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Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell Joining Iron Man 2 as Villains!

by Alex Billington
January 7, 2009

Variety and Hollywood Reporter are reporting that both Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell are in talks to join Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2! Rourke is in discussions to play a villain described as Iron Man's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser named Ivan who becomes Crimson Dynamo, a villain with his own nuclear-powered armored suit. Rockwell would play a British villain named Justin Hammer, a multibillionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist of Tony Stark. No other new details were revealed about the highly anticipated sequel. Can you handle two huge casting announcements in one day?

This is the second casting news for Rourke today, following confirmation that he had also joined Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables. This is certainly one of the greatest acting comebacks we've seen in years. As for the villain, the original Crimson Dynamo first appeared in Tales of Suspense #46 in 1963. There have been 12 various Crimson Dynamo incarnations over the years, so it's likely this one is being written specifically for the cinematic Iron Man universe. However, there are conflicting reports that Rourke might be a villain named Whiplash instead. My best guess is that he's actually Dynamo, not Whiplash.

As for Rockwell's character, Justin Hammer, he first appeared in the comics in Iron Man #120 in 1979. Hammer invented a device called the hypersonic scan transmitter, which allowed him to take control of Iron Man's armor. Angered that he had lost a lucrative bid to Stark Industries, Hammer took control of his armor and forced him to kill the Carnelian ambassador. Since then, Hammer has been one of Stark's primary adversaries, coming up with endless evil schemes over the years. Sounds like Favreau has found the right two villains for this sequel!! Paramount will bring Iron Man 2 to theaters on May 7th, 2010.

Update: Both articles from Variety and Hollywood Reporter have turned this casting news into quite a debacle. No one really knows who is playing who. Devin at CHUD has a great breakdown looking at potential characters. We'll hopefully have some clarification on this in the next few days or weeks.

Filed under Casting, Hype, Movie News

From around the web:

Farris

So this obviously means that this Crimson Dynamo isn't Russian. Where would he come from then?
http://www.bradbode.com Brad

"There have been 12 various Crimson Dynamo incantations over the years" You meant "incarnations". Otherwise there would be a Crimson Dynamo chant... for what I don't know.
Richard

awesome news, hes a great bad guy.
Daniel

Huh. The real question is: Will the fight scene be longer than 7 minutes?
Colin

1: Why would this mean the Crimson Dynamo isn't Russian? Because it's Rourke? An actor has never put on an accent before? And an armoured Russian guy isn't necessarily Crimson Dynamo; it could just as easily be Titanium Man.
bat

Agree, he's a "great bad guy". but a similar to iron monger. thought they were going to the mandarin, maybe marvel thought he would be to stereotypically racist?
Cmurder

So he's basically playing the same character from The Expendables as in Iron Man 2...haha! Wonder if they're going to bridge the two films together! Yeah, definitely joking but he is playing an arms dealer in both flicks.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

Just update the post above guys! Apparently Sam Rockwell is also playing a villain... And there are conflicting reports that Rourke is either Whiplash or Crimson Dynamo.
David

Man, talk about the resurrection of Mickey Rourke's career. I need to get to a showing of The Wrestler and see what all the buzz is about.
adrian

I loved rourke in The Wrestler and a lot of his early work but he's squandering his push by doing supporting jobs in action films. Iron man is a cool gig but that stupid stallone movie or 13?
dom

Man talk about second chance in life - Mickey sure is a lucky mother **^&& - Lets hope he treats the new fame with more respect this time.
Hmmmm

They should do an accompanying documentary about Downey & Rourke: the Rehab Comebacks. (What? ... it's certainly better than calling it "the Rehab Survivors".) Finally looks like somebody over there's gettin' their act together. Does this mean they're saving mandarin for the 3-quel? Smart move, I suppose.
Bucker

so iron man will be fighting yet another bad guy who has his own suit? already saw that
bret

Looks like he is getting crazy work now. good for him. IM 2 is looking good
http://www.entertainmenttodayandbeyond.com entertainmenttodayandbeyond.com

