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Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell are Iron Man 2's new baddies
Comeback kid Mickey Rourke, who made an impression in The Wrestler, is now apparently headed to blockbuster big time.
Rourke and Sam Rockwell are in talks to star as the villains in Iron Man 2, being directed by Jon Favreau, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Marvel has been keeping a very tight lid on the script for the sequel, being written by Justin Theroux, and there is some question about which character Rourke will play. The Reporter says he will play a tattooed Russian heavy named Ivan who becomes Whiplash, a man with deadly, technologically enhanced coils. But Variety says he will play Crimson Dynamo, a heavily tattooed Russian arms dealer, who wears a nuclear-powered suit.
Rockwell would play Justin Hammer, a multibillionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist Anthony Stark, aka Iron Man, being played by a returning Robert Downey Jr., according to The Reporter.
Rourke and Rockwell would be joining a cast that also includes the returning Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as Don Cheadle, who is replacing Terrence Howard. The project is eyeing a spring start in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Paramount will release the movie May 7, 2010.
By balkaster at 8:43 AM ON 01/08/09
Since Whiplash in the comics is an American woman who was never an Iron Man villain, and Crimson Dynamo is a Russian male (12 different ones, actually, so it's possible one was named Ivan) who in all his incarnations was an adversary to either Iron Man or one of the other Avengers, I think it's probable that The Reporter is wrong and Variety is right.
By Boot at 10:35 AM ON 01/08/09
Another villain (Crimsom Dynamo) in an armored suit? Meh. That's a recycled plot from the 1st movie, it's typical Hollywood thinking with regards to sequels.
A good villain would be the Mandarin but it would not be politically correct, esp. if the Chinese gov't. objects to it.
By Joe the Rat at 11:55 AM ON 01/08/09
Whiplash was an Iron Man villain, although better known by his later alias - Blacklash. The current Whiplash is (apparently) unrelated.
By quantumcat at 3:33 PM ON 01/09/09
If IronMan2 goes the Airbender/Day the Earth Stood Still remake route,the Mandarin could be re-imagined as an Aryan nymphet whose high-tech,magically enhanced rings are not confined to ten fingers.
The new Mandy could be a bubblegum boffin determined to take down Stark Industries and Western Imperialism to advance herself and her dreams of a blingocratic New World Order.
Instead of a Jet Li or Chow Yun Fat or even Cary Woodruff,we could have a lethal Lolita.
(Think of the marketing possibilities.
The fast-food,Mattel and Wal-Mart tie-ins alone could pay for the production.)
By Rachel at 11:33 PM ON 01/09/09
Justin Theroux kicks ass.
By wut at 3:06 PM ON 02/09/09
These "rumors" have already been shot down. Do some searching on Google.
By Cyclonus at 3:55 PM ON 02/09/09
I would like to see The Mandarin and MODOK or Crimson Dynamohaps Fin Fang Foom
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Cyclonus:
I would like to see The Mandarin and MODOK or Crimson Dynamohaps Fin Fang Foom ...More »