Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk – two superhero movies that are guaranteed to be huge this summer.

I spoke to the Worldwide Marketing Director for Marvel, Louise O'Toole and the UK PR Manager for Sega, Stefan McGarry about the new Iron Man and Hulk films, the upcoming games and the future development of Marvel licenses.

Three's A Crowd - Why the decision to make Iron Man now? Did you always have Robert Downey Jr. in mind for the role of Tony Stark because he seems almost perfect for it?

Louise O'Toole - He does yeah. I'm not sure how it came about, but I know that the studio always thought of him initially and I think he knew that as well.

Why we decided to make Iron Man now? He's a key character and he's been around for a while, he's been around since '63 so the core Marvel fan knows him really well and it was just time to bring something new to the screen. We have so many characters and he's just a great character to play: he's got a sense of humour, he's quite naughty, he's very tongue in cheek, he's a ladies man.

TAC - And about Robert Downey Jr. being an ex-alcoholic and Tony Stark having that as a personality trait, was that a decisive factor?

LO - I think there was that empathy between the two of them and Robert Downey Jr. recognised that and he laughed about it and he was very good about it, he loves the character. I think also he's actually an Iron Man fan and he knew about it before the movie came along.

TAC - Those are often the best people to get to do those movie roles though, I feel.

LO – Well Edward Norton's a huge Hulk fan, and if they understand and empathise with the character then they have a much smoother time when it comes to making the movie.

TAC - Why the decision to make another Hulk movie now, so soon after the last one. Were Marvel not happy with the Ang Lee production.

LO - That's funny, because this comes up quite often, that Marvel weren't happy with the Ang Lee movie, when it was actually a success at box office and a success on DVD but I think it was a very different slant on what people expect to be the Hulk.