kevin Feige at the Austin screening of THE INCREDIBLE HULK - he said they would be working with Favreau - but that isn't what I've heard from other sources - and it isn't what IESB is hearing either.

The dream of MARVEL STUDIOS is that we don't see stupid decisions like what we saw happen with Fox on X-MEN - where they resort to bringing in "talent" to take over and destroy the work that was already in play.

MARVEL has the opportunity to create franchises that last - not for a few years, but for decades. But they have to make the right decisions and be willing to work with the artists that will grow and evolve the properties into franchises that are worth existing. When an artists' run grows stale, that's when you change horses - not after the first win.