Paramount, via USA Today, has released the first photo of Mickey Rourke as the Russian villain, Whiplash. After seeing this image all I can say is this: I’m glad that Robert Downey, Jr. is in this movie. I still think that Rourke only got this role because of his performance in The Wrestler and they are hoping to draw a bigger and more diverse audience with him in the movie. Not the best reason to cast someone in a movie if you ask me. Do they fit the character? Do they have a passion for the material? I don’t think that’s the case this time. Plus, how the heck did a prisoner in Russia build a bad copy of the chest-piece to power his “armor”? Now I hope that they have more than one villain in this because Iron Man should be able to fire a repulser beam at this reject from Mad Max and walk away. CGI will play a pretty big role in making this look better I suppose.

I’ll still see it, but my expectations have been lowered…