Marvel Studios announced the nig news for all Avengers and Iron Man fans. Robert Downey Jr. has signed a contract to appear again as billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark/ superhero Iron Man for both The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3 franchise.

Both franchises are to be written and directed by Joss Whedon. The Avengers 2 is set start its shooting days in March and hopefully will be finished just in time for its target date on May 1 2015.

While it still is early to to talk about the The Avengers 3, Disney also announced tentative dates for the third franchise. Tentative dates for the third franchise is on May 6 2016 or May 5 2017.

The Avengers 2 and 3 will be the fifth and sixth times that fans will be seeing Robert Downey Jr. in his superhero alter ego Iron Man.

Mr. Downey Jr. reportedly earned a whopping $50 million for the first franchise of The Avengers.

Iron Man 3 on the other hand, earned $200 million in its opening in 42 countries and earlier this week the film has already grossed the $400-million mark at the domestic box office.

In as much as the contract signing was very exciting news for the fans, the big question still remains: will fans see another (or more) solo Iron Man adventures with Robert Downey Jr.?

In a report from USA Today, Marvel Executive Producer Kevin Feige said that the Iron Man armor will have to be passed someday. "I cannot produce them for another 40 years, and I don't think Robert can star in them for that long. But I certainly hope he'll be playing the character for many years to come."

As for Iron Man and Tony Stark's character per se, Mr. Feige said in his interview with Entertainment Weekly that, I believe there will be a fourth Iron Man film and a fifth and sixth and tenth and twentieth. I see no reason why Tony Stark can't be as evergreen as James bond. Or Batman for that matter. Or Spider man. I think Iron Man is a character just like that.

It is to be recalled that Robert Downey Jr. already evaded the issue on whether there will be more of his Iron Man Adventure. In the time of the Iron Man3 release, he was quoted saying "I have been living with a nice, practical Jewish girl from Chicago for a long time (his wife), And she says that there's no reason to talk about something I don't know the answer to. And I can only regret acting like I knew an answer to something I don't."

He was also elusive during his interview with Hero Complex earlier this year saying that, "We (Tony Stark) fit each other pretty snug, and I feel like when I'm with him I know what to do. At the same time, I don't know why I know what to do. I just know what I do. There's still just a sense of wonder to me that there's something so watchable about his character's ongoing, trippy saga."

However, Mr. Downey seemed to give fans a glimmer of hope when he was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly. He said that, "I'd go start another one tomorrow, but it's not tomorrow. And there are a lot of other considerations. But I also don't like the idea of leaving people hanging or leaving people in the lurch.