SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! DON’T READ IT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW! I WARNED YOU. YOU CAN’T GET MAD AT ME NOW.
Iron Man 3 is only a week or so into production in North Carolina, and already spoilers are being leaked left and right. The latest potential spoiler to be revealed is that a particular red, white, and blue version of Iron Man’s armor will be featured in next summer’s sure-to-be blockbuster.
Photo confirmation courtesy of thesuperficial.com:
The Star-Spangled Iron Man?
I can already hear what you are thinking: “Why does Captain America need an Iron Man suit?” Well, he doesn’t. While this suit may look like the familiar Avenger, it is actually the Iron Patriot. For those of you who do not regularly read comics and have no idea what I’m talking about, here is the blurb about the Iron Patriot from Wikipedia:
During the events of the “Dark Reign“, Norman Osborn created a new identity, the Iron Patriot (an amalgam of Captain America and Iron Man), to cement his standing as a hero. As the Iron Patriot, he utilized a version of Iron Man’s armor. The armor featured superhuman strength, enhanced durability via a pliable crystalline material with a molecular structure that can collimate into super-hard planes upon the application of an electrical field, flight, magnetic impact blasts, heat seeking missiles, miniaturized lasers, flamethrowers, and a communications system housed in his helmet which allowed him to interface with any U.S.-controlled satellite or computer network. While the original Iron Man armor utilized repulsor technology, Osborn’s design does not; Stark destroyed all but one repulsor, and stated that “Oz is too stupid” to make his own repulsor-based weapons system. The star shaped Uni Beam projector on his chest, because of its shape, also has a less powerful output than that of the original Iron Man model.
What does that mean?
Translation: Norman Osborn (famed Spider-Man baddie) is trying to establish himself as a hero, and in order to do so creates a less powerful version of Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor.
Now, obviously it won’t be Norman Osborn in the armor (Spider-Man is owned by Sony and Iron Man by Marvel), so who is the man in the suit? It is actor James Badge Dale, who is playing Eric Savin, who turns into the cyborg villain Coldblood in the comics. Now here’s where it gets complicated. Iron Patriot and Coldblood are not the same person. So why is Dale wearing the armor? My theory is that Iron Man 3 writer/director, Shane Black has altered the storyline a bit, having Eric Savin become Iron Patriot before he becomes Coldblood. Which probably means that Iron Patriot won’t have a big role in the film. It may just be an easter egg, much like Captain America’s shield in Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Unfortunately, we won’t know for sure until Iron Man 3 hits theaters May 3rd of next year.
Your turn
So what do you think? I pretty much geeked out when I saw the suit. Do you think Iron Patriot will have a big role in Iron Man 3? Do you think James Badge Dale will be both characters, or is he just acting as a stand in? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
UPDATE:
After doing some more research (because that’s the kind of geek I am), I found that the Iron Patriot is not the only star-spangled character in the Iron Man universe. I was quick to assume that by the colors that Iron Patriot would be the one featured, but I would be remiss if I did not add that another possible addition to Iron Man 3 is one of Iron Man’s more recent comic rivals, Detroit Steel. Detroit Steel is the first in a line of armored soldiers called the Steelcorps, which is marketed by Stark’s corporate rival Hammer Industries. If Hammer Industries rings a bell, it’s because it was featured in Iron Man 2 with Sam Rockwell in the role of CEO Justin Hammer. At the end of the film Justin swears revenge against Tony Stark and Pepper Potts as he is being taken away by police. Could Detroit Steel be Hammer’s revenge? Could the suit we are seeing in the set photos be a less weaponized, early version of the villain? Like I said before, we won’t know anything for certain until the film hits theaters.
Who do you think we’ll see in the film: Iron Patriot or Detroit Steel?
