Director Jon Favreau, of Swingers fame, fessed up to a geeky obsession. "I liked Wolverine and the Hulk a lot when I was a kid reading comics. I liked Wolverine, because he wasn't a nice guy. He didn't look like a superhero; he was short and hairy." Who, we asked, were the dumber superheroes? "The Hulk probably is not too smart since he lets his emotions get the best of him. The Hulk is not the kind of guy I'd want doing my tax returns."
Jeff Bridges, who plays a bald villain in the flick "did read comics growing up. I liked Superman, Green Latern, etc. I was a DC Comics guy. Iron Man hadn't come out yet. Iron Man came out in 1963 and my comic book years were earlier than that. I must have been Superman a couple of times for Halloween. I dug the cape."
Robert Downey, Jr.,, Iron Man himself, lamented on not being as big a press draw as Gwyneth Paltrow for the flick. "We traveled through Europe with her to pump the movie. And Jon [Favreau] and I are doing a ton of press and the next day in the press, it says Gwyneth Paltrow in top rated movie. Is says nothing about us, or nothing about the movie. It just talked about her shoes."
Howard was overheard saying he looked forward to seeing Heath Ledger's Joker. "The nature of the Joker is great. Jack Nicholson is great as the Joker, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Heath's version.... I did read comics when I was younger. Actually, I went as Wolverine for Halloween." The sideburns, however, were fake. "I couldn't grow them. I still can't grow them," he said, rubbing his unfathomably smooth face.