Say what you like about the current state of the MCU, but Marvel Studios is definitely not missing the mark with its attention-grabbing casting. A range of Hollywood heavyweights are on their way to the franchise in Phase Five, with Harrison Ford turning up as our new Thunderbolt Ross in Captain America: New World Order. And now it’s just possible that the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, could be the latest to find himself in the Marvel universe.
To make clear up front, there’s no official indication at this juncture that Schwarzenegger could be boarding the MCU, but the concept did just gain a lot of steam thanks to the rumors getting a major signal boost, which we’ll get to in a moment. However, the word on the street has it that Arnold could be boarding the Armor Wars movie as new villain Titanium Man. But who is Titanium Man and how much truth is there to this potential casting? To misquote the T-800, come with us if you want to learn…
Wait, Arnold Schwarzenegger is rumored to be joining the MCU?
So who do we have to thank for this Arnold/MCU talk grabbing our attention? Mr. Don Cheadle, come on down. During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the War Machine star was asked point-blank about the chatter around Schwarzenegger appearing alongside him in Armor Wars, which you may recall was recently switched from a Disney Plus show to a feature film.
Cheadle’s response to this line of questioning was confusing yet intriguing, as he initially replied that he thinks Arnold is up for Titanium Man. When Kimmel asked if this was true, Cheadle then changed track and claimed that he’d never heard of Titanium Man before, deflecting the attention away by mentioning a non-existent character called “Aluminum Girl.”
While this exchange was mostly just light-hearted talk show banter, it’s definitely ended up adding more credence to these rumors than they had before. So let’s — just for the sake of argument — run with Cheadle’s initial comment that the Batman & Robin icon is in Armor Wars as Titanium Man. What do we know about this villain?
Who is Titanium Man?
In short, Titanium Man is one of the many “evil versions of Iron Man” characters that exist in Marvel lore, many of whom we’ve already seen in the MCU — like Iron Monger, Justin Hammer, and Whiplash.
Boris Bullski was once a high-ranking KGB agent and fiercely loyal Community Party member whose fortune turned after he displeased his superiors and was reassigned to a Siberian labor camp. While there, Bullski encountered Anton Vanko, the original Crimson Dynamo, and conceived of the idea to win back his boss’ favor by achieving a major win against the decadent west — if Vanko could make him his own hi-tech suit of armor, Bullski could publicly defeat Iron Man and shame the United States.
As you can probably guess, the newly christened Titanium Man’s attempts to best Tony Stark failed and the pair have tussled again and again over the years. Although Stark is no longer around in the MCU, it’s easy to see how this character could fit into Armor Wars, considering that it will be all about Tony’s tech falling into the wrong hands. Could Sam Rockwell’s Hammer team up with Bullski as he once did with Whiplash?
What’s more, Bullski’s status as the Russian Iron Man would make him an interesting counterpart to Red Guardian — Russia’s answer to Captain America — which could lead to some crossover with Thunderbolts. Again, who knows right now if Arnold Schwarzenegger really could be on his way to the MCU but there’s certainly a lot of exciting potential for him if Cheadle’s cagey comments prove accurate.
