Jon Favreau is making his return to Marvel.
He”ll reprise his role as Happy Hogan, Tony Stark”s friend and bodyguard, in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Variety reported Thursday. In typical fashion, Marvel”s not confirming the casting quite yet.
Favreau of course directed the film that started it all for the MCU, Iron Man– which was just about to start filming 10 years ago, if you can believe it – and also appeared onscreen in all three Iron Man movies as Harold “Happy” Hogan.
He was nowhere to be seen in the other Marvel movies where Tony Stark showed up, so Spider-Man: Homecoming will mark Favreau”s first acting role in an MCU movie where his buddy Robert Downey Jr. isn”t the lead.
Downey Jr. may have a decent-sized role in Homecoming though: Tony”s moments with Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War definitely left audiences wanting more of that tech-savvy duo. There are plenty of other opportunities for mentor moments, and it looks like Happy may be there for some of them, perhaps back in the role of Head of Security for Stark Industries.
I”m just picturing Peter motormouthing at Tony, calling him “Mr. Stark,” Happy trying to interject, calling his longtime friend “sir.” This should be fun.
Spider-Man: Homecoming opens in theaters July 7, 2017.