Variety are reporting that Emily Blunt has been cast opposite Jack Black in Fox’s upcoming Gulliver’s Travels. When Blunt played a character in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, Fox held out an option on the actress as part of her deal – looks like they are calling this in for the Gulliver movie, set to film in the UK in late March, with Iron-man 2 set to start mid April.

This scheduling overlap is being investigated by Blunt’s reps for her to play both parts, they are currently optimistic that a scheduling agreement can be met.

The money rumors keep rolling in when it comes to Iron Man 2, this time new villain star Mickey Rourke has been handed a low-ball offer from Marvel, report Variety:

Then there is comeback kid Mickey Rourke, who is poised to follow his Golden Globe-winning performance in “The Wrestler” with an offer to play the main villain in “Iron Man 2″ — but at a lowball opening offer of $250,000 from Marvel; Marvel’s tactics have already prompted Samuel L. Jackson to swear off playing Nick Fury because of a similarly low offer.

Maybe we’ll see a return of stop motion effects too?

Some good news following the recent Nick Fury revelations, Variety report that the British born Emily Blunt is the frontrunner in talks to play Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2, the super-sexy Black Widow spy.

She’s a Soviet superspy who doubles as Black Widow, a beauty in a skintight black costume enhanced by high-tech weaponry.

Speaking with Geoff Boucher of the LA Times Samuel L. Jackson revealed that “somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won’t be in it”, adding, “there seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world.”. This comes despite Jackson’s post-credits final scene appearance in Iron Man, donned in trench coat and eye patch, and the Ultimate Marvel Universe character ‘Ultimate Nick Fury‘ being a re-imagined version of Nick Fury (formerly a white colonel) based on Samuel L. Jackson, with his permission.

“I saw ['Iron Man' and 'Iron Man 2' director] Jon Favreau at the Scream Awards and we had a conversation. He said, ‘I hope things are working out for you because we’re writing stuff for you.’ Then all of a sudden last week I talked to my agents and manager and things aren’t really working that well.”

“There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won’t be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], ‘We’re not making that deal.’”

It’s possible this public statement from Jackson could be a part of a ploy to get a better contract from Marvel Studios, although Jon Favreau and Terrence Howard, (Rhodey has now been recast with Don Cheadle taking on the role), have both outwardly shown similar contractual and funding issues.

Variety are reporting that Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell are in talks with Paramount Pictures concerning the roles of two villains in the Iron Man sequel.

Mickey Rourke (Sin City, The Wrestler) is set to play the big baddie of the movie, Crimson Dynamo, “a heavily tattooed Russian arms dealer. He’s considered to be an evil version of Iron Man because he battles the superhero in a nuclear-powered suit of armor.”.

The Hollywood Reporter are suggesting that Sam Rockwell will play Justin Hammer, “a multibillionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist Tony Stark”.

Story of the original Crimson Dynamo from Wikipedia – possible plot spoilers below:

The first Crimson Dynamo was also the creator of the armor: Professor Anton Vanko. A Soviet scientist of Armenian birth with a PhD, Vanko was the world’s foremost expert on electricity. He built a suit that was wired up to perform electric miracles, making him a human dynamo. The Crimson Dynamo battle-suit allowed him to control electricity in all of its forms, allowing him to fire devastating bolts of electricity. It also allowed him to fly.

Vanko was a vain and cocky man, but he redeemed himself in the end. In their first encounter, the Crimson Dynamo battled Iron Man. After being tricked by Iron Man (who made him believe that his Soviet handlers were going to kill him though earlier Vanko’s superior implied he was going to kill Vanko, anyway), Vanko defected to the U.S. and went to work for Tony Stark as one of his chief scientists. Soon the Soviets came to kill him for real. They sent their top agent, the Black Widow [also rumored], and her one-time partner, Boris Turgenev, the latter of whom stole the armor and became the second Crimson Dynamo. Vanko died saving Iron Man by firing an unstable experimental laser light pistol at Boris, killing himself as well.

Note the inclusion of the Black Widow in this plot arc, a character also rumored to appear in Iron Man 2

Justin Hammer’s background via Wikipedia:

Justin Hammer was born in Surrey, England, and later became a citizen of Monaco. A rival of industrialist Anthony Stark (Iron Man), multi-billionaire businessman Hammer, himself an industrialist, later became a criminal financier. Hammer uses unethical methods. In exchange for fifty percent of the profits from their crimes, he will pay bail for costumed criminals and finance the development and replacement of their weaponry and equipment.

Crimson Dynamo

Justin Hammer