06.10.09 MICKEY ROURKE AS WHIPLASH IN IRON MAN 2

(click to enlarge)
USA Today has the first shot of Mickey Rourke playing Whiplash in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2.

Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) sports a power pack on his chest that looks similar to the one that Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) uses.
“The technologies are definitely related,” says director Jon Favreau. “That’s part of the core theme of the film.”
The villain’s alter ego, Ivan Vanko, is a Russian who “has constructed his own version of a suit,” Favreau says. Among the creative innovations: a pair of whips, powered by the suit’s glowing chest piece, that are expected to keep Iron Man cracking.
This first image of the character shows Whiplash making an appearance at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix. Favreau as usual is tight-lipped about plot points and declines to discuss whether the big-screen Whiplash is, as in the Marvel Comics, a weapons designer who works for Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a competitor of Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Look, I liked Iron Man as much as the next guy, but every time I get into speculative discussions about which comic book character someone’s playing, or which comic guy could beat up which comic guy I start to feel like one of these guys.  I’ll take Mickey Rourke playing himself holding an animal, thank-you-very-much.