Two years after Iron Man ushered in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and turned Robert Downey Jr. into one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors, Iron Man 2 saw his version of Tony Stark clashing with Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer, a rival weapons manufacturer who teamed up with Mickey Rourke’s Ivan Vanko. Rockwell later reprised Hammer for the short film All Hail the King and an episode of the Disney+ subscription-exclusive animated series What If… ?, but we still have yet to see him return as a prominent character in the MCU. Well, that’s not because of a lack of interest on Rockwell’s part of being in an upcoming Marvel movie or upcoming Marvel TV show.
Justin Hammer came up while Sam Rockwell was chatting about his 2025 movie release The Bad Guys 2 with ComicBook. When asked if he was tired of getting asked about his MCU character and the franchise, the actor responded:
Well, I’m a nerd too, so I don’t, no. I’m waiting for the call. Hasn’t come in yet, but I’m waiting. I heard they’re shooting Avengers somewhere. I’m not there.
Not that anyone was expecting otherwise, but at least now we can officially add the lack of Justin Hammer to the things we know about Avengers: Doomsday. Still, even with so much time having passed since Iron Man 2, Sam Rockwell is absolutely game to return to the MCU. Those kinds of question don’t tire him out because he’s also just as curious, if not more so, about if Justin will ever resurface.
Because What If… ? showed a Justin Hammer from an alternate universe, we haven’t checked in with the Sacred Timeline version of him since All Hail the King was included as a special feature on Thor: The Dark World’s home media release. At the end of the short film, Justin was shown to be in the same prison as Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery and annoyed at how much attention the Iron Man 3 villain was getting. Given the crimes he committed, it stands to reason that Justin is still behind bars, but there’s no reason he couldn’t be broken out.
The question then becomes where it would make sense to include Justin Hammer next, and looking over the slate of MCU projects on the way, none seem to be a good fit for him. There was a time when Armor Wars would have a great platform for Justin Hammer to make his grand return, as the story would follow Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes tracking down people who’ve stolen Tony Stark’s technology. However, these days it’s unclear where things stand with Armor Wars, as it still doesn’t have a release date.
Well, Kevin Feige and the rest of Marvel Studios’ creative heads know how to get in touch with Sam Rockwell if they ever decide to bring back Justin Hammer. For now, catch the actor reprising Mr. Wolf in The Bad Guys 2 starting on August 1 in theaters, and stream his appearance on The White Lotus from earlier this year with an HBO Max subscription.
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