The actor is in a good spot at the moment.  Having shown up on television series such as Fox's 24 and AMC's Rubicon, Badge Dale played supporting roles in Shame and The Grey last year.  He should also be familiar from his relatively small but crucial role in Martin Scorsese's The Departed.  Next year, he'll appear in The Lone Ranger and World War Z.

Now, his 2013 just got even more crowded, as he's signed on to Iron Man 3.  According to Variety, Badge Dale will play Eric Savin, an Army Lieutenant Colonel who, in the comic books, became the mercenary cyborg Coldblood after a landmine devastated his body.  First appearing in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents back in 1990, Coldblood was one of the Cable-style gun wielding badasses who were popular during the decade that followed.

It's a mystery just who closely Sevin's character will resemble his comic book counterpart.  In all likelihood, the cinematic Sevin will only be roughly related to the print version, much like the first sequel's Whiplash, who incorporated elements of another character, Crimson Dynamo.  The Iron Man 3 storyline is heavily influenced by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov's six-issue "Extremis" storyline involving viral nanotechnology.  This is pure conjecture, but Sevin seems like a candidate to be infected with the Extremis tech, turning him into a proper physical threat for Iron Man without once again putting Stark up against adversaries wearing similar armor.

Badge Dale joins a cast led by Robert Downey Jr., sporting Stark's pointy goatee on film for the fourth time.  Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle are returning as Pepper Potts and James 'Rhodey' Rhodes aka War Machine.  Other newcomers to the franchise so far include Guy Pearce as Extremis scientist Dr. Alrdich Killen and Ben Kingsley as a mysterious villain. 

Just last week, we learned that British actress Rebecca Hall is in negotiations to play a new female lead, a "sexy scientist" who is probably inspired by comic book character Maya Hansen.

Jon Favreau, who directed the first two Iron Man movies, is serving as executive producer this time around, but don't expect to see him as Happy Hogan.  More importantly, Favreau isn't directing, as he's focused on developing Disney's Magic Kingdom with screenwriter Michael Chabon.  Taking over as director is Shane Black, the Lethal Weapon screenwriter who previously made something special with Downey Jr. on his directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.  Black co-wrote the script with Drew Pearce, and he's doubtless very busy at the moment, with production set to start in North Carolina this month before moving to China later in the summer.

Iron Man 3, complete with James Badge Dale, will arrive in theaters on May 3, 2013.