Remember those awesome scenes of Iron Man flying through the air alongside a couple of fighter jets in the crowd-pleasing trailer first unveiled at Comic-Con? Don't count on seeing them in the finished film, Variety says. **Jon Favreau's response below.**

Although plenty in that trailer (view it again here) was buzz-inducingly cool -- Tony Stark in the Mark 1 suit, Robert Downey Jr.'s swaggering delivery -- the highlight of the reel for some was the final shot, of Iron Man taking flight high above the clouds.



Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man

But those shots were produced only for the trailer, according to Variety, and won't be seen at all in the film, which comes to theaters May 2, 2008. "The sequence had to generate buzz, since that's the only reason it exists. It won't be in the movie. In fact, it wasn't even made for the movie."

Variety's confirmation comes straight from the effects studio: "A spokesman for Industrial Light & Magic confirms that the flying Iron Man shots are not "finals" (completed, delivered visual effects) and were only made for the film's Comic-Con promo reel."

But as Vic Holtreman over at Screen Rant points out, this doesn't mean there will be no flying sequences at all...right? Is Variety's headline ("Paramount grounds 'Iron Man'; Superhero flies in trailer but won't in film") misleading?

**UPDATE** Jon Favreau has contradicted the Variety story via his Iron Man MySpace group (thank goodness for social networking websites) and says that the flying sequences seen in the trailer will indeed be in the film:

"It's in the movie. It's true that the shots were rushed for Comic Con, but the F-22 dogfight has been in the works for over a year and was the furthest along of the film's set pieces. That's how we were able to get it on the screen nearly a year before the premiere."

On behalf of Iron Man fans everywhere, thanks to Favreau for the clarification and thanks to Vic at Screen Rant for digging!

Source: Variety, Screen Rant