by Ethan Anderton
May 16, 2012
Source: Variety
Here's a bit of interesting casting that should have comic book fans scratching their heads a bit. Following in the footsteps of Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley and Rebecca Hall, The Grey and Shame star James Badge Dale has landed a supporting role in Iron Man 3. What's interesting is Variety reports his role is said to be Eric Savin, and in the comics he's a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army put in charge of Project: Ultra. After stepping on a land mine, cybernetic surgery is performed on him and he's resurrected as the cyborg Coldblood, though as far as I can tell, there's no precedent for his interaction with Iron Man in the comics.
Perhaps the character is being used as one of those in charge of the Extremis project since that's the comic on which the screenplay is loosely based. It would blur the lines of the comic book a bit, but that's not unheard of. Then again, maybe Marvel is looking to set up yet another smaller franchise by introducing Coldblood in Iron Man 3. Kingsley is already the villain, but maybe Coldblood could give Iron Man a run for his money or become another sidekick to take down terrorists and such. There's yet to be someone who takes up a post similar to Iron Man and be a competing hero, so maybe that's in the cards too.
Details will likely emerge as production begins this summer, but for now we're a bit clueless as to the extent of this character's involvement in the story. Either way, Dale is a great addition, and he's about ready to have a great line-up of films with roles in Robert Zemeckis' Flight starring Denzel Washington, the adaptation of World War Z and Disney's new take of The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer. Adding one of the biggest comic book franchises to his future slate can only help his career, and that's fine by me as a fan of his work in "Rubicon" and "The Pacific." Thoughts?
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