Names and faces

Robert Downey Jr. will return as Iron Man in two Avengers sequels for Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel after helping make the original the No. 3 top-grossing movie of all time. Downey will play billionaire inventor Tony Stark, who doubles as the superhero Iron Man, in Marvel’s The Avengers 2 and Marvel’s The Avengers 3, Burbank, Calif.-based Disney, said Thursday on its website. The deal adds two more films to a Disney/Marvel lineup that already includes three Iron Man movies and pictures with other characters such as Thor and the Hulk. Marvel’s The Avengers, released in 2012, had worldwide ticket sales of $1.5 billion.This year’s Iron Man 3 is fifth on the best-selling list with $1.2 billion, according to researcher Box Office Mojo. Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed The Avengers, also will return for Marvel’s The Avengers 2, scheduled for release in May 2015, the company said.

Angelina Jolie said Thursday that the Syrian civil war is the world’s most acute humanitarian crisis and called on world leaders to make diplomatic efforts to end it. Jolie spoke at Jordan’s largest camp forSyrian refugees, which she toured as special envoy for the United Nations refugee agency. “I appeal to the world leaders - please, set aside your differences, unite to end the violence, and make diplomacy succeed,” she said, drawing attention to the U.N.’s World Refugee Day. Jordan hosts more than half a million displaced Syrians, including 185,000 in Zaatari, which has become Jordan’s fourth-largest city by population. Inaugurated in July, Zaatari is the world’s second-largest refugee camp, according to the U.N. The largest is Dadaab camp in Kenya, which houses 463,000 Somali refugees.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 06/21/2013

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