Jon Favreau is fast becoming one of my favorite directors in the comic book movie world, and dude hasn’t even started filming Iron Man yet.

If you know me at all, you know I’m a big fan of director (or writer/director, as the case may be) to fan base relationships.

I praise the likes of Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon for keeping their finger on the pulse of the community they serve — after all, it’s only good business sense to know what sort of product the consumer wants.

For this reason, Fav is rising quickly in my esteem.

He knows the people who are vital to his success, and he is doing a very good job of at least providing the appearance that he cares about them.

Particularly through his Iron Man MySpace, the man provides constant updates (and accepts input) regarding his early plans for the Marvel film.

In the latest update (which came just one day after his last update) Favreau dropped a big piece of information, fingering a planned release date for his flick.

According to Favreau, Marvel is shooting for a May 2008 release date. It’s only a month, not a particular date, but hey ... that’s not bad for two years in advance. We’ll see how many times it changes between now and then.