PROMETHEUS' Guy Pearce to join IRON MAN 3

Though Lockout was essentially locked out of critics and audiences' hearts, that won't stop the career of Guy Pearce, who's set to star in Ridley Scott's eagerly waited return to sci-fi, Prometheus. Today, Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios have announced that Pearce will board Shane Black's Iron Man 3 as geneticist Dr. Aldrich Killian. Killian appears in the "Iron Man" comics in Warren Ellis' "Extremis" run, which this film has long been rumored to be involved in. "Extremis" involves a mysterious nanotech virus.

Of course, this isn't the first Disney project for Pearce. He previously starred as the villain in Adam Sandler's Disney debut, Bedtime Stories. You have to give Marvel Studios props for going above and beyond to cast the right actors for the Iron Man movie villains - all of them (with the exception of Faran Tahir, Sam Rockwell and Pearce) are played by Oscar-winning actors. Iron Man 3 has Robert Downey, Jr. reprising his role as the title character, with Gwenyth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson and Ben Kingsley. The film starts production this summer in North Carolina and will be released on May 3, 2013. Do you think Pearce can meanace Tony Stark?