Pearce in Lockout

Guy Pearce has been loving the sci-fi angle so far. Last week, his new film Lockout was released, though many are looking forward to his incredibly important role in Ridley Scott’s epic Prometheus later this summer, which Pearce has already demonstrated in the movie’s viral marketing. Now, it seems Pearce is ready to continue teaming up for notable appearances, as the actor is looking to play a part in a highly anticipated sequel.

Variety reports that Pearce is currently in talks with Marvel to join Iron Man 3 as Aldrich Killian, a role that proves quite vital to the story that the upcoming sequel is based off of.

In the Extremis arc of the comics, from writer Warren Ellis, Killian is a scientest who co-creates and hands the Extremis project technology over to a terrorist group, in order to perfect the company’s research grants. However, Killian can’t stand the guilt, and kills himself, setting forth a major chain of events that brings Tony Stark into the picture.

If successful, Pearce joins Robert Downey Jr, Gwenyth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johanson, and recently signed Ben Kingsley. Each will be reprising their roles from the previousIron Man films, with Kingsley joining as the main villain who spreads a virus using nanobot technology. The nanobots will be a big upgrade and focus in the next film, which many believe will cause Tony to develop the technology himself, allowing him to store the Iron Man suit within his bones like the comics, making him technically part cyborg.

Directed by Shane Black, Iron Man 3 is currently set for a release on May 3rd, 2013, with production set to begin in North Carolina in less than two weeks.