Marvel Lines Up Potential Villains for Iron Man 3 and Thor 2

Posted by on May 24th, 2012   Filed under: Action, Books/Comics, Fantasy, Sci-fi
Source: Variety

With the wild success of The Avengers earlier this month, the Marvel machine is moving ahead stronger than ever as the studio preps for more sequels. Today we’ve received word on the villainous side of things for Iron Man 3 and Thor 2. Let’s start off with Iron Man 3, which brings an odd choice to the table. Variety reports that former Dancing with the Stars contestant Ashley Hamilton (son of George) is in talks to play a character named Firepower who, in the comics, was a pilot of an experimental armoured suit, eventually doing battle with Iron Man. Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, apparently the part will be relatively small, so we’ll see how it fits into the overall narrative. Hopefully we won’t be seeing another villain who turns into the equivalent of the hero again. It’s also worth noting that Jon Favreau has been confirmed to return as Happy Hogan.

As for Thor 2, Mads Mikkelsen is currently in talks to play the villain in the Thor sequel. While there’s no information as to who that villain will be, Mikkelsen is no stranger to portraying antagonists as one of his most memorable parts remains the baddie from Casino Royale. He would join returning cast members Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, and Tom Hiddleston among others. While the Iron Man 3 casting comes across like a weird choice, I can easily see Mikkelsen slipping into the Thor universe. Both Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 will hit theaters next year in May and November, respectively. What are your thoughts on the potential additions to these casts?



  • Henrik

    MADS MIKKELSEN! Seing him in american movies is good entertainment in and of itself, so I’m definitely on board with that choice. Thor was my favorite of the Marvel movies, so this is all good in my book, even though all the good shakespearean parts will probably be gone now that Branagh is out.

  • Batman

    I really hope the baddy in Iron Man 3 isn’t another guy in an iron suit.

  • Maopheus

    Unfortunately, Iron Man seems to be kind of saddled with having a lot of enemies who are essentially evil analogs of himself. This tends to be a problem with heroes who are very powerful. It’s hard to come up with villains who are equally or even more powerful, because obviously, they need to threaten the hero sufficiently. The less powerful heroes like Batman and Spiderman tend to have a larger, better and more interesting rogues’ gallery. It sounds to me like this Firepower is someone who shows up in the beginning to bother Iron Man. He could be some kind of Justin Hammer stooge, perhaps. Iron Man dispatches him quickly, before moving on the main threat.

  • Jr

    I think that a story with The Mandarin would be more interesting since he is THE Iron Man villain and also nothing like him.

  • Maopheus

    I really dislike the coyness with which they are addressing Kingsley’s character. I suppose it’s to be expected, because they want to keep their cards close to their chest somehow, but if he’s the Mandarin, just say so. I’m sure everyone could invision him playing the part for sure. The only thing is, I’m not sure if he’s going to the physical threat to Iron Man. I like the use of this whole extremis virus plot, but how does that translate into the basic question of this movie: who is Iron Man fighting, and is he/it a threat to defeat him, even though we know it won’t happen?

  • Maopheus

    It’s looking more like Thor 2 will be the conduit to what will happen in Avengers 2. The Iron Man stuff seems to not matter as much. Therefore I’m wondering how much more steam Iron Man has as it’s own series. It seems to be standing more apart from the overall Avengers storyline than either Thor or Captain America. Looks like Thor will keep the whole cosmic stuff in play, and Captain America will keep the S.H.I.E.L.D. angle in play.
    Thor has more flexibility with regard to storylines and potential foes. I’m sure they’re going to keep Thanos in the background. He might continue to be the string-puller until he reveals himself in (hopefully) Avengers 2. Who knows who the Mikkelsen villain will be. He will likely be some kind of Asgardian foe. I don’t think they want to go full cosmic yet, because then it’s hard to go back. I just hope they don’t hold back too much.

  • TheUniverse

    I watched the The Avengers and it was FREAKING AWESOME! I like them all but the Hulk/Bruce Banner STANDOUT among the rest. Mark Ruffalo did an AMAZING job and he gave JUSTICE to Hulk/Bruce Banner compared to the other 2 Hulk movies. Marvel and Disney made an EXCELLENT decision for giving the role to Mark Ruffalo. We NEED a new Hulk movie of Mark Ruffalo! WE NEED MORE!