Robert Sanchez at IESB spoke with Jon Favreau before the Hellboy II premiere yesterday, and in the video interview posted on the site Favreau sounds positively…positive about his future with Iron Man 2.

“It’s gonna work out, I have a feeling. It’s…we’re working it all out. They’ve actively engaged with us.”

If that’s not direct enough, follow along as the guy talks more about the sequel and Marvel’s overall plans. From these statements you’d think a deal was already done. See, we told you not to worry too much.

With respect to getting the Iron Man sequel done in time for the announced date:

“It’s a lot of work to get it done in that amount of time…to get this thing done in two years it means we’ve got to dig in really fast and be relentless. It’s just a wind sprint all the way through. The good news is we’ve already designed the suit, of course, already have our cast, all the things that took so much time the first time around…everybody understands my vision for the film, based on the first one.”

How about those rumors of Thor being introduced in the next Iron Man film?

“Introduce Thor? Not in Iron Man 2, I don’t think so. Not that we’ve been talking about.”

…and then there’s the Captain America tease:

“Then you’re going to have a period piece film, Captain America: The
First Avenger
. That I’ve seen artwork from, and it’s pretty impressive
the work they’ve already started doing.”

…and the possibility of directing both IM2 and The Avengers:

“It’s going to be really tough…I would be involved with the other
properties in some capacity, but
Iron Man 2 is the one that I think
needs the day in and day out care and attention.”

What we don’t get is a statement about the Demon in a Bottle storyline, which deals with Tony Stark’s alcoholism. But Favreau says that they can get away with a lot more from an established franchise, pointing out the difference in subject severity between the first and last Star Wars films.