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Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell Doing Something Evil on Iron Man 2


66263-rourke_rockwell_341.jpgMickey Rourke is a gigantic and terrifyingly ugly man-monster, so his “comeback” has been significantly slower than those of Travolta and what not, but it seems like between being Marv in Sin City and The Wrestler he’s finally back in Hollywood’s good graces. The proof is in the pudding, assuming you pretend Iron Man 2 is a pudding–Rourke is in talks to star along with the also excellent Sam Rockwell.

Both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety agree that Rockwell is going to play Justin Hammer, evil industralist who finances supervillains on the side, but Variety says Rourke will be playing the Crimson Dynamo, while THR says he’s going to play the relatively unknown and low-level Iron Man villain Whiplash. But THR also says Whiplash “is a tattooed Russian heavy named Ivan…a man with deadly, technologically enhanced coils”.

First of all, Whiplash is not Russian. In fact, he kind of sucks–I know my ’80s Marvel all right, and I hadn’t even heard of this bastard before today. Second, from what I can read at Marvel.com, Whiplash had no coils, just…a whip, and that only occasionally. Third, Crimson Dynamo  actually is Russian, and a much better known Iron Man villain. But how could THR get that wrong? How would they ever think on their own that Rourke would play Whiplash? Wouldn’t information that weird have to come from somewhere official?

So I have no idea what the real deal is. I welcome you theories in the comments. But one thing I can’t shake…a big dude, Mickey Rourke-sized, Russian, with deadly coils…that sounds a helluva alot like Omega Red to me. But it can’t be. Right?

…right?