The public got its first look at "Iron Man" when director Jon Favreau rushed four minutes of footage to San Diego Comic-Con last July. Along with Leonard Nimoy passing the Spock baton to Zachary Quinto, it was the most buzzed-about minutes of the convention.

"Iron Man" isn't just the opening salvo of summer blockbuster season, a spot that has launched Marvel franchises from the company's "Spider-Man," "Fantastic Four" and "X-Men" properties. Those movies have pulled in $5 billion worldwide for Sony, Fox and other studios. "Iron Man" is the first production by Hollywood's newest player, Marvel Studios.

So there's a lot riding on Robert Downey Jr. & Co. as they try to launch another winner onto the big screen.

Favreau said the situation has benefits. "Because of the genre and the fact that it's Marvel Studio's first film and it's not a big Hollywood studio, it's really a big independent movie. And Marvel has shown that these types of movies could be very successful at the box office without having a big name driving it. [Director] Chris Nolan also really opened the door a lot with that in ["Batman] Begins" [with Christian Bale], to have a filmmaker be able to cast a movie as he would want his independent films [to be cast] and show that if you have a good movie, the box office will be there."

Immediately after showing the trailer, a panel including Favreau; stars Downey, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow; and Marvel Comics Avi Arad and Stan Lee answered questions from fans gathered in the huge San Diego Convention Center.

Here's some of what they had to say:

Favreau on having the footage ready for Comic-Con:

"The suit you saw was designed by our team of [illustrators] Ryan Meinerding and Phil Saunders and [effects wizard] Stan Winston ... so except for the flying shots, is all practical photography."

Downey on putting on the suit:

"I said I wanted to do it as often as possible and then when I saw a stunt man laid up like, I don't know, Marines after a bouncing betty [jumping mines], I kind of backed off a little bit. ... It was great, the whole experience was great ... and just the fact that we all thought that we were making a movie that was worth watching, aside from all of the [action] stuff I just completely got off on."

Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) on what attracted her to the part:

"I loved the dynamic between Pepper and Tony [Stark] and the fact that Robert was playing Tony. He's always been one of my favorite actors and always been someone I wanted to work with."

Howard (Jim Rhodes) on being cast in a comic-book adaptation, not his usual fare:

"You mean a movie with a budget? Fun!

"Every script is a comic book. You've got to remember that the first thing in acting is play. ... "You guys know I got to play a lieutenant colonel and I went up in an F16 and I got to go upside down and I got to vomit and do all the stuff. It was the most fun I've ever had on a film."

Downey on taking on a role that reflects some of his own personal struggles:

I think there's a destiny to just about everything, and if I'm not mistaken, I think Terrence was the first actor cast in this movie, and he was a big proponent of me having this part, and all the guys you see down this row are the reason I'm here today. I'd like to thank them for letting me play on the team.

Downey on preparation and teasing his co-star:

Jon will attest to this, that it was really important to have Gwyneth there on days when it was pretty arduous ... and often times we might be hitting the same testosterone note and wanting to just be really entertaining, and Jon would always say we'd defer to Gwyneth. So ... she was running the acting department usually at the end of the day.

Favreau on the complex nature of the Iron Man character:

"Iron Man was never made to be a likable guy. He was always meant to push the limit of how far could you push a person in a direction and still make him empathetic to the public. I think people have gotten scared over the years. I liked it when Han Solo shot Greedo [in 'Star Wars.']

"I think Iron Man's the type of guy, if he lives by a code that we can have good acting and good storytelling, how high can we raise the bar? He's a guy you don't like on paper, but you have to respect him.... I can't direct a story about a teenage kid having a tough time dating.

"That's not me. In [his first big-screen venture] 'Swingers' we talked about that. Now I'm 40 years old."

Now he's finally ready to tackle a comic-book icon.