i think they’re naming the character “Ivan”, since they feel it might be the most popular name in Russia or the name that people tend to think of Russians int he same way a lot of people think German when they hear “Hans’ or Mexican when they hear “Jose”.

now the kind of story they’re using for the movies both spiderman’s and avengers seems to be mostly the ultimate, sot hey can go around and screw with the characters as they please, so why not name the crimson dynamo Ivan.

now for natasha, i have the feeling than rather tha a villain, she’s going to be more like Kato to her Green Hornet, and she’ll tie to the avengers more easily.

unless they want to use the original story and make her bad, so if they do, they better cast a good character for hawkeye.

so after feeling a lot like the Simpsons Comic book guy after this post.
“good night and Good luck”

One point I didn’t include in this article was that a character named “Natasha” — an assistant of Tony Stark’s — had yet to be cast. The name, of course, invites speculation that it might be the Black Widow, which would be pretty cool, provided she’s not a major character. (Perhaps she’s working for Hammer?)

Her Wikipedia page notes that the Black Widow “attempts to seduce American defense contractor Tony Stark and inevitably confronts his superhero alter ego, Iron Man. Later, Romanova defected to the United States and eventually joins the super-team the Avengers as a costumed superhero,” so it could fit.

Still doesn’t explain where the name Ivan came from, though…

Omega Red, while indeed very tentacled and very Russian, is typically a Wolverine villain. While it’s certainly possible that they might use him for IM, it’s also possible that Fox has the rights for him; I don’t know for sure. Whiplash, I think, is much more likely, as he was a classic IM villain and, with the exception of not being Russian, fits the description given for Rourke’s character.

Personally, I’d prefer Crimson Dynamo, fantastic villain. But, oddly enough…apparently there have been 6 different Crimson Dynamos, all of whom were Russian…but NONE of them were named Ivan.

I guess the studio just pulled that name out of their ass?

As for Wolverine, nothing is set in stone yet because they don’t even have a script, but last I read, they’re using the original Avengers line-up or something close to it (Hulk, Iron Man, Cap, Thor, and probably Ant Man), so no Wolverine. The fact that Twentieth Century Fox has the X-Men rights while Marvel Studios has all the original Avengers makes a cross-over between the X and Avengers franchises pretty unlikely.

Only thing is, I think that’s traditionally a Wolverine villain, although if they go “New Avengers” route for the movie-verse, they may well have him cross over.

So… pretty much the role he played opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in the Enrique Iglesias video for “Hero”.