No, the attached image is not from The Wrestler 2, in which an increasingly desperate Randy “The Ram” Robinson is forced to work demolition derbies to pay for the rudimentary external pacemaker that keeps him alive. It’s the first official image of Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2. His character, dubbed Whiplash, is a crazy Russian who sports a glowing chest piece suspiciously similar to the “arc reactor” that powers Tony Stark’s super suit. We’re guessing he’s the villain – or one of them, at least.
Looks like all the hell Rourke put himself through for The Wrestler paid off after all, even if he didn’t win the Best Actor Oscar he coveted.
You can read more about Iron Man 2’s Whiplash over at USA Today. Iron Man 2 opens May 7, 2010.
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