Update: According to Deadline, Savin will indeed be a villain.

Looks like we’ve got yet another new addition to the cast of Iron Man 3 this week, and in this case, I think it’s a pretty interesting one. James Badge Dale (The Pacific) has reportedly signed on to star as Eric Savin, a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, but like most characters in the Marvel universe, he also has a second identity. After being killed by a landmine, Savin is resurrected as a cyborg named Coldblood and becomes a freelance mercenary. I don’t know if the character has ever been directly connected to Iron Man before, but it seems like he should fit into this universe quite well. The question is, will he be a good guy or bad guy?

James Badge Dale has been slowly building a solid resume over the past few years, and this will likely be his biggest role to date. I first became aware of him as Robert Leckie in HBO’s The Pacific, but he has recently turned in great performances in both Shame and The Grey as well. He also led the short-lived AMC series Rubicon, and has roles coming up in Robert Zemeckis’ Flight, The Lone Ranger and World War Z.

It’s still unclear how significant Eric Savin will be in Iron Man 3 and if he will even become Coldblood in the film. With no ties to The Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D., however, it seems a safe bet that he could actually be a villain in the movie, perhaps working for Ben Kingsley’s character. There is speculation that his character could actually be merged with Mallen, the nanotech-enhanced villain from the Iron Man: Extremis story arc. Are you a fan of Coldblood and do you think James Badge Dale will be a good addition to Iron Man 3?