How Do You Not Assign Shane Black to Write Iron Man 3?

It wouldn't make sense to you if I hired one of the greatest chefs in the world, and once getting him into my restaurant I told him his job was strictly serving water to customers. So it strikes me as off that someone as renowned for their writing skills as Shane Black, especially in the action genre, isn't being 100% utilized to write the film he's recently been assigned to direct Iron Man 3.

For the moment, Black is taking a back-seat as Drew Pearce (writer/producer of the UK superhero series No Heroics) pens the third Shellhead installment with Robert Downey Jr., says "TOLDJA!" Pearce's script for Runaways, another Marvel adaptation that seemed all but certain to happen...until it didn't, is said to have gotten him the gig.

Yes, yes, I understand this is a big corporate asset from one of the world's entertainment giants (Disney) with a May 2013 release date set and all that cross-promotions with toys, tee-shirts, drinking cups and the big McDonald's Happy Meal push, to name a few. It's not like Black is planning to drop F-words left and right and have Iron Man 3 go out guns a'blazing with a hard-R rating.

He'll be involved in the writing process, as will Downey of course. Just surprised Black didn't get a first crack at the script before others came in.