HOME TRAILERS 2013 SCHEDULE PODCASTS REVIEWS POSTERS INTERVIEWS SHORT FILMS NEWS FEEDS ABOUT APPS

LATEST NEWS

'Iron Man 3' Adds Another Villain with Ashley Hamilton as Firepower

by Ethan Anderton
May 24, 2012
Source: Variety, THR

It sounds like Tony Stark is going to have his hands full in Iron Man 3. Not only has Ben Kingsley been cast as a villain in the Marvel sequel starring Robert Downey Jr., but James Badge Dale's role as Eric Savin, a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army put in charge of Project: Ultra who later becomes Coldblood after stepping on a mine and having cybernetic surgery performed on him, is said to be a bad guy, too. Now it sounds like there's one more adversary for Iron Man to blast away as Variety reports Ashley Hamilton, son of George Hamilton, and personal friend of Downey, will play Firepower, another cyborg villain.

In the comics, the villain's origin lies in Jack Taggert, who is also part of an experiment and sent on a mission, aptly named Project: Firepower, where he's the pilot of an experimental armored suit. But in a turn of events, he uses the suit to fight Iron Man. On the other side of the fence, it's not clear if Dale will really become Coldblood or if he's just assuming the character before the transformation in the comics. But taking into account that both Coldblood and Firepower are kind of brought about in the same way, I'm wondering if they team-up to fight Iron Man, or they're each adversaries that Iron Man takes on individually.

It remains to be seen, but I just hope there's not too many villains cooking up evil plots in the kitchen. The bigger worry is that Hamilton was on "Dancing with the Stars" and a correspondent on "Extra" before landing this gig. Hopefully he just needed the right time and part for a bigger break, and Downey has made the right choice in helping him get this role.

In other casting updates for Iron Man 3, THR has word that Jon Favreau is returning as Stark's trusted bodyguard Happy Hogan. Even though there's been tension between Favreau and Marvel before, the reason he didn't return to direct the threequel, Favreau still produced The Avengers for Marvel Studios. Favreau already tweeted a picture of his chair from the set, so it sounds like he's already busy filming his scenes for the film. With Shane Black making a big jump to such a high profile film after directing Downey in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, there's a lot at risk, and I'm hoping this sequel isn't as convoluted and messy as the second one. The number of villains is worrisome, but I'll wait until we see a trailer to judge. Thoughts?

Filed under Casting, Development, Movie News

From around the web:

Rhythm Master

I think war machine comes to the rescue to fight one of them, that would maybe explain the possible villain team-up, Don is returning.
mooreworthy

Spiderman 3 tried sandman and venom. How'd that turn out for the france?
- Jericho
  
  Spiderman didn't have some super awesome thing added to him to make himself seem...you know what i cant save it either....
- Blandry888
  
  It didnt turn out bad because of Rami if thats what you mean. It was a studio decision to play it out the way they did.
  - mooreworthy
    
    Nah, love rami since evil dead. Studios got too greedy with too many villians.
Jericho

i wonder if they are both introduced as the same time for a sort of super team, Coldblood and Firepower could make a few interesting 'Fire and Ice' cliche's for the movie........
HealthyPoison

I just really get the feeling after the end of Avengers that the Hulk will be in Iron Man 3, at least for a cameo or a small part. Especially after the budget increase and all these new bad guys coming in as well.
Me

Lets see we have;Ben Kingsley - Likely playing The Mandarin after all the hype its hadJames Badge Dale - Coldblood Ashley Hamilton - Firepower And remember we still have Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer who will probably return in this or a sequel. Oh and lets not forget (seeing as Iron Man 3 is basically 'The Extermis story' that we`ll have a character like 'Mallen' who will probably turn out to be played by Andy Lau.The villains are;Mandarin - Heavily rumoured/confirmedColdblood - ConfirmedFirepower - ConfirmedJustin Hammer - Unlikely but rumouredMallen - Rumoured
- anthony.
  
