It's official: Robert Downey Jr. to return as Iron Man

Marvel.com announced today that Robert Downey Jr. has signed a two picture deal to return as Iron Man/Tony Stark for Avengers 2 & 3. It's good news for Marvel fans, even if this news implies that no more Iron Man solo films are in development. I really can't imagine an Avengers film without RDJ, though I hope the future films don't focus on Tony Stark as heavily as the first Avengers did. The Avengers 2 is scheduled to start production in March 2014 and open May 1, 2015.

First look at Evangeline Lilly in "The Hobbit"

Entertainment Weekly has the first official look at Evangeline Lilly from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (unless you bought the Lego set) She's playing Tauriel, an elf invented by Peter Jackson and company to make the film a little less sausage-fest (and my math still puts this at 15:1). Of course, you probably remember Lilly as Kate from Lost, unless you've repressed that memory. Still she looks great as an elf, though I'm concerned about the fact that the arrow looks like bad CGI.