Tom Cruise Talks Iron Mask Character

When the project was first mooted, long term comic fan Nicholas Cage and Tom Cruise both expressed interest – the kind of star wattage more normally associated with literary adaptations than men in tights.

Much has changed since, including the screenwriters, the script and the principal villain, but it seems that Cruise remains keen. In this month’s Empire, he reveals that he is still working on a deal to don the Iron Man’s armour.

“He’s a fascinating character, but we’ve got to figure out how it’s going to work. And everyone is doing a Marvel character these days. How do we make that new, create something fresh where it doesn’t feel like, ‘Oh, here comes another superhero story’?”

Iron Man, for those not up to speed, is billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, who must wear an armoured breastplate to protect his injured heart. In between running a company and dealing with alcoholism, he fights bad guys with the aid of an incredibly advanced suit of armour and a disturbingly large array of weaponry.