The popular actor and director of the Iron Man series confirmed on his Twitter account the he will be passing on directing Iron Man 3 in favor of Disney’s Magic Kingdom:

It’s true, I’m directing Magic Kingdom, not Iron Man 3. I’ve had a great run with Marvel and wish them the best.

Speculation around the internet suggests that Favreau was unhappy about Joss Whedon getting the director’s chair for the upcoming “Avengers” movie, and was also unhappy with the new direction that Marvel is going to unite their movies under one continuity. this was according to a recent interview with MTV:

One informed source hears that he was frustrated with Marvel’s urge to stuff more of their in-house heroes into the next film in the wake of The Avengers. In a recent interview with MTV News, Favreau explained that based on his conversations with Marvel Studios executives, he had no clarity as to what a third Iron Man film would even be about. “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers,” said Favreau at the time, “This whole world … I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.”

Still other industry insiders look at Favreau’s growing price tag and speculate that he was getting too expensive for the frugal Marvel and its equally cost-conscious parent company, Disney. In fact, one Hollywood player familiar with Marvel’s playbook theorizes that the company had been pushing a confusing and packed vision of the third film as a tactic to provoke Favreau into leaving the project.

In the meantime, all fans can do is hope for a subitble replacement, and have faith that Marvel/Disney will have Iron Man 3 in production soon.