Drew Pearce had already written one script for Marvel, a film version of the “Runaways” comic, but the project was canceled and would only see the light of day later as a Hulu series with different writers. “Iron Man 3” wound up being Pearce’s first produced screenplay, which framed him as the new kid on the block opposite Black, the seasoned pro, when they were meeting with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige. It put them in a position not unlike Black’s own buddy-cop characters in “Lethal Weapon.” Black told DIY:

“I was the older guy, ha ha … So we shook hands, and said ‘Drew, it was so nice to meet you.’ I then turned to Kevin [Feige] and said, ‘I don’t think so.’ He said, ‘You’re going to have to write a draft with him, because we hired him.’ ‘So unhire him! I have partners I work with, I’ll pay them myself.’ Finally, I had some meetings, and in five days hanging [at] my house or at Marvel, bulls******* across my couch. Instantly, I said ‘What would you do here?’ I completely acquiesced to his commitment to, and passion for, this project. He knew all things comic book and had a literary sense of good writing.”

Marvel Comics is nicknamed the House of Ideas, and when adapting its characters to the big screen, Marvel Studios clearly prefers to have more than one person’s set of ideas go into writing. While this could easily lead to a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen scenario (and Marvel did notoriously have a Creative Committee overseeing its films at the time), “Iron Man 3” proved to be a case where Pearce’s comic book knowledge nicely complemented Black’s experience behind the camera. Although some were critical of the film’s treatment of Rebecca Hall’s character and its depiction of the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), the film was praised as a return to form for the series after “Iron Man 2,” and it showed it’s not always a bad thing when you pair two screenwriters from different backgrounds.