CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Sci Fi Channel wrote: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.

Nate (post: 1280531) wrote:So every time comic movies decide to use multiple villains, it's always terrible.

Yet they continue to use multiple villains in comic movies.

...*SIGH*

variety.com wrote:With Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell negotiating to play key villains in "Iron Man 2," Marvel Entertainment and director Jon Favreau are now looking for the right thesp to play femme fatale Black Widow, another nemesis for Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark.

Emily Blunt has emerged as the frontrunner to play Natasha Romanoff in the "Iron Man" sequel. She's a Soviet superspy who doubles as Black Widow, a beauty in a skintight black costume enhanced by high-tech weaponry.

Blunt, whose credits include "The Devil Wears Prada," "The Jane Austen Book Club" and "Charlie Wilson's War," will get a profile boost when she stars with Benicio Del Toro in the Joe Johnston-directed "The Wolf Man" for Universal.

Marvel would not comment on the Black Widow casting. The Justin Theroux-scripted "Iron Man 2" will begin production in the spring for release by Paramount in summer 2010.

Nate (post: 1280531) wrote:So every time comic movies decide to use multiple villains, it's always terrible.

Yet they continue to use multiple villains in comic movies.

...*SIGH*