Marvel’s shiniest hero (well, the one who doesn’t surf) has a new director.

Jon Favreau will begin construction on the red and gold armor for Marvel’s Iron Man movie. Paramount is firing up the boot jets and making the project a priority.

Favreau and writers Arthur Marcum and Matt Hollaway are discarding previous drafts by other comic adapters Miles Millar and Alfred Gough (Smallville) and David Hayter (X-Men), and starting from scratch with their story of billionaire playboy and military contractor Tony Stark and his repulsor-ray-shooting super suit. It’ll be interesting to see who they utilize as a villain, and if they include Stark’s alcohol dependency or heart problem (the suit was originally designed to help keep him alive).

While this probably spells doom, or at least a lengthy delay, for Favreau’s planned Princess of Mars adaptation, this is honestly about the best thing that could happen with Iron Man (not to knock Nick Cassavetes, who was previously attached). Dedicated geek Favreau is the proverbial Right Guy For The Job — his imaginative blend of practical and CGI effects on Zathura (particularly the malfunctioning robot) was nothing short of masterful, and his gift for both FX wizardry and human performances should be invaluable to story about a superhero who’s also a man with serious weaknesses. How’s that for some Favreau fellatio?