Tony Stark, as you probably know, is the billionaire genius who dons a new-fangled suit of armor and becomes "Iron Man," and the actor hired to play the role seems to have the character down already.

While all the geeks (like me) are focused on how cool the suit will look (and how much butt will be kicked), Robert Downey Jr. is taking the smarter route by focusing on the human side of the equation. "I guess that when Stan Lee created the character back in the mid-1960s -- to see if he could base a superhero on a hard-partying, womanizing billionaire who manufactures weapons, and still make him likeable enough to sell comic books -- he clearly won his bet."

Heh, I can just hear Downey saying it. He's also interested in the idea that Stark, despite being mega-rich and ultra-smooth with the ladies, is just a normal human being: "Not that I wouldn't play a guy who got bit by a spider or who has some freaky connection with bats, but I think this is a little more accessible."

Jon Favreau's rendition of "Iron Man," which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Leslie Bibb, and Shaun Toub as The Mandarin, and opens next summer.

Source: IGN Movies, Telegraph