  I read somewhere that Andy Lau is a good guy. He's a scientist that helps Stark.
LosZombies

Too. Many. Villains.
Me

Eek that last comment went bad. Ok. Basically. We have Coldblood and Firepower confirmed. Mandarin is rumoured and is likely to be played by Ben Kingsley. Seeing as this is an adaption of Extremis we can expect Andy Lau to be playing someone like 'Mallen' with the possibility of Justin Hammer returning in this film or an eventual sequel.
- ASFan
  
  Hammer has never been mentioned to be returning. And Andy Lau is playing an ally, not the villain Mallen. And like I said before, Coldblood is not a villain.
DRM

It's seems obvious to me that these two guys are just experiment subjects for the Extremis virus. It seems pretty straight-forward; Ben Kingsly's character (Mandarin or otherwise) manipulates the "Sexy Female Scientist" to push forward with testing her Extremis Virus. The first test subject (either Hamilton or Dale) goes awry, Iron Man has to take him down. The virus is perfected then given to the other guy (Hamilton or Dale) Iron Man tries to beat him, but can't yadda yadda, and is forced to take the Extremis virus himself. Iron Man returns to beat the bad guy, but eventually finds out the real source of everything is Kingsly. Movies writes itself.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1523381468 Jon Chamberlain

Surely Thanos would come into this too? He has something to do with the Iron Man story right? Considering he is the main protagonist in the Avengers 2 it would make sense.
- Rhythm Master
  
  think you mean Antagonist
ASFan

It should be noted that Coldblood is not a villain in the comics. Nor does Variety say that Coldblood will be a villain in IM3.
- http://www.firstshowing.net/ Ethan Anderton
  
  It's been talked about elsewhere, but not specifically in the Variety story. That's why we're not saying he's a straight up villain yet. But it's been hinted at.
  - ASFan
    
    Well the first place I read about Coldblood being a villain was Deadline whose reporting I question, and there's a comment on Deadline that mentions his character not being a villain in the comics. The talk about Coldblood being a villain in the movie is mostly just outside speculation from people who don't realize that he isn't a villain in the comics.
Xerxexx

Kinda crowded.
McWetty

Uh oh. Sounds like we have another Spiderman 3 on our hands. Too many villains in the kitchen.
Ehsan Davodi

i thout first the time length of movie must be at least 2:30 , and i thout if in one movie you wana use 2or3 villain at least choose first class villain Ben is ok but another 2guys is unknown for me,think 2 another famous actor beside of sir.Ben, but i very like surpriseyes i think ironman traped in really bad situation 3 villian is very dangerious for him maybe legend wana end in this too, very interested 1.....2......Fight
Mightymetroman

A lot of these extra villains could just be cannon fodder with names ala Riptide & Azeal from X-Men: First Class. These two villains were C/D class level. Now instead of Iron Man & War Machine fighting mindless robots, they will have a human face. Possibly making it harder for Tony to actually "kill" them.
Nielsen700

Seems like a case of "too much shit going on".
Ubeenfukd

I personally DO NOT have an issue with them casting a white actor to play a black character. I remember the big uproar that came from Edris Elba playing Heimdall. Not trying to start anything, just bringing it up for conversation sake. To see what others think of it.
Voice of Reason

Iron Man faces his toughest foe ever: INTERNET SKEPTICISM!!!!!
A Villa88

I thought FIREPOWER was in the first movie?
Stevenfreestyler

Nahh, don't believe the everything you read on who will play be playing who and whose the villains.. Remember what happened when Iron Man 2 was at the very initial stage of casting roles and characters? Remember Mickey Rourke was set to play a character don in a suit powered by nuclear reactor called Crimson Dynamo and then after some time its was either Crimson Dynamo or Whiplash and then finally its was Whiplash? Well hold your horses then, don't get excited reading on the list of bad guys and see what happens..
Solo_Calrissian

Bring back Terrance!
Christopher

Whoa looks like we have another iron man 3 too many vaillans in the kitchen
http://www.facebook.com/acher.walknshoes Acher WalknShoes

If they are going to make the film interesting and challenging they need to put some creativity in to next movie so it is more entertaining. More villians that have a decent storyline and directed right will do this for Iron-Man 3