Loved Iron Man? Then get a load of this....

Learned over at: JoBlo

Maybe it's because The Dark Knight came and totally stole its thunder, but Iron Man has been all but forgotten by yours truly. Which, I know, I know, is pretty shitty, considering how strong and entertaining it is. Though, maybe my total disdain over how anticlimactic the entire final act of Iron Man is has something to do with this; you know, how the final fight versus War Monger devolves into a Transformers jackoff and goes absolutely nowhere.

Well, looks like Iron Man 2 will have two fucking-awesome actors playing villains, leaving plenty of room for a much-improved finale. Reports are saying that, first, Mickey Rourke is damn near close to signing on as a villain, one Crimson Dynamo (picture below), "a Russian equivalent of Tony Stark who builds himself a nuclear-powered suit," for the sequel. As if having the newly-resuscitated mammoth of an actor Rourke involved wasn't enough, further reports are saying that Sam Rockwell is is close to joining ship as a second, unnamed villain (some are speculating that he'd be playing Justin Hammer, a superpower-less industrialist who funds and equips many of Iron Man's foes). And if you know me and my movie likings, you'd know that Rockwell is one of my favorite actors working today. The guy just brings it every time, and picks projects like none other.

Rourke

Crimson Dynamo


Rockwell

Justin Hammer

Seems a bit older than Rockwell, but that's a minor detail I'm sure the screenplay could adjust accordingly.

Fingers crossed that both end up being true, and not speculative rumor. Normally, I wouldn't even bother giving something like this an entire post, but this news is just too sweet to let pass.

Rourke is a bit of a wild card here, though, in all honesty. Only because after The Wrestler you'd think it'd be best for his career to keep the serious-role-streak going. But then I remember that he also just signed on to Sly Stallone's ensemble action thing The Expendables, and I realize that Rourke is choosing projects that seem like fun, rather than looking for further Oscar bait. And that's pretty cool, right?

Of course, neither of these has been officially announced yet. Just mentioned by Variety, which is a reassuring sign of impending confirmation.

If this all turns out to be bullshit, just forget this post ever happened.