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USA Today posted the first photo of Mickey Rourke playing as Whiplash, the villain in the upcoming movie Iron Man 2.

Rourke is flaunting his armor suit which is equipped with a power pack on his chest that is similar to what Iron Man uses. The suit is armed with two electrifying whips that can channel energy from his chest piece. He’ll be making his first appearance at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix and will be battling against Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron man. If he is not Whiplash, he is known as the Russian tech genius, Ivan Vanko

During an interview with USA Today, director Jon Favreau commented about Whiplash’s suit and Rourke’s role.

“The technologies are definitely related. That’s part of the core theme of the film. He has constructed his own version of a suit. It was very important that the villain be as compelling as can be… Once I thought of Mickey in that role, it made me understand how to shape the story.”

Whether or not they’ll stick to the comic series’ story, Director Favreau just remained silent about it. In the Marvel series, Whiplash is a weapon designer who works for Justin Hammer, Tony Stark’s main competitor. Favreau explained that they like to play into and against people’s expectation so they mixed it up a bit.

Iron Man 2 will star Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, Gwyneth Paltrow still as Ms. Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle as the new Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes. I don’t anything against Don Cheadle but personally, I like Terrence Howard as Rhodey. Anyways, they will also be joined by Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Sam Rockwell and other star-studded cast. It’s another good movie I’m looking forward in seeing. It will hit the theaters on May 7, 2010.