I literally just finished writing a story detailing all the recent villain rumors for Iron Man 3, and another big rumor has dropped. While we are still waiting to see if Ben Kingsley is in fact playing iconic Iron Man villain The Mandarin (and all the debate that has already created), we now get word that Iron Man’s star-spangled counterpart, The Iron Patriot, will also be part of Iron Man 3.
If you hear the name “Iron Patriot” and find yourself scratching your head in confusion, simply scroll down to get details on who the character is.
In my last post I wrote how Iron Man 3 - which sees Tony Stark battling terrorists who unleash a nanotechnology virus known (in the comics) as “Extremis” – could be sowing seeds of the larger Marvel movie universe that mirror Marvel Comics events of the last decade, such as “Secret Invasion.” In the comics, after “Secret Invasion” – in which the shape-shifting Skrull aliens launch a covert invasion of Earth – came “Dark Reign,” a story in which Spider-Man villain Norman Osborn became a national hero after seemingly ending the Skrull invasion, and used his new authority to re-brand super villains as superheroes, while making superheroes into enemies of society.
One of the best elements of the “Dark Reign” saga was the series Dark Avengers by Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis. In the series Norman Osborn took noted Marvel supervillains and had them masquerade as The Avengers – with Osborn himself donning an old Iron Man suit (repainted as an American flag) and going by the moniker of… The Iron Patriot.
Norman Osborn as Iron Patriot, leading his Dark Avengers Team
Now… if you haven’t read our breakdown of which movie studios own which Marvel characters, here’s the short version: Everything related to Spider-Man is owned by Sony, while everything related to Iron Man is owned by Disney/Marvel Studios. This means there will be NO Spider-Man-related elements in any Marvel movies, unless some new deal is worked out between both studios. I say that to say: The Iron Patriot in Iron Man 3 CANNOT (legally) be Norman Osborn, and Spider-Man is NOT being brought into the Avengers movie universe – no matter how hard some fans wish otherwise.
Coming Soon broke this Iron Patriot in Iron Man 3 story, but has no explanation as to how the character fits into the plot, or who will be wearing the armor. Since Iron Patriot debuted in an Avengers comic book, the character can be used in IM3 - but again, the origin and details will have to be drastically changed.
UPDATE: It is reportedly actor James Badge Dale (Rubicon) - previously thought to be playing obscure cybernetic villain “Coldblood-7″ in the Iron Patriot armor – and here are the set photos to prove it (by way of Superficial):
Now, before we all geekgasm too much: Dale (if that’s indeed him) could indeed be wearing the Iron Patriot armor for PART of the movie, while still becoming the Extremis-infected cyborg villain we’ve heard tell about. Without knowing where the set photos above fit into the film, we could be very well looking at a little Easter egg nod – much in the same vein as Captain America’s classic costume being factored into The First Avenger as a gag. We’ll have to wait and see just how seriously (or not) Iron Patriot is meant to be taken.
Iron Man 3 hits theaters on May 3, 2013.
Source: Coming Soon & Superficial
Header Image by Deviant Art user 666Darks
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Another possible villain? This is getting a little too crowded. Seems like spiderman 3 all over again. I also can’t handle
dont think this will become another spidey 3 cause rdj is in it =D
True, but I still think that it’s going to be a brilliant movie because….
a. It has Robert Downey Jr.
b. It has Guy Pearce!!!!!!!!
c. with Don Cheadle
d. Ben Kingsley
e. and Scarlett Johannsen!!
f. and also Shane Black at the helm (even though Favreau is my fav director)
Scar Jo isn’t in this one… it was rumored, but they guys over at marvel studios (as well as Johansson herself) said she won’t be in Iron Man 3.
While I don’t want to be a Pessimistic-Pat (or whatever she expression is) just remember that Iron man 2 also had RDJ, Cheadle, Paltrow, Johannson, Rockwell and Rourke and that movie proved to be the worst in quality from Marvel Studios…
*Edit: “or whatever THE expression is”
(Can’t wait for that edit button)
Are you sure you’ve actually seen many marvel movies? Iron Man 2 is by far better than half of the others. It is by no means the worst in quality. You should try knowing what you’re talking about for a change. Did you miss X-Men 3? How about the first two Hulk movies, or really ANY of the Spider-Man ones?! Pay attention pal.
He’s referring to Marvel studios. Not Marvel movies in general. Big difference nowadays.
Still, calling it the ‘worst’ of the Marvel Studios movies sounds worse that it really is.
its still up at think Mcfly think
We’ve put the pics back in – came to an arrangement.
Vic
If there is an Iron Patriot…..
!!!!!WHO WOULD PLAY HIM!!!!!
Only one that would make sense for me is Norman Osborne (Green Goblin)… But Marvel doesnt own him, maybe FOX, Sony and Marvel came to an agreement with the characters?
Has anybody considered it’s just Tony being patriotic for some kind of show, similar to the performance he put on at the Expo in IM2. Sorry if someone brought that up already. Didn’t read every comment.
**Spoiler**
the iron man 3 plot is that tony stark wishes to further develope the super soldier serum (the one that is in capt. america) he does this by mixing it with nano-tech. injects it into himself so he no longer needs the suit.I MAKE NO PROMISES THAT THIS IS THE ACTUAL PLOT it is just one i have heard that sounds plausible.bu tif this is the case maby the star-spangled suit i sto follow in the foot steps of capt. by dawning the stars and stripes
Wow … it’s like you are clairvoyant … or you read “Extremis” … not sure which one …
its the first one i had to look up what extremis was on google
Could you tell me saturdays Powerball numbers?
thats similar to the storyline that was in ironman adventures cartoon on nicktoons! maybe they are coping off cartoons now lol
Our CBM’s would be better if they would borrow some ideas from the animated series.
@ Ink
I agree. They could start with Batman:TAS & Superman:TAS,etc. Bruce Timm & Co. did great with their animated series so id like to think WB,Sony,Fox studios should take notes from the 90′s popular animated series of their franchises.
WOnder WOman could be a DIRECT translation from the animated movie a few years back and would be awesome.
Either Liev Schrieber or Donnie Wahlberg could play Norman Osborn.
What do you guys think, eh?
No. Leiv is now and forever Sabretooth and it’ll just be weird to see him play another Marvel character (I still can’t see Evans as Cap; he was Human Torch first.)
Besides, Willem Dafoe did a perfect Norman Osborn and I wouldn’t mind seing him do that role again. But not with that damned Power Rangers suit!
It’s not Iron Patriot it’s Detroit Steel *So I’ve heard, but seeing as they are just starting with the new Spider-Man and they’ll wait a while to even introduce Osborne I am 96% sure it’s not him but I think 4% is fair enough to account for how marvel movies have been messed up before.
Maybe this is just a classic case of the movie crew and studio fu*kin with us all! I’d probably do the same thing if I was on the set of one of these movies!!…
I was flipping through the tv and saw ultimate spider man on disney and shield and the avengers have all been on it. Hows that possible? Just curious
There talking about the movie rights and stuff and also at the time neither one of them owned it
Marvel’s movie rights have nothing to do with their animation rights…
At one point Sony did own the animation rights to Spider-Man, but it reverted back to Marvel Animation (unfortunately).
As of now, I’m pretty sure Marvel has the animation rights to ALL of their characters…
I have read the term ” another villain” a few times, but it still has not been made clear to me that Kingsley is playing a villain. Anybody know for sure?
Back when Kinsley was announced they said he would be playing a villain, but until recently, WHAT villain he’s playing was still shrouded in mystery (with all the new info though, I think it’s pretty clear now which villain he’ll be playing)
But apparently Guy Pearce is still the MAIN villain for this movie.
First of all, Guy Pearce is NOT playing a villain and Kingsley is NOT playing Iron Patriot, he’s playing the Mandarin. It is also rumoured that Donnie Wahlberg will be Norman Osborn/Iron Patriot
Actually Guy Pearce will be playing the villain (the main villain as a matter of fact – it’s been stated so many times I’ve lost count) and when I said “I think it’s pretty clear now which villain [Kinsley will] be playing” I meant the Mandarin, not the Iron Patriot (I wrote a whole thing about it on the previous IM3-article’s comment section)
And you might as well scrap that rumor you mentioned about Donnie Wahlberg playing Norman Osborn – Osborn is a Spidey villain and Sony owns the rights to that character (i.e. there’s no way we’ll see him in a Marvel Studios production)
Okay, reading back my original comment I can see how it may came across as if I was referring to Kinsley playing the Iron Patriot – my bad.
But again, just to clarify, I know that Kinsley will be the Mandarin (I called it back when he was announced as part of the cast… it’s just not until recently that they’ve revealed enough details and plot points to actually confirm it)
@ John
Animated film rights are apparently different than live motion picture film rights and both are different than tv rights .
Maybe since he came to respect Cap during the Avengers he is building him a suit in his honor or something like that.
Not enthused about bringing on another armored player. What makes IM interesting to me is his uniqueness. More metal guys, cyborgs, etc just lowers this to the level of transformers.
i think they’re just using the image of osborne, but it’ll be in more of a MCU version of Detroit Steel.
also here’s a manip i made of Osborn & rulk Feel Free to use it in the article if ya like.
also if Vic says its cool.
http://comicbookgoth.deviantart.com/art/Iron-Patriot-and-Red-Hulk-300096832
Chris Evans will be wearing an Iron Man suit in an Avengers crossover…I called it first!
So Badge is The Iron Patriot? WHAT??? This is all very interesting stuff buy WTF is going on ??? Badge’s character isn’t Norman Osborn.
I’m now officially on board for IM 3. it’ll be IM3 and then MAN OF STEEL For The Win next Summer , one year from now.
buy=but
ok so as a comic fan and a Marvel Movie fan, i think this could go a couple of ways. First IP will be cannon fodder and just a cool easter egg. Second Tony Screwing around in his work shop, Pepper comes in and he makes a joke like Iron cap , Iron Patriot, then says nah, Shelve it Jarvis. Third Marvel Phase 2 has the solo films building to Avengers 2 which is Dark Reign type story which has the Committee from Avenger assembling a team of their own headed up by a “Osborn type Character” that fills the IP armor.
This is one of these cases where I think I’d have been happier not knowing about this particular plot element until seeing the movie itself because it would have been a pleasant surprise for the comic book nerd in me (note – not blaming Screen Rant, I was already spoiled earlier today by a comic books-related site). Oh well.
I watched the The Avengers and it was 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. 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!
I thought that you had to take down the pictures earlier? Why are they back up?
Very interesting though.
Ummm, coming this summer from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios is “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Now Columbia Pictures is a division of Sony and Marvel Studios is a division of Disney, but considering it’s a joint production is it possible Spider-Man is leaving Sony?
i bet it’s just an easter egg, i highly doubt it will be tied into the real suit wearer etc. looks really neat
Probably just an easter egg. That or Stark was just get bored and had a billion dollars laying around so he thought he’d make some Captain America like Iron Man armor just to rub it in Captain America’s face.
I’m OK with all this so far, although I have a few doubts about the Extremis storyline (to be fair, I’m not real familiar with it, only slightly). BUT–as long as we see The Mandarin, Chinese Fu Manchu madman that he is, in all his glory, fighting Iron Man with 10 super rings (be they magic or tech-based), I am pretty much OK with anything. Here’s a thought: since the Extremis stuff is science-tech-based, how about bringing in another scientist: Hank Pym!? He could help study the nano-stuff (involves shrinking) from Stark’s corner, and could in the meantime experiment on himself, becoming both Goliath and Ant-Man. Cue entrance into the next Avengers movie as a consultant (& incidently, useful hero) from Shield, who would I am sure be very interested in any potential hazards brought about by Mandarin’s scientists tinkering with this powerful potential weapon. There is a natural progression from scientist to studying tech to possible weapon to dangerous in the hands of criminals to Shield needs to understand this new threat. All this, and Toto (er, I mean, Tony) too, as Iron Man. Plus we would get another Avenger member (Pym) introduced right in there without having to contrive a difficult introduction, like, oh by the way, here’s this guy who shrinks & rides ants, while his chick buzzes around–where did she come from, and why–& he can also grow huge like Wheaties on steroids gone wild. IM3 is a perfect vehicle for Goliath/Ant-man to be introduced. The Iron Patriot armor would be OK, for a baddie to ambush iron Man, appearing to be a good guy, and suddenly–wrong–he’s a baddie using the red/white/blue as a cover.
Seeing how Tony Stark likes to be flashy and extravagant, I bet its for some parade or event “Stark Expo” type ordeal for 4th of July, and that they’re just using the patriotic themed suit because well its patriotic, and that it just so happens to be the Iron Patriot Suit, which is rad.
If it is Iron Man fighting more Iron Men, I will be truly disappointed.
I have a theory why or how the Iron Patriot shows up.
Remember how Stark was in odds with the US govt in IM2 as they wanted his armor? I think Rhodey refuses them full control over his war machine armor due to Tony’s advice and Killian promises to build them a better Iron Man with a relatively weak version of the extremis formula. He used it on some soldier type figure. They dub it the ‘Iron Patriot’ and parades it around to show America they have their own Iron Man. It all goes well till the guy in the suit (James Badge Dale) goes mental and kills/injures a bunch of people and the govt fires/arrests Killian over the whole mess. Killian goes rogue and meets this crazed Dale person in prison (much like the extremis storyline). With funding and resources from a mysterious Eastern businessman and owner of the multinational corporation Shi Huan Inc(10 Rings in chinese :/), Benjamin Mandarin (i know, horrible name), he improves upon the formula and tests it on a bunch of people all of whom attack Stark when he intervenes.
Its just speculation though. So many villains COULD mud up the works (just likE SM3).
mAkes sense to me
looks to familiar to captain americas outfit. but cool looking to see it on iron man body suit.
I think this looks pretty stupid… but not at all affecting my opinion on the movie still very much looking forward to it.
Some Stupid Question about Spiderman :
1.Why does Sony own the Spiderman character ? Its a Marvel Hero.
2.If Sony own the rights..are those Movie rights ? And if so,for how long do they own the right ?
It’s really bad that Spiderman can not be part of the Avengers cause of some rights issues !
I googled a bit around but could not find much about this strange Sony/Marvel deal thats could tell me why the situation is like it is and for how long concerning spiderman.
if anybody could explain,or point me to an article that would be nice !
Thanks
In short –
Marvel was losing money hand-over-fist.
Marvel sells Sony Spidey’s Movie rights to stay afloat .. also Daredevil, X-men, Punisher etc.
Marvel rebounds and starts Marvel Studios.
Other movie companies make a lot of money off of Spider, et al so they won’t sell them back.
The right would revert back to Marvel if the other company doesn’t start production on a new movie within “X” amount of years. Therefore, Spidey, X-men are pipe dreams for the Marvel Studios Movie Universe.
Marvel sold most of those rights multiple times over the years to raise capital when they were being run by Wall Street geniuses. Roger Corman did Fantastic Four before Fox ever got it’s hands on it and I can’t even remember what company did the Captain America movie that almost never sees the light of day (SyFy did manage to get ahold of it last year and show it when First Avenger came out, and it looked like it was shot on ViewMaster). James Camerons company had some Spider-Man and X-Men project in the works back in the 90′s as well, and of course Wesley Snipes had Blade which he managed to actually do something with until Goyer went nuts with Trinity.
As for this Iron Patriot armor deal, I never really read Iron Man and I have no clue about anything that has happened in the last ten years as far as comic story lines go. But from what I have been reading about Iron Man 3 they seem to be pulling characters from all over the place, which may not affect casual fans that much since they don’t know most of these characters from Adam. One thing people have to consider with all these armor variants and characters though, it may all come down to merchandising. Why just sell two Iron Man action figures when you can sell three or four ?
It could also just be a plant to mislead and distract.
I have absolutely no idea what to expect from Iron Man 3 now.
You can expect a lot of robotic power armor, that much is certain.