After a healthy television career on shows like 24, Rubicon and The Pacific, the Hollywood career of James Badge Dale is on a serious upturn. After starring in playing Michael Fassbender‘s boss in Shame and appearing with Liam Neeson in one of The Grey‘s best scenes, the actor has two major blockbusters hitting next summer, with Gore Verbinski‘s The Lone Ranger and Marc Forster’s World War Z. He has now jumped on his third and perhaps biggest.

Variety reports he has joined Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3, the first Marvel film following The Avengers, where Dale will play Lieutenant Colonel Eric Savin, who is then given the task of overseeing Project Ultra. He gets into a landmine accident and becomes the cyborg Coldblood. I’ve always wanted to see Dale get villainous and this is a great platform to do so.

Dale is joined by Robert Downey Jr., Ben Kingsley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rebecca Hall Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce, in the film which sees the plant called Futurepharm put a genome-attacking viral creation known as Extremis into the hands of criminals. Tony Stark must do what he does best and save the planet, as what tends to happen in these sorts of films.

Production begins this month and Iron Man 3 will hit theaters on May 3rd, 2013.