(Cover) - EN Movies - Jon Favreau plans to be as helpful as possible with Iron Man 3 because he wants the franchise to "grow and transform".

The director helmed the first two movies in the series, which sees Robert Downey Jr. play Tony Stark. Stark, also known as Iron Man, has a special suit of armour which he uses to fight evil.

Favreau decided against making the third instalment of the movie as he is working on Disney's Magic Kingdom instead, but that doesn't mean he'll have no involvement. Director Shane Black is taking the reins this time and Favreau plans to give him any help he needs.

"I love the franchise and I'm a big fan of Shane's as well so hopefully I can be helpful because I want to see this thing grow and transform. And actually, when it finally landed on Shane, it was like, All right, that's gonna be something interesting,'" he explained at the Hero Complex Film Festival held in Hollywood.

Downey Jr. is looking forward to getting stuck into the new movie and believes Black is the perfect replacement for Favreau. He explained Black has actually had some input into the previous movies, as he helped out when he and Favreau got stuck while making one of the previous films.

The pair couldn't' afford to pay Black at the time, so he's looking forward to calling in a return favour from Favreau.

"So what I can say about this kind of circle of life thing is Shane, as he's getting into the process [to direct Iron Man 3] and getting his sea legs and stuff, he goes, When can we talk to Jon?' So there's going to be this kind of conglomerate of efforts," Downey Jr. explained.

Iron Man 3 is due out in May 2013. (C) Cover Media