Question Alex- When is The Wrestler going into wide release? chuck
T Robert T

Colin has a good point, Titanium Man is just as likely from the information we've been given, possibly even more likely considering the tatooed bruiser line fits the much larger Titanium man better than the clean cut military (for the most part, there have been more than 10 of them) Crimson Dynamo, who is generally depicted as about the same size as Iron Man (Tony even wore the armor once). Either of these characters seem like bad choices for the movie, as we just did Iron Monger and the odds of War Machine showing up are pretty good. Unfortunately Iron Man is severely lacking in compelling villains in general, and about half of his rogues gallery are guys in armored suits, and the rest would look a little ridiculous on the big screen. Another note is that the picture you have for the Crimson Dynamo up there is, in the comics, an improved version of the MK-I equivalent, and is not very representative of what the Crimson Dynamo looks like 90% of the time.
http://Firstshowing.net The_Phantom

I believe Jon Favreau said that he wasn't going to use the Mandarin in his sequel but lead events up to him for perhaps the 3rd installment. Either way both great actors. Especially Sam Rockwell. I'm just hoping for tripple the amount of action and an awsome story line to go with it.
Itri

Iron Man 2 is going to be HUGE. And that is super exciting.
Al

i didn't find Iron Man to be amazing, but still enjoyed it. What really excites me is Iron Man will be credited for aiding in the comebacks of Rourke and Downey Jr.
Darunia

Two great actors.
BahHumbug

#15- Do you not know how to use google or the internet to look up information?
will smith as hancock to the rescue!

Rourke as a Russian? Rockwell playing a British dude? And Don Cheadle? Okaaaaaaaay.
Al

21, that was my first thought, but than i realized he was probably joking considering he appears to operate a film news site.
will smith as hancock to the rescue!

I take it back...sorta. If you told me Jeff Lebowski was playing the bad guy in Iron Man... But still, Alex makes it sound like Crimson Dynamo and Justin Hammer are kinda essentially the same character....seems like they'd have the same powers. I guess Justin would be more like a threat to Starks' bank account. Spiderman flirted with this triangle thing and it kinda jumped the shark. I'm guessing that's where they'll have Rhodey get his own gear, so they can fight the 2 villains simultaneously. I'm with others, the first one was entertaining, but mainly because of a refreshing storyline... it was still really confusing in parts. And ultimately cliche. This just sounds really cliche. And I don't have that much faith in Favreau to pull it off.
BahHumbug

What about Iron Man was so confusing, #24? Yes it isn't a perfect film but I'd say confusing wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe it. Sure, it takes liberties with some of the science (as any science-fiction) film but I was very happy with the direction of the story even with the common lame complaint of "not enough fight scenes".
LeeMan

wtf is iron man, the franchise where former down-in-the-dumps, drug addicts make their comebacks?! i like this casting choice, cuase it shows you don't have to cast a-list stars to make blockbuster films. i'm quite glad about this news, but i'm a little skeptical about iron man 2. with all the hype, i was expecting the first to a great movie to sit down with the family and watch during christmas break, but it turned out to be somewhat of a letdown. i actually thought incredible hulk was slightly better, cause iron man was at times a little boring, as hard as it is to admit. don cheadle was a great replacement as Rhodey, so i guess we'll see soon.
Voice Of Reason

That news is so BORING. Who the hell really thinks Whiplash or the Dick-faced Dynamo as well as a British Tony Stark sound like good villains or any sign to look forward to the most hyped up movie of 2010. Yawn. Wheeze. Humdrum.
BahHumbug

#37- What? C'mon, Crimson Dynamo makes perfect sense now that Tony fought Iron Monger and a stand-in for the Mandarin.
BinYe East

too much good news for a movie buff to harness. 2010 and beyond is looking widly exceptional for tinseltown. spectacular... YES!!!
Jaf

I hope they're not just playing it safe by sticking to armored villains Forgot if they explicitly said that Iron Man would be a trilogy but if so, this being the second film there's a tendency to play safe and save the best for the last film
http://handfulofwires.blogspot.com DCompose

I want Sam Rockewell to play a multibillionaire!
Rosy

Oh, hell YES! Downey Jr, Rourke and Rockwell will bounce so absolutely brilliantly off of each other. I hope that the casting for the both of them happens for sure. And yeah, it's excellent to see Rourke making a huge comeback, finally. He's a talented man. I love that they already have a date for IM2's release. Now that's good planning for you.
Matt

I can see Rourke as Dynamo, but a little worried about villian being too similar to Iron Monger. Love Rockwell, but don't see him as Justin Hammer. Hugh Laurie should be Justin Hammer, he's perfect - read the commics - Hammer is an older gentlemen. I see Rockwell as Whiplash, but don't know that he's that dangerous of a villian. Yes, am worried about Spiderman 3 syndrome with too many villians. Hope Marvel is more worried about making a good movie than about selling toys. Thoughts?
Patrick

Are Hollywood writers this unoriginal? I don't see how making the villain(s) a business rival and a man in an armored suit similar to Iron Man's suit a sequel. This is just a remake of the first movie except they split the Obediah Stane character into 2 characters. What happened to the Mandarin as the next villain? Favreau dropped hints of a possible Mandarin introduction in Iron Man with the villains wearing rings that looked similar to each other and were on different fingers for each individual. Egads, Hollywood should change their name to "UnOriginalVille".
Matt

Just had a thought that maybe Rockwell would be Hawkeye - who starts off as a baddie - would be better casting IMO and fold nicely into Avengers. Still think Laurie makes best Justin Hammer - but their not asking me.
9mm

rourke is the living laser, and the other guy is dominic fortune np.
Bryanmakeup

I really like Sam Rockwell, but not sure for this. Why cant they cast a Brit. There several that would be great. Clive Owen would be good. Colin Ferth, or maybe Eddie Izzard. He has been spreading his acting wings nicely as of late. It just bugs me when films cast Americans to play Brits. Rarely do they get the accent right. Sam is not known for doing them well.
Darunia

Mandarin can't be some magic dude. Would be lame as shit. What i don't understand is....why not make new characters? And in all cases, it makes perfect sense for this movie to be about the arms race, since it's the reason why Iron Man exists in the first place. Doesn't make sense to jump from the 1st one, and drop kick a magician in the 2nd one, wtf. There were hints, about the rings system, supposedly, mandarin should be the head of a group that runs "war" from the shadows. It still has to be about war, and the arms race. There's no "Super Hero" vs "Super Villain" here, you'll get that in avengers when Iron Man goes against the Hulk.
Fisherr

Looks this movie will beat the first one.
dac_fan

No Mandarin? I have already seen Ironman fight the dude in his own ironman suit, I don't need to see the same movie with Rork In his own ironman suit. Damnit do something original.
BahHumbug

#40- Although they didn't call him by name, Shaun Toub was the "Mandarin" character in the first one. Jon Favreau confirms this on the DVD.
werdnafaz

I am sorry but i dont see this as rourkes come back i think he never left really and i like his style
Tony Bennit

I'd like to see a kick ass scene where the Crimson Dynamo uses a metallic dildo on Iron Man! That's the only way I would pay to see another piece of shit about some jack ass running around in a metal suit fighting another jack ass in a metal suit. It would sure be better than that fabulous final fight scene in Iron Man where Pepper "overloads the circuits" to create some ridiculous explosion and phony Hollywood mushroom cloud bursting lightning into the skies. Couldn't they come up with a way for Iron Man to simply win the battle on his own?? Either way, who gives a crap who plays whom.
J.D.W.

I still wish they would have the Manderin, because he's a classic villain in the comic book and a good one, plus they seem to forget that another Harry potter is coming out next year, which means they should do what ever to make this great,so I hope this next movie is going to be good even if the villain is Whiplash.