Sure, Avatar is the big movie of the month. The talk of the town, the bee’s knees. And Fox is licking their chops for a gigantic opening. But that won’t stop Paramount from stealing a bit of thunder by releasing promo material’s for next year’s summer opener, Iron Man 2. Director Jon Favreau is finishing things up on the Robert Downey Jr. led sequel, and some glossy images (and yesterday’s badass War Machine poster) are finally being released. We can only assume that a trailer isn’t too far off in the distance.

Until then, we have new looks at Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in the work shop, Scarlett Johansson doing what can only be described as a stretching routine as Black Widow, and a few shots of Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) doing some household chores. Riveting, I know.

Iron Man 2 is in theaters May 7, 2010. All images courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Click to enlarge.