Iron Man 3 Won't Have Iron Patriot Armor After All; Fandral to be Recast in Thor 2
Posted 06.09.12 by Ryan
With Iron Man 3 officially in production, it didn't take long for spoilers to make their way to the web. In fact, set photos of someone (allegedly James Badge Dale) wearing the Iron Patriot armor. This lead to a tremendous outpouring of online speculation, starting with the fact that Dale was set to play cyborg Coldblood and not Iron Patriot. Then the question arose about the Iron Patriot since, in the Marvel comic books, the armor is worn by Norman Osborn, a character owned by Sony, as they hold all the movie rights associated with Spider-Man.
Turns out all that speculation and theorizing may have been for naught — fun as it was for fanboys worldwide — as new information has come to light that would seem to debunk the Iron Patriot spoiler. We feel compelled to warn those trying to avoid spoilers that the information that spoils the Iron Patriot spoilers will only provide more spoilers, even if they aren't confirmed and could in fact be more speculation which could mean that...ok, you get the idea. Proceed with caution.
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS So, it appears there's an answer for who is actually wearing the patriotic armor disclosed in the set photos, and that's Don Cheadle, who is returning as Lt. James "Rhodey" Rhodes, aka War Machine, in the sequel. The blurry spoiler photos of the armor, which arguably do look a lot like the Iron Patriot armor from the comic books, reveal a Caucasian male in the armor, which is why Dale was thought to be inside it, but, according to Latino Review's on-set sources, the armor is War Machine's new patriotic look. A stunt man wore the armor instead of Cheadle, during a scene that was shot at the North Carolina airport where War Machine may or may not be protecting the Vice-President before he takes a flight to China.
Anytime a story is delivered via "sources," there is the possibility that the story is bogus, though the set photos did reveal a mounted gun on the left shoulder of the armor, a signature component of War Machine's armor. Additionally, the U.S. government has a copy of Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) Mark II armor after Rhodes delivered one to the military in Iron Man 2, and each installment in the Iron Man franchise brings with it a new version of the armor, so it's quite conceivable that War Machine would get an upgrade as well.
Still, the info is from anonymous "sources," so nothing is confirmed. For now, let's just say that all we really know is that someone will be wearing very patriotic armor in Iron Man 3. END: SPOILERS
While Iron Man 3 is currently shooting, Marvel is also hard at work on another sequel: Thor 2, which will start shooting later this summer. Several cast members have already been confirmed to return, including Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, but not everyone is making a return to Asgard. Joshua Dallas, who played Fandral the Dashing in Thor, will not be back. While Dallas spoke in the affirmative about a return to the sequel as a member of the Warriors Three last October, the actor explained to EW that his commitment to the ABC TV show Once Upon a Time created a scheduling conflict.
I’ll be missing out on wearing all that hair. The timing wasn’t right. I’m bummed about it because I had such a great experience and great time making the first film and was really excited about coming back. Marvel and Disney tried to make it work. But because of my commitment to Once Upon a Time, I was not going to be able to do both. So I’ll have to hand the reins over to someone else. I love Marvel. I wish them all the best. I will certainly be first in line to see it. On the other hand, I’m going back to the best job on TV. I love it and can’t wait to delve in more.
Taking Dallas' place could be a familiar face. THR reports that Marvel is targeting Zachary Levi, who was originally in talks for the role but had to turn down when NBC gave an episode extension to Levi's spy sitcom Chuck, thereby making Levi's schedule incompatible. According to the report, negotiations have not begun with Levi, but, apparently, an "offer is imminent."
Thor 2 will be directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones), while Iron Man 3 is currently under the direction of Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). Both movies will arrive in 2013, with Iron Man 3 releasing on May 3rd, while Thor 2 will arrive on November 15th.
Next Showing: Thor 2 opens on , 2013