With The Avengers still breaking every record in the book, Marvel’s already hard at work on their next projects, starting with Iron Man 3. The news dropped yesterday that Jon Favreau would return as Happy Hogan and Ashley Hamilton would join as Jack Taggert. Now, it looks like William Sadler (Die Hard 2, Shawshank Redemption) will be joining Tony Stark’s third outing on screen [Latino Review].

No official word yet on Sadler’s casting or role, but he was seen with Guy Pearce (who will be playing Adrian Killian) in Wilmington, North Carolina during costume fittings so it’s safe to start surmising. Sadler will join an ever-growing cast lead by returners Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Paul Bettany, and Favreau. New cast members include Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, Andy Lau, and James Badge Dale. Shane Black will direct based off a script co-written by Drew Pearce and, according to Latino Review, “multiple writers on set [...] to keep the flick headed in a unified direction”.

Though it’s great to hear Sadler’s potential involvement, I’m just hoping he’s not a villain. Ben Kingsley’s already confirmed as an unnamed Villain and Hamilton’s character is also a supervillain named Firepower in the comics. Additionally, Dale’s character, Eric Savin, was an on-off villain/hero named Coldblood in the comics so he could end up in the rogues gallery as well.

Favreau’s biggest failure with Iron Man 2 was having too many villains and too many jumbled up storylines. Kingsley is an extraordinary actor with an ability to make his characters truly incredible if given enough time and depth to work with and I fear that adding another villain would only stifle the movie as a whole. With Coldblood, Firepower, and the hints at the Mandarin that have loomed over the series as a whole, Iron Man 3 has the potential to be an accomplished blockbuster if done right. My only hope that Black and his swarm of writers will keep thing going in one direction.

Iron Man 3 hits theaters on May 3rd, 2013.