Even without his teammates, Iron Man can still take down the bad guys, even breaking box-office records around the world at the same time.

"Iron Man 3" blasted into North America with one of the biggest opening weekends ever, second only to "Marvel's The Avengers," which opened over the same weekend last year. Robert Downey Jr.'s third solo outing as the armor-clad comic book superhero brought in $175.3 million at the domestic box office. Only the $207.4 million opening weekend for "The Avengers" — which, of course, also featured Downey as Iron Man — stands in front of "Iron Man 3" in the record books.

The "Iron Man 3" opening was in line with the higher end of industry projections, which put the film somewhere between $150 million and $175 million. BoxOfficeMojo.com's Ray Subers and Entertainment Weekly's Grady Smith came close in reports on their respective sites; IMDb.com's Keith Simanton was right on the money when speaking with MTV News.

3-D showings accounted for roughly 45 percent of the "Iron Man 3" gross in North America, with IMAX screenings accounting for $16.5 million.

The top 10 openings of all time are now "The Avengers," "Iron Man 3," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" ($169.1 million), "The Dark Knight Rises" ($160.8), "The Dark Knight" ($158.4), "The Hunger Games" ($152.5), "Spider-Man 3" ($151.1), "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" ($142.8), "Breaking Dawn, Part 2" ($141) and "Breaking Dawn, Part 1" ($138). Of course, once adjusted for ticket-price inflation, the top 10 all-time openings are "Gone with the Wind," "Star Wars," "The Sound of Music," ...

Baz Luhrmann raised eyebrows last year when he released a trailer for that eschewed Jazz-Age standards in favor of, well, Jay-Z.

Of course, in the months since, fans of the book — and HOV — have come to understand why Luhrmann made the musical choices he did; namely, to prove a point: that the songs of the Jazz Age aren't all that different from the songs of the hip-hop era. And he wasn't the only one who bought into that premise, either.

"Jazz was this almost underground music at the time, like hip-hop started out. I like to think of it as a character, because it's so interwoven into the storyline," Jay-Z said. "[He's] seamlessly shifting different eras of music together, which I thought was genius process. That's one of the things Baz has a reputation for: Treating the music like another star."

And so, as he's done on all of his iconic films, Luhrmann has assembled a scintillating soundtrack for "Gatsby," one that includes a who's-who of today's stars — Jay-Z, Beyonce and Andre 3000, Florence and the Machine, will.i.am, to name just a few — bringing the Jazz Age to the 21st century. He worked closely with Jay-Z on the project, bringing an idea that began during the recording of Watch The Throne full circle.

"Baz and Leo [DiCaprio, who plays Gatsby in the film] came to a recording session, and I was working on a song called 'No Church in the Wild,'" Jay-Z said. "We just talked about the art of collaborating. I guess that ...

One Direction fans already know that the guys are prepping a new album for Christmas, working with the same production and songwriting teams that created their first two albums, 2011's Up All Night and last year's Take Me Home. And from the sound of things, those sessions have been doing swimmingly.

In fact, according Ed Sheeran, the album's already finished. Though, for the first time, it won't feature any of his tunes — not because he wasn't asked to contribute, but because he's just been too busy trying to wrap up his new record.

"I haven't done any songs on this one; I've actually kind of cut myself from giving any people songs at the moment, because I want to make my album," Sheeran said. "I was approached, and it wasn't so much a 'No,' it was just a 'I want to write tunes for myself at the moment.'

"Once my album's done, then we'll see," he added. "But their album is already finished."

Of course, it bears mention that Sheeran could be talking about the soundtrack to 1D's film — since completing an album seven months before its set to be released doesn't make a lot of sense. A spokesperson for One Direction did not respond to MTV News' request for clarification, and, at press time, there's still no firm release date for the group's new album. Though we do know 1D will once again be re-teaming with McFly's Tom Fletcher and producer Julian Bunetta on the disc. Last month, Bunetta told MTV News that he'd spent ...

Are they or aren't they? Well, right now, Chris Brown has confirmed that he and Rihanna aren't currently dating — just weeks after they were photographed together.

The "Fine China" singer called into Australian radio show and shared that he was more focused on his birthday plans (he turned 24 on Sunday) than romancing the singer. He said, "I'm 24. I'm going to be in Vegas, so I really want to see as many girls as possible."

"Yeah, I'm a do it solo. I mean, at the end of the day, Shawty doing her own thang, she on the road. It's always gonna be love ... I'm just gonna do me. I'm a grown man, just gotta fast forward," he said on the show.

"At the end of the day, well, I just put it at this 'cause one thing I never want to do is never disrespect somebody," he later added. "The way I look at it is I'm always gonna love that person and people have differences and people have different wants and needs. I can't be focused on wife-ing someone that young. And I'm young too. And I can't focus on that. I need to be the best Chris Brown I can be."

Regardless of their current romantic status, Rihanna will appear on Brown's July 16 album release, X. Brown opened up to MTV News about the collaboration earlier this spring, sharing what fans should expect.

"So we did 'Nobody's Business' for her album, and then I wrote a song, it's called 'Put It Up.' ...

Even with incredibly positive word of mouth, near universal approval from critics, and an opening weekend box-office haul that put every other non-Marvel movie in history to shame, there's one part of that has audience members firmly divided. It's quite possibly the biggest twist yet unveiled in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's also the biggest diversion the films have taken from their comic-book source material. Yeah, this is a bigger change than Hawkeye not wearing his purple mask.

MTV News caught up with moviegoers fresh off of director Shane Black's thrilling action film to find out what they thought of the big reveal. This is a change so big that finding it out now could potentially ruin your movie-going experience, so if you are one of the very few people who didn't shell out money to see Shellhead's latest adventure last weekend, look away now for this article has officially entered the Spoiler Zone.

After a daring raid on the Mandarin's Miami compound, in which Tony Stark puts his collection of Home Depot weapons to good use, Stark comes face to face with the mighty Mandarin, played by Sir Ben Kingsley. Or actually, he comes face-to-face with Trevor Slattery, a boozed-up, formerly homeless actor playing the role of the Mandarin in exchange for drugs and speed boats.

"[The Mandarin reveal] was very unexpected," says Mabel Rodriguez, summing up pretty much everyone's reaction to the plot point in one phrase.

The Mandarin has long been Iron Man's arch-nemesis, ever since he first fought Tony Stark in comics published in 1964. Because of ...

On Wednesday, "RapFix Live" is heading down to South Beach, Miami, for a special episode with the YMCMB and Rich Gang family. Lil Wayne, Birdman and Mack Maine will sit down with host Sway Calloway for what's sure to be a blockbuster hour of TV, and don't be surprised to see a few additional cameos from the squad.

DJ Khaled and Ace Hood will also join us for the special, which will air online at RapFix.MTV.com and broadcast on MTV Jams Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Lil Wayne released his 10th albumI Am Not A Human Being II in February, just a few days after he was treated for seizures and released from a hospital ICU. Weezy eventually revealed to fans that he's been dealing with the health condition for some time now and this episode will give them a chance to see him up and about.

But this isn't just about Tunechi. The Young Money and Rich Gang team are gearing up to release multiple projects from their artists this year, including Young Money president Mack Maine who's upcoming album is led by the single "Suffering From Success and not to mention Ace Hood's Trials & Tribulations.

Earlier this week, the Rich Gang family came together on set to shoot a video for "Tap Out," with everyone including Lil Wayne, Birdman, DJ Khaled, Mack Maine and Bow Wow present. Find out more about the video and what else they have in store when you tune into "RapFix Live" next Wednesday.

Catch Lil Wayne, Birdman, Mack Maine and YMCMB on "RapFix Live" Wednesday ...