Speculation was abound recently after a rather patriotic set of armor was spotted on the set of Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3. Many assumed that the red, white and blue armour was that of Iron Patriot. But not so fast, the armor we saw was actually just War Machine sporting a new paint job.
Now to be clear, I mean “just” in a playful manner – it’s great news to know that James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) will return for a second time as the right hand man of Tony Stark. It also clears up a few things regarding what seemed to be a very cluttered production, full of new character additions (villainous or otherwise).
The set photos in question revealed a Caucasian male in said suit, which was assumed to belong to that of James Badge Dale, who will be an antagonist in the threequel. In fact, the mystery man is a stunt double for Cheadle. The absence of Iron Patriot also makes a great deal more sense considering the script’s basing on the “Extremis” storyline from the comics, which focuses on nanotechnology. Sometimes rumours turn out to be juicy truths and sometimes they’re as dry as a bone. Welcome to Hollywood folks.
So why the decked out gear? Latino Review has smartly come up with the answer that in that particular scene, Rhodes is prepping to accompany the president to China(for protective purposes) where a portion of the film will be set. Presumably, this is where Ben Kingsley‘s The Mandarin comes into play.
Production is heating up fast for Iron Man 3, which is set to fly into theaters May 3, 2013. We’ll keep you posted on more news as it arises.