USA Today published the first photo of Rourke as his character Whiplash in Iron Man 2.
Whiplash, whose real name is Ivan Vanko, is the nemesis of Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). The villainous Russian weapons creator, who works for Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), wears an armoured suit with a similar technology to Iron Man’s get-up, featuring a pacemaker type of device located on his chest. Whiplash runs around with a pair of electrical whips.
While Downey Jr. resumes his role as the main character, Gwyneth Paltrow is set to play Pepper Potts again, while Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard for the character James "Rhodey" Rhodes and Scarlett Johansson plays Black Widow. Samuel L. Jackson, Garry Shandling, John Slattery, Kate Mara and Clark Gregg complete the cast.
Iron Man 2 is headed for theatres on May 7, 2010.