SHAME Star James Badge Dale to Play Another IRON MAN 3 Villain

The third installment of Marvel Studios' popular Iron Man film franchise is prepping to begin production this summer with Robert Downey Jr. reprising his role as the title character. The film is scheduled for theatrical release on May 3, 2013.

Iron Man 3 will be directed by Shane Black and based off of a script by Drew Pierce. Robert Downy Jr will once again reprise his role as billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (aka Iron Man); Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle are scheduled to return as Pepper Potts and Jim Rhoades (aka War Machine), respectively. It has also been reported, yet not confirmed, that Scarlett Johansson will be reprising her Avengers role as Black Widow.

No official synopsis has been released but it is now known that the film's plot revolves around the spread of a virus through nanobots, loosely based on Warren Ellis' six-issue "Extremis" series that introduced a new origin story for Iron Man and focused heavily on nanotechnology.

Sir Ben Kingsley has been tapped to play the film's central villain. Though the studio has not revealed the name of the character, they have reportedly denied it will be The Mandarin (a megalomanic who secretly runs terrorist organizations around the world and wields ten weaponized rings of advanced alien power) even though several news outlets say otherwise. Guy Pearce (Prometheus, Lockout) has been cast as geneticist Aldrich Killian, who co-created the Extremis technology that Iron Man adopts after Killian sells it to terrorists. It was recently revealed that Jessica Chastain, who was in negotiations to play another scientist in the film, left the project due to scheduling conflict.

Now, another addition to the cast has been made known. James Badge Dale (Shame) will play a villain known as Savin in the film. He can next be seen starring alongside Brad Pitt in the post apocalyptic zombie film World War Z and in Jerry Bruckheimer's The Lone Ranger which recently wrapped production.

Aside from principal photography taking place in North Carolina, a bulk of filming will go on in various area of China. Iron Man 3 is scheduled for theatrical release on May 3, 2013.