Tony Stark, better beef up that armor, because you're latest nemesis has a thing for heavy metal.
Former 24 star James Badge Dale has signed on to do battle with Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 3, playing a character named Lt. Col. Eric Savin, per Variety. And Fanboys down with Iron Man's rogues gallery know that Savin is not a nice person.
He's better known as cyborg baddie Coldblood—sort of Marvel's version of Robocop, only the future of law enforcement he's not.
Per Marvel lore, Savin steps on a land mine and becomes reanimated via cybernetic surgery, given new artificial limbs, a mechanical left eye and put to work as an urban fighting machine whose built-in guns and body armor give Iron Man a run for his money.
Whether or not Coldblood's origin story appears in the sequel is a mystery; Disney, Marvel and helmer Shane Black have kept a tight lid on the plot. (The studio declined to comment on the report of Badge Dale's casting.)
But speculation has focused on Iron Man 3 taking its cues from the six-issue Iron Man: Extremis arc, which finds our hero trying to halt the spread of a nanovirus.
It's not known how Coldblood will be tied to the movie's big bad, whose identity remains unknown but whom the studio confirmed in April will be played by Ben Kingsley.
Badge Dale, 34, is probably most recognizable role was Chase Edmunds in Fox's 24. He was also the lead in AMC's short-lived political thriller Rubicon, acted opposite Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in The Departed and was one of the principals in the HBO miniseries The Pacific. He'll also appear with Brad Pitt in the upcoming World War Z and with Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger.
Iron Man 3 starts shooting this month in North Carolina before moving to China, with Robert Downey Jr. back in the saddle after helping taking The Avengers to the box office stratosphere with $1 billion-plus grosses (and a reported $50 million payday).
Other IM3 newbies include Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, who is expected to play rival to Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts, while Don Cheadle returns as Col. James Rhodes/War Machine.