Iron Man’s New Sidekick

from the official press release at PRNewsWire.com

This week Rhodey and War Machine are taking a backseat to Tony Stark’s newest sidekick, legendary rock band AC/DC. Marvel Studios and Columbia Records announced Tuesday that the group’s music will be featured in the blockbuster sequel Iron Man 2, and the soundtrack “AC/DC: Iron Man 2” will be released April 19, 2010. The Iron Man 2 movie trailer released back in December features “Shoot to Thrill” from the hit album “Back in Black.” One can only speculate that we will hear AC/DC’s 2008 track “War Machine” in the movie as well.

Fans of the franchise got their first real glimpse of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man sequel in July 2009 at Comic-Con and waited patiently for more. But more did not come until the release of the official trailer on Dec. 16, which contained most of the same footage as the Comic-Con video.

This news couldn’t come at a better time for Iron Man fans. With James Cameron’s “Avatar” blowing away box office records and occupying media attention, Iron Man has been forced to fly below the radar. This announcement has reignited the fans that have been starved for news and pictures of Tony Stark and company. I have been getting all my Iron Man news from @Jon_Favreau on twitter, but there hasn’t been much to see or read about. Hopefully the next trailer will be out soon.

The movie touts a star studded cast including Robert Downy Jr. as Tony Stark, Don Cheadle replaces Tarrence Howard as Rhodey, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, and director John Favreau reprising his role as Happy Hogan. The storyline of the second movie in the series is more complex than the first. In addition to meeting Iron Man’s arch villain Whiplash, Rhodey will get to play a dual role as Tony’s best friend and War Machine, Black Widow is introduced, and we get better acquainted with Nick Fury who was introduced after the credits of the first “Iron Man” in 2008. Iron Man, Black Widow, War Machine, and Nick Fury will also appear in Marvel’s 2012 film “The Avengers.”

In case you have not seen it, here is the official “Iron Man 2” trailer.