Media Consumes Me

Getting right to the point: the only thing more exciting than a relatively cast and crew intact sequel to last year’s Iron Man is the fact that this time around, the man himself- Sam ‘Fucking’ Rockwell- will be involved. Sam (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Moon) will be playing Justin Hammer: rival Industrialist to Tony Stark, a smooth-talking weapons manufacturer who will make up half of the sequel’s villainous duo. The differences between Sam and his comic counterpart, I’m sure, won’t end at the looks, either.

But Mr. Rockwell isn’t the only one to enter the fray. Scarlet Johansson (Lost in Translation, Vicky Christina Barcelona) will be playing Black Widow: the Russian Special Agent/Ballerina we all know and love. A fact that, no doubt, has a certain web crawler’s Spidey Sense tingling with jealousy. Scarlet’s involvement came after Emily Blunt- whom she initially lost out too- was unable to take the role due to contractual obligations to 20th Century Fox. While either of them would have fit Black Widow for varying reasons, lets just all be thankful that Eliza Dushku’s public pleading for the role fell on uninterested ears.

Micky Rourke (The Wrestler, Sin City) will be playing a fellow Ruskie: a Frankensteinian mash-up of Whiplash and The Crimson Dynamo, named after the former of the two. Which will probably work for the best considering just how similar The Crimson Dynamo was to Iron Monger, Iron Man’s nemesis in the last film.

And last, but certainly not least, Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Ocean’s 11) will be taking over the role of the eventual War Machine Jim Rhodes from Terrence Howard. Although, let’s hope that’s one metamorphosis we don’t have to sit through another movie eagerly anticipating. And it would seem Cheadle is here too stay, as he’ll be reprising the role in the upcoming Avenger’s movie as well.

As implied above, Jon Favreau (writer of Swingers) will continue directing, and it goes without saying that Robert Downey Jr. has no interest of leaving the slick confines of Tony Stark. Joining the writing team this time is Justin Theroux, the creator of Tropic Thunder, whom you might remember as the golf club wielding director in David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr.

So lets hope for the best. Although if the first movie’s success was any indication, we have little to worry about.