Iron Man 3: Not As Serious As It Looks

But there are still no other Avengers in the newest film—in theaters in May

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The trailer for Marvel’s upcoming Iron Man 3 may seem really dark, but the film’s executives say the serious tone is part of a new spin that is supposed to make the movie distinct from this year’s The Avengers.

When the trailer was released for Iron Man 3, which debuts in 3-D on May 3, 2013, TIME’s Lily Rothman wrote that it lacks the “wisecracking Robert Downey Jr. who made the character so fun in the first place.” Downey, who plays industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man, complains,”I can’t sleep, and when I do, I have nightmares,” perhaps hinting that the traumatized businessman would make for a very serious action star this go-round.

(MORE: Get a Glimpse of Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3)

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed to The Western Australian that viewers will see a different side of the character, but the film will still be fun to watch:

“It’s not a serious movie, but we seriously dig into exploring more of Tony. The trick is just trying to make great movies. We try to make them all great, all different and all fresh.”

Feige spoke more about Stark’s transformation in the newest Empire magazine as quoted by the comic book news site Comic Book Movies:

By the end of Avengers, when a portal is opened up in Manhattan and he’s met Thor and The Hulk and the Chitauri are coming down on him, he realises that he doesn’t know everything; we think that has had an effect on his psyche, and then his world is blown out from underneath him.

And because work on Iron Man 3 started before The Avengers came out in theaters, do not expect to see any other Avengers in it, Feige also told Empire magazine.

Iron Man 3 director Shane Black stressed that viewers should not compare the newest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to The Avengers, per The Western Australian:

“We’re not aiming for bigger, necessarily. We’re aiming for different and fresh and new. It’s all about capturing that lightning-in-a-bottle feel, about trying to get as much into this as we can. We’re looking to get a ton of thrills into a short space, to make a nice little stew for you.”

Of course, the villain in the new movie will be fresh. That’s The Mandarin—a very scary Ben Kingsley. Feige told Empire:

He’s relentless. Assuming that he’s the one responsible for what happens to Tony’s house, no other villain has been able to strike that fast and that hard at one of our heroes. He’s very much about believing that the world needs to learn, and he wants to bend the world to his vision.

READ: Richard Corliss’s review of Marvel’s The Avengers

MORE: Avengers 2 is in the Works: 10 Ways to Prep for the Superhero Sequel