Jon Favreau Will Not Be Directing 'The Avengers'

"The Avengers" movie will have to assemble without Jon Favreau.

The "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2" director, who had been rumored to take the helm for the Marvel super-team's big screen 2012 debut, "will not be available" for the job.

"They'll have to [find a different director]," he said, explaining that he'd still be involved. "It's something I'm being the executive producer on, so I'll definitely have input and a say."

The film will be preceded by three other Marvel movies - "Iron Man 2," "Captain America" and "Thor," all of which will set the stage for the super-team.

"We want to reinforce a lot of the stuff we started to tip off," Jon said. "'The Avengers' is a much larger concern for Marvel and Kevin Feige, who runs Marvel. They're going to be doing 'Thor' and 'Captain America,' and the way we might start to tease those things in ['Iron Man 2'], some of it is stuff that we've discussed [and] some of the stuff you do last-minute as you figure out how that stuff is coming together."

"Iron Man 2" is due in theaters on May 7, 2010.

Source: Yahoo! Movies