Last week there were photos of a star-spangled Iron Man suit on the Wilmington, North Carolina set of Iron Man 3. There were theories flying left and right that the suit belonged to the Iron Patriot. A couple days ago, I saw the suit myself in Cary in the building used as the face of AIM. But now, Latino Review is reporting all the speculations have been wrong. They say that the suit we are seeing is not the Iron Patriot like we all thought, but none other than a painted War Machine.
Is seeing really believing?
While it is true that a lot of people (including myself) thought they were seeing actor James Badge Dale, who stars as the villain Coldblood, inside the armor, Latino Review is now saying that it is just “a very nice stunt man who allowed Don Cheadle to not be on set that day.” They also claim that is why Don Cheadle was spotted on set in Cary the same day I saw (what I thought was) the Iron Patriot.
Here is a photo from the Wilmington set compared with James Badge Dale. Click the images for larger versions so you can compare for yourself.
Honestly, it’s hard for me to determine exactly who is in the suit. If War Machine is painted to look like the Iron Patriot, it would be a good way for the film to not have to explain why Norman Osborn isn’t the man in the suit.
More Rumors
According to Latino Review, “The US Government has had their hands on this Stark suit for awhile, and apparently they’ve decided to make it more patriotic (especially with the nano-technology stuff I hear is going down in China these days, it’s important for America to look good, not like ‘Iron Man 2′s’ bulky grey War Machine).”
I do have to admit though, the armor does look a lot like War Machine’s with the giant gun on the back. This also makes sense with the rumor that War Machine will be the bodyguard of the Vice President while he visits China.
We’ll have to wait and see
I can’t say for sure if we are seeing the Iron Patriot or War Machine, and I won’t be satisfied with these rumors until I see Don Cheadle wearing the armor. Unfortunately, with the movie so early in production, it is hard to tell what is going on and what is being spread around to throw us off. With the movie hitting theaters May 3, 2013, there will be many more months of speculations and rumors to sift through. If you have a theory you would like to share, please let us know in the comments below.