Marvel and Paramount have revealed the first image of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash from Iron Man 2. After taking a few minutes to absorb the image, I really like it.

It did, however, take a few minutes. My initial reaction was dislike. When I examined it closer, you can see the suit that Rourke is wearing is similar in build to Tony Stark’s first Iron Man suit. It’s a framework of technology. Made with simple parts. It’s made to do a job and not look pretty.

I’m guessing that this is early in the film and that later on we’ll see a refined version—financed by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell)—that will be much sleeker and perhaps even more protective.

Hopefully we’ll get an explanation in the film as to why the chest piece looks so similar. I’m sure that’s no coincidence.