Sommers brings his MUMMY to G.I. JOE!

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

The casting of Channing Tatum as Duke has gone down about as well as Stephen Sommers' last movie VAN HELSING but all cannot be lost just yet on next year's attempt at a successful movie franchise from a kid's toy. Every now and again Sommers will cast a physical actor who I enjoy immensely that will re-spark my interest (however mild that may be) in this movie. We know he's got Ray Park already in the bag and the word has leaked tonight at IESB that he is bringing his MUMMY villain to the table.

Arnold Vosloo who appeared in both THE MUMMY and THE MUMMY RETURNS as the villain high priest Imohotep has been cast as Zartan, a mercenary who in this film will work with Cobra. His role is likely to to be one the main villain parts in Paramount's blockbuster and is a gig that will require Vosloo to be as big a presence on screen as he was as THE MUMMY. Zartan is a master of disguises and can speak twenty languages and dialects... whilst also being a keen martial artist. In the original canon, he was also the leader of a biker gang known as Dreadnoks but they won't be making an appearance in this film. Lots of characters already in this one but IESB promise more over the following week. Seriously, is he making G.I. JOE or MORTAL KOMBAT here? Actually speaking of KOMBAT, half of the G.I. JOE cast would fit in pretty well in that franchise, maybe more than that actually. Maybe they should scrap JOE... and just make MK3? Thoughts?