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Captain America may lead the way for Marvel movies filmed in 3-D

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Ben Fritz of Company Town checks in with a Hero Complex exclusive on the 3-D future of Marvel Studios.

If “Iron Man 2” had come out late in the summer, Tony Stark might have soared right out of the screen. And don’t be surprised if Captain America’s shield or even Thor’s hammer comes flying at you in a dark theater in the seasons to come.

In an interview Sunday about the huge $133.6-million opening of “Iron Man 2,” Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige admitted he and his team had considered converting the superhero sequel into 3-D after seeing the success of Avatar and Alice in Wonderland.”

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Given the extensive demands of post-production on “Iron Man 2,” however, they concluded there simply wasn’t enough time.

“We couldn’t have turned over a version of the movie 10 or 20 weeks earlier for 3-D conversion without undermining the quality,” he said. “We used all the time we had for mixing and editing and discovering the right tone.”

Don Cheadle, one of stars of the film, said director Jon Favreau and his cast were “making changes while the paint was still wet” trying to find the appropriate presentation of the relationship between his character, Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes, and Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Rhodey steals Stark’s high-tech armor and becomes the hero War Machine. But Favreau and his team were making last-minute changes to dialogue and making edits to ensure that audiences would be sympathetic to both the stern military man and his freewheeling billionaire buddy.

With three Marvel movies in the works over the next two years, however, Feige hinted that 3-D may be in the cards for some or all of them.

“The team has been doing a lot of research into 3-D processes, and we’re looking at it on future films when we have the time,” he said. “We will be doing it at some point.”

“Thor” is already in production, meaning it would have to be converted into 3-D in post, but “First Avenger: Captain America” and “The Avengers” could potentially be filmed with 3-D cameras. The massive success of James Cameron’s “Avatar” has stirred a 3-D sensation in Hollywood that some compare to a gold rush and others worry might just be herd mentality. Upcoming 3-D films include Martin Scorsese’sThe Invention of Hugo Cabret,” “Stretch Armstrong” and Sony’s “Spider-Man” reboot.

-- Ben Fritz

CHECK OUT ALL OF OUR “IRON MAN 2” COVERAGE

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Art: Marvel Comics. Photo: Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Credit: Marvel Studios / Paramount Pictures